Louise Nicholas supports police recruits being stood down on allegations of misconduct

Victim advocate Louise Nicholas.

Louise Nicholas says the police are doing absolutely the right thing in standing down four recruits following allegations of misconduct.

The victim advocate said there is no way the police will tolerate the allegations involving alcohol abuse and reportedly one case of indecent behaviour.

An inquiry was also under way into an incident at the Royal New Zealand Police College in Porirua this month involving recruits and alcohol, Superintendent general manager of training Scott Fraser said.

At the end of the day these recruits know behaviour like this will not be tolerated

Louise Nicholas, victim advocate

No one has been stood down in relation to the Porirua incident.

Four recruits from other wings were currently stood down following allegations of misconduct in the past nine months.

"The allegations relate to four separate incidents that occurred independently.

"Three of the alleged incidents occurred off-site; in all of the incidents the recruits were off-duty," Fraser said.

Stuff has reported a recruit had been involved in an off-campus drinking session which resulted in police property being damaged.

The claims come amid growing scrutiny over excessive drinking and sexual harassment in the workforce, notably a report this month highlighting a "play hard, work hard" culture at law firm Russell McVeagh.

The report was prompted by allegations of sexual harassment to five summer clerks over the summer of 2015-2016. Chairman Malcolm Crotty admitted "serious mistakes" had been made into how allegations were handled.

Police are investigating allegations of misconduct by recruits.

Nicholas said everyone makes mistakes when they are young "but at the end of the day these recruits know behaviour like this will not be tolerated".

Individuals join the police force to make communities safer and the alleged behaviour does not align with that, she said.

Asked if the recruits should be expelled from the Police College at Porirua, Nicholas said that would depend on the outcome of the investigation.

"If it is deemed these recruits are not going to align with police conduct and the values of the New Zealand police force I'm sure these are the type of people they don't want in the police force," she said.

Said Fraser: "We hold our staff, including recruits, to a high standard and expect them to model our police values through all parts of their personal and professional lives.

"When a recruit's conduct is alleged to not be in line with Police's values we will not hesitate to investigate and deal with the matter appropriately," he said.

A recruit, who did not want to be named, said there had been an incident in which a male recruit inappropriately touched another recruit in the college bar, Stuff reported.

"As part of a redevelopment project, a bar located at the college is due to close next week.

"The redevelopment has been planned for some time and once finished will provide a new learning centre and cafe, where limited alcohol sales will be available."