KEY POINTS:
Clint Rickards was lying low yesterday - but his $50,000 police-issue Holden Commodore remained parked at his home.
Police have refused to say whether Mr Rickards, who resigned on Thursday, received a golden handshake.
But his car, given as part of his remuneration while he was suspended on
full pay, was at his Greenlane home and is still registered to the police.
A police spokeswoman refused to reveal whether Mr Rickards has been able to keep the car as part of his retirement package.
A spokeswoman repeated that no details would be released because the settlement was covered by "employer-employee relationship requirements".
Mr Rickards' partner Tania Eden threatened to call the police to issue a trespass order when the Weekend Herald went to call at the house yesterday, before saying he was not there.
"You're wasting your time; he's away for the weekend," she said.
Mr Rickards has been known to spend time while suspended at the $625,000 home he and Ms Eden bought in Hawkes Bay in 2005.
He has earned more than $150,000 a year since being suspended in February 2004.
Neighbours said Mr Rickards had left yesterday morning, but they did not know where he was headed.
One neighbour said he had been taking increasingly "strange" measures to avoid being seen.
He was regularly dropped off by a car round the corner and hid by another house before racing to his own home once it was confirmed the "coast was clear".
"We've seen some strange things," said the neighbour, who did not want to be named.
Mr Rickards rose rapidly through the ranks but came undone after facing allegations of sexual offences at two separate trials. He was cleared, but told he would face an internal police disciplinary hearing involving 11 charges.
He vowed to fight them, but - a few months before the hearing - he resigned on Thursday. He denied any wrongdoing but said remaining with the force had become an "untenable position".
Women's Refuge said yesterday it was "extraordinary" that it had taken Mr Rickards so long to realise that remaining in the police was untenable.
"Mr Rickards' departure is long overdue, as his continued employment in the police has been completely unacceptable," said National Collective of Independent Women's Refuges chief executive Heather Henare.
"His insistence on remaining on the payroll and wanting to resume his duties has angered a lot of women.
"Many people will wonder why he's chosen to jump now, just before his internal disciplinary hearing, when he has been so adamant he had done nothing wrong."
Mr Rickards' contract was due to expire in December next year.
Golden handshakes: public deserves the facts
The Weekend Herald yesterday asked the police to consider an earlier ruling on golden handshakes and make public the details of any payment to Clint Rickards beyond his superannuation.
That decision from the Chief Ombudsman forced the Fire Service Commission to provide details of a secret golden handshake paid to the service's departing chief executive in 2000. In that instance the Chief Ombudsman said public interest outweighed privacy considerations.
The police did not respond in time for this report to questions whether that ruling was considered in the decision not to releasedetails of Mr Rickards' package.
Deputy Ombudsman Leo Donnelly said it was inappropriate for the office to comment because it could not prejudge a matter it might be asked to investigate.
The view of the previous Chief Ombudsman, Sir Brian Elwood, was that the public had a right to know the size of golden handshakes paid to senior public servants. "Members and officials of public bodies must be accountable for their actions or decisions in this regard."
He criticised departments for being "increasingly legalistic" in their attempts to thwart public access to information.
