Key Points:

Allegations that serving and former police officers were involved in crimes including rape and drug-taking will not be investigated by the Police Complaints Authority.

The historic allegations came to light in an article published in Investigate magazine, which claimed that Dunedin police officers were involved in corruption, drug-taking, rape and child-sex rings.

The magazine also revealed that a pornographic film involving bestiality with a chicken was screened in 1981 in the Dunedin home of Howard Broad, now the Commissioner of Police.

Mr Broad has admitted the film was screened but said he was unaware it had happened until later.

Police Complaints Authority head Justice Lowell Goddard, QC, said yesterday that no claims from the magazine required investigation or action by the authority without specific complaints.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Lyn Provost said police had not received any claims about the allegations but would investigate any if they arose.

Some claims had already been investigated by police and the authority.

But Investigate editor Ian Wishart, who wrote the article, renewed his call for a commission of inquiry into the claims, saying police investigating themselves was a "Mickey Mouse situation".

No one would make a formal complaint in a system that could not be trusted, he said. "There is a huge conflict of interest ... which was exactly the point of my article."

Police Association president Greg O'Connor said the fact the magazine's allegations were not being investigated meant the authority had "seen the Investigate magazine article for the spurious muck-racking it is".