Editorial: It takes money to keep police honest

It might not be quite an open-and-shut case. But there have always been grounds aplenty, if not necessarily irrefutable evidence, for setting up the Police Complaints Authority independently of the police. The Minister of Justice, in sanctioning a move along that path, spoke yesterday of "a problem of perception" when the police investigated serious complaints against themselves.

Inevitably, Phil Goff said, this raised doubts about the impartiality of any findings. An escalation of such doubts prompted a police review three years ago to recommend enhancement of the authority's independent status. To the Government of the time, this was still a suggestion that could safely reside in the non-urgent basket. The shooting of Steven Wallace by police in Waitara a year ago, however, removed any grounds for complacency.

That tragedy provided both a catalyst and a focus for public dissatisfaction. Questions about the shooting demanded independent scrutiny, yet the complaints authority process called for the use of police officers to investigate a fellow policeman.

The authority, of course, remains responsible for the integrity of such investigations. Nonetheless, understandable questions might be asked about how vigorously an issue will be pursued by police, especially when careers are on the line.

The Government's response to the Waitara shooting was to commission a review by Sir Rodney Gallen, a retired High Court judge. Unsurprisingly, he has recommended that the authority be provided with a greater investigative capacity of its own, independent of the police. This will allow the most serious complaints to be investigated directly by authority staff. Initially, it seems, that will involve six authority investigators dealing with cases of death or serious injury alleged to have been caused by the police.

This is clearly a step in the right direction. Much, however, will depend on the authority being given sufficient resources to operate effectively. Mr Goff envisages that it will be able to expand the range of cases it handles as expertise increases. Here there is room for doubts. The authority's present slimline annual budget of $825,000 appears set to get only a $1 million boost. Quite simply, that might not be enough.

It is critical for public acceptance that independent investigations are not restricted to a handful of cases. Each year, more than 2000 complaints are accepted by the authority for investigation. The gains may be limited if the overwhelming majority of those remain subject to police investigation of their own officers.

Every person who approaches the authority takes his or her complaint seriously. The authority must be able to treat them that way, not cry poor while turning over significant complaints to police investigators. Essentially, it must not share the fate of the Securities Commission. That body's ability to act as an efficient market watchdog has been limited severely by budget constraints.

It would also be a considerable advance if the complaints authority used this revamp to abandon much of the secrecy which surrounds its work. It has the right to publish reports on any case which it considers "in the public interest" but rarely does so. In the June 2000 year it issued just five reports, while accepting 2428 complaints against police for investigation. This reticence places the authority at odds with society's demand for greater transparency and accountability.

To distance the authority further from the police, it will now be known as the Independent Police Complaints Authority. That is also logical. When the authority's first name was police, there was an obvious risk that it would be viewed as an instrument of the police. Again, perception is the key. Mr Goff was careful to note that a study of complaints dealt with by the authority had shown overwhelmingly that investigations by police had been thorough and fair, and that supervision by the authority had been effective.

The police, indeed, have undoubtedly become more accountable in the 12 years since the authority was established. That accountability, and the reputation of the police, will be enhanced by acceptance of a completely independent level of scrutiny.

The complaints authority now has at least some of the resources to back its power to investigate serious complaints independently.

Ultimately, however, reinforcing the perception of its impartiality will depend on the extent of that resourcing. Success there is important not only for the authority but for our confidence in the police.