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Prime Minister Helen Clark today hinted the inquiry report into police conduct - triggered by allegations of sexual abuse by officers in Rotorua in the 1980s - will be tough reading for the force.
She said the Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct report would be released soon
and indicated could create a stir.
"When it comes out, no doubt there will be plenty to discuss," Miss Clark said this morning.
Her comments came after Auckland City Mayor Dick Hubbard said he does not want Clint Rickards back as district police commander for Auckland City.
He says Mr Rickards' standard of behaviour is unacceptable and damages public confidence in the police.
"I don't see how any policeman could say, 'Two of my best friends are in jail for rape, and by the way I want to be head policeman in Auckland so I can protect the women folk of Auckland'," Mr Hubbard said.
Cleared of all charges after three years of investigations and two trials, Mr Rickards' first words outside court on Thursday were: "I was a police officer three years ago, and I am a police officer today."
Moments later, he said: "I'm the district commander for Auckland City. That's my police station."
But Mr Hubbard, who as the city's senior politician has a close working relationship with the district commander, said Mr Rickards "absolutely shouldn't" return to his desk because public confidence had been destroyed.
Mis Clark refused to comment directly on Mr Rickards' case but said: "It's absolutely clear that there's no way that anybody could condone the sort of behaviour those officers were engaged in."
When asked about Mr Rickards' four promotions after police bosses became aware of some of the claims against him, Miss Clark said: "The mind boggles."
Mr Hubbard said he did not know Mr Rickards. The mayor, who took office in October 2004, had worked with the acting commander, Detective Superintendent Gavin Jones, because Mr Rickards had already been stood down.
"Public confidence in the police is so hugely important," Mr Hubbard said.
"And I felt that if there was one final nail in the coffin, it was his comments about the quality of the police investigation. It would be absolutely incompatible for a potential commander to be making comments about the calibre of the work of staff."
On Thursday, Mr Rickards attacked the Operation Austin investigation into police sex crimes, saying it was "an investigation I would have been ashamed to lead".
He also defended his co-accused, former policemen Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum, who were revealed as convicted rapists after a suppression order on their jailing for the rape of a woman in Mt Maunganui in 1989 was lifted.
"They shouldn't be where they are," Mr Rickards said. "Brad Shipton is a good friend. Bob Schollum is a good friend. They are still good friends of mine and always will be."
Consensual
During his defence against criminal charges relating to Louise Nicholas, Mr Rickards admitted that he and Shipton had consensual group sex with her while the two men were police officers in Rotorua in the 1980s. At the time, Mr Rickards lived with his then partner and two children.
Police chiefs knew since 1994 of the Louise Nicholas allegations and his defence that it was consensual group sex, but promoted him four times.
The Weekend Herald has also revealed that Mr Rickards had sex with a woman on the bonnet of a police car in 1983 and this was one of the "employment issues" top officers at police national headquarters were referring to when they refused to reinstate him after his acquittal last week.
Police regulations prohibit disgraceful conduct tending to bring discredit to the police - a view shared by Mr Hubbard.
"Police people have obligations to have standards and behaviour above the minimum required by the law, " he said.
"Therefore, the statement that Mr Rickards didn't break the law is in itself not adequate. His behaviour was unbecoming of a senior policeman."
Mr Rickards' lawyer, John Haigh, QC, said last night employment issues were a matter between Mr Rickards and the police. He declined to comment on Mr Hubbard's statements.
Yesterday the Prime Minister expressed her distaste at the revelations which have emerged since the police rape trials.
In her first public comments since the end of last week's trial, Helen Clark said she had been "absolutely appalled" by what she had heard.
"Like most Kiwis, I'm absolutely appalled at what has been going on and what we're seeing reported in our media now the suppression orders have been lifted," she said.
Deputy Police Commissioner Rob Pope said the police were moving as quickly as possible to address Mr Rickards' employment issues.
But he said they would take some time to complete.
"A bit more patience will be required before we can put all these issues behind us," said Mr Pope.
In an interview in the Sunday Star- Times, Mr Rickards was quoted as saying he was not proud of some of the things he had done, that he had been a bit of a "tomcat" but he was not a rapist.
"I've never used violence against a woman ..."
Mr Rickards said that days before the Louise Nicholas story broke, he was asked by Deputy Commissioner Steve Long to consider resigning.
He was arrested at the Auckland central police station where he was photographed and fingerprinted.
"I was so ashamed that it had happened to me and my family. It was the lowest day of my life. It was just devastating. I had been a police officer for 25 years, I lock up the bad people ...
"I'm not proud of my behaviour, but I've done nothing illegal. I did things I'm ashamed of, given I was in a relationship and had two young kids, but I'm no rapist."
Mr Rickards told the paper that the most he was guilty of was infidelity. When he learned the allegations would be published, he rang his former partner to tell her he had slept around.
She told him he was an "arsehole" but "she also told me she knew I wouldn't do anything like that [rape]."
He also said the cases had strained a relationship of 15 years with partner Tania Eden, who was in court every day of his trials.
"We've had some heated discussions about a whole raft of things but never about whether I did it."
- with NZPA
