By ALISON HORWOOD
The police will announce today whether the constable who shot and killed Steven Wallace in Waitara in April will face criminal charges.
Police Commissioner Rob Robinson will be in the Taranaki town this morning to brief the Wallace family, police, iwi and community groups on the criminal investigation and
its outcome.
Prime Minister Helen Clark and Police Minister George Hawkins are also expected to be briefed this morning.
Following the meeting, Mr Robinson will hold a media conference at the Waitara police station.
A representative of the Wallace family said last night that their lawyer, John Rowan, QC, was due in Waitara to meet the family at 9 am.
Mr Rowan told the Herald that he might make a statement following the outcome of the police investigation.
A second inquiry by the Police Complaints Authority is still to be completed.
After the shooting in the early hours of April 30, the Wallace family hired Mr Rowan and private investigator Paul Bass to work on an independent inquiry, focusing primarily on whether the police used the correct procedure.
Auckland-based barrister Peter Williams, QC, was hired by the local hapu Ngati Te Whiti to report on the shooting. This was forwarded to Helen Clark.
In his report, Mr Williams said there was "no doubt" that inquiries by police and the complaints authority would not result in charges against the constable.
Wallace, aged 23, a top local sportsman and a lapsed Victoria University architecture student, was shot dead by an off-duty officer in the main street of Waitara.
Three police officers had been alerted after Wallace embarked on a 30-minute vandalism spree in which more than 100 windows were broken.
In the past 60 years, no on-duty police officer has been prosecuted for shooting a member of the public.
