IPCA rules comment on piano teacher’s police file alleging ‘attraction to children’ unfair

A piano teacher will have his police vetting record amended after it unfairly alleged he was attracted to children. Photo / 123rf

A piano teacher discovered his police file contained a note he had an “abnormal attraction to children” after a prospective employer requested a police check, but an investigation has found the comments should never have been included.

The man discovered the notes, made at the time of a historical complaint against him by a former student but which only came to light in the police vetting request, also claimed he had a “sexual attraction” to children.

What followed was a three-year battle to clear his record, which today resulted in a report from the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) that found the notes were unfair.

The saga began in 2020 when one of the piano teacher’s former students made a police complaint alleging he acted inappropriately between 1998 and 2007 when she was a child. He was never charged or convicted of a crime.

The student claimed the man would sit “really close” to her, put his hands on her to demonstrate how to use the piano and hug her goodbye.

She also alleged the teacher asked her to play a song on her iPod and placed his head against her chest where her earbuds were dangling.

Police investigated and considered the possibility of other victims, but ultimately decided there was insufficient evidence to lay charges. The woman also did not want to take the complaint further.

But officers did visit the home of the man for two “preventative visits”.

Notes from these visits show the man, who had no prior convictions, was cooperative and open with police. He did not remember the behaviour alleged.

In one officer’s notebook, it was documented the man “has liked three girls in the past” and “has thought about seeking help but has never crossed the line physically”.

The notes, which were written either in the car or back at the station after the visit, were entered into the police database days later.

The interviewing officer recorded that the man said he had struggled with “sexual attraction to younger females”.

Another later entry to the file, by another officer not present at the visit, recorded the teacher had an “abnormal attraction to children”. The man denied he said this.

About a month later, the man’s employer lodged a police vetting request. A vetting report holds both “conviction and non-conviction information”.

The vetting service must take steps to determine whether the information is relevant or substantiated.

The latter requirement can be “tricky” the vetting service manager told the IPCA, as the information has not been tested in the courts.

If proposed vetting release information is likely to surprise the person involved, they will first be told of the information.

In this case, the teacher was sent a letter with the details of his file and immediately engaged a lawyer.

Over the next 18 months, the vetting service created five different copies of the proposed vetting release. The teacher complained to the IPCA.

“We recognise the Vetting Service’s role in providing risk information to agencies who have a duty of care towards the safety of children,” Judge Kenneth Johnston said in his findings.

“However, we consider the words ‘abnormal attraction to children’ and ‘sexual attraction’ should not be included in the vetting release because these were not taken from contemporaneous notes and in our view are unlikely accurately to reflect the nature of the conversation or to meet the substantiation threshold.”

Johnston said the lack of note-taking in the room at the time of the discussion with the man was “poor practice”.

He said the vetting report should be amended and released.

In response to the findings, Waitematā district commander Superintendent Shanan Grey said the vetting request that sparked the investigation has since been withdrawn and closed by police.

“Although we have taken learnings from this incident, police remain confident that the officers acted professionally, in good faith, and had community safety at the forefront of their minds when recording the outcome of this complaint.”

Both officers remain with police, Gray said.

Ethan Griffiths covers crime and justice stories nationwide for Open Justice. He joined NZME in 2020, previously working as a regional reporter in Whanganui and South Taranaki.