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Shocked former police commissioner Richard Macdonald last night apologised if any incidents detailed in the Bazley inquiry happened while he led the force.
Mr Macdonald - commissioner from 1993 to 1996 - said his first knowledge of the behaviour was when it was exposed by the media.
"I
certainly wasn't aware of it but obviously it did exist," Mr Macdonald said last night.
Asked if he was shocked or surprised by the findings, he replied: "Oh yes, absolutely."
He supported the findings of Dame Margaret Bazley and said it was time action was taken and recommendations were implemented.
Mr Macdonald said that if any of the incidents happened during his time leading the force, he apologised.
"Obviously the buck stops with the commissioner's desk and I can only say I am truly sorry."
A long-serving Rotorua officer said the report's release was a "sad day" for the police.
"I've got no cause to doubt the justification for those comments by Dame Margaret Bazley," said the officer, who did not want to be named.
"I don't take any of them on board personally, as a personal criticism, but it's a sad day for the organisation that it's got to this stage."
The officer, who spent more than 25 years working at both junior and senior levels at Rotorua, was interviewed by the Operation Austin team but not called upon to give evidence in cases alleging historic sexual offending by police staff there.
He partially accepted Dame Margaret's finding that officers put up a "wall of silence" to protect colleagues who had been complained about, saying it might have been true in certain cases but was the nature of any investigation.
"People have a right to silence and police officers who are under inquiry have just as much right, if they're a suspect, to legal advice as any other member of society."
He believed the report went too far in saying police turned "a blind eye" to inappropriate sexual activity.
"We hear of conduct by members of Parliament, by members of the legal profession, by members of all sorts of responsible groups in society, but do we do something about every rumour or tabloid tittle-tattle that goes on? Is hearing about something and doing nothing condoning it?"
The officer said to restore public confidence in the police they had to get on and "do their job".
Rotorua area commander Inspector Bruce Horne refused to comment, saying Police Commissioner Howard Broad had visited the station last week and asked officers not to speak publicly about the report.
Mr Horne had no problem with Mr Broad's request.
"It's a national issue, it's not a Rotorua issue," he said. "It's appropriate that the commissioner is the person who is taking the lead on it."
Tauranga woman Donna Johnson, who claims former policeman and convicted rapist Brad Shipton forced her to perform oral sex, was not surprised at the report's findings.
Speaking on her behalf, her friend and former lawyer Vinay Deobhakta said: "As far as Donna goes, the report contains no major surprises, but in relation to her specific complaint against the police, the report is still incomplete."
Mr Deobhakta said the commission of inquiry had told Ms Johnson it would not investigate her claim that Shipton forced her to perform oral sex one night in 1995 because it was already the subject of a police complaint.
Ms Johnson complained to police after reading Louise Nicholas' allegations in 2004, saying an earlier attempt to do so after the 1995 incident was ignored.
