Police cover-up allegations: Police worried reputation tainted

By STAFF REPORTERS

In police staff canteens around the country, news of the commission of inquiry hit like a physical assault.

Police, among the most respected professions in the country, have found themselves in the glare of bad publicity over rape allegations and whether they were investigated properly.

Word passed quickly among rank and file police yesterday as news broke that criminal investigations would be reopened into historical rape allegations and a senior policeman, Assistant Commissioner Clint Rickards, had been stood down.

Then came a second shock an hour later - the Government had ordered a commission of inquiry.

"Our job has been made harder. We will get it in the neck from the public - we'll get abuse and snide remarks," said one officer.

He believed the public's perception and trust in the police would be shattered.

But many staff were pleased action was being taken into the historical rape allegations.

In Rotorua, where the alleged pack rape of a woman was said to have taken place then inadequately investigated, police have spoken of little else for days.

Said one senior officer: "The complainant has obviously lost all faith in the police and if this [commission of inquiry] can bring some sort of closure for her, then that's good."

The vast majority of staff based in Rotorua were not at the station during the mid-1980s when the pack rape is said to have occurred but the allegation has tainted all police officers, the man said.

"The situation needs to be fixed and this is an exceptionally good way of doing it."

In Auckland - now being headed by Acting Superintendent Gavin Jones, after Mr Rickards was stood down - an officer said the continuing allegations could hurt police investigations of rape in the future but "people shouldn't tar us all with the same brush".

It would probably be "thrown back at us by disgruntled female complainants who perceive that they haven't got their own way".

But he did not expect to get "lip" from criminals he dealt with "because they won't care".

One officer from the Northern Communications Centre said: "It's a good idea as everything needs to be clarified. I was a bit concerned to see on television the other night a woman saying police weren't protecting people ... I thought that was pretty sad."

Police Association president Greg O'Connor said officers around the country were hurt by the daily negative publicity.

"But policing goes on," he said, citing the launch of three homicide inquiries in two days.

The vast majority of existing police officers were still at primary school in the 1980s and knew about the alleged rapes only from the media coverage, which was "providing ammunition for our detractors at every level, from on the streets right up to our political opponents", Mr O'Connor said.

A big worry was that "the winners in all this" would be the criminals.

"We have an organised crime problem in this country that is getting worse and I would hate to think this ... would render us less effective because we have been distracted."