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New Zealand's top police officer yesterday gave an unequivocal apology to women harmed by sex abuse from police officers, and appealed to any other victims to make formal complaints.
Police Commissioner Howard Broad vowed to overhaul his organisation after a damning report by the Commission of Inquiry into
Police Conduct.
But the 450-page report's author, Dame Margaret Bazley, expressed doubts about police culture changes and put the force on notice.
"I am concerned that the police impetus for change may not be sustained," she said.
For that reason, the police force will remain under close scrutiny for 10 years.
The State Services Commissioner will make an annual audit of police culture, and the Auditor-General will monitor how the 60 recommendations in Dame Margaret's report are being implemented.
The long-awaited inquiry slammed as "disgraceful" the conduct of some officers and their associates over a 25-year period from 1979 until 2005.
The inquiry reviewed 313 complaints of sexual assault against 222 police officers, but its terms of reference did not allow it to consider cases that had not already been investigated by the police.
Dame Margaret said "a few" individuals in that category approached her inquiry, but she could not look into their complaints.
Mr Broad urged any victims of sexual abuse "who have perhaps been reluctant to make a complaint" to "please, come forward".
Seventeen of the officers involved in the cases examined by Dame Margaret are still in the force, having been through a disciplinary process that resulted in punishments ranging from counselling to reprimands.
Dame Margaret's inquiry uncovered evidence of police exploiting vulnerable people, protecting alleged perpetrators they knew, turning a blind eye to inappropriate sexual activity, and having negative, stereotyped views of complainants.
But she did not find evidence of a wider effort within the police force to cover up inappropriate behaviour, and she said there had been improvement in many areas during the 25-year period she examined.
Police and the Government yesterday moved quickly to endorse all the recommendations for change made in Dame Margaret's report.
They include the rapid introduction of a code of conduct for police, and the adoption of a policy which prohibits officers having a sexual relationship with a person over whom they have authority, or where there is an imbalance in power.
There will also be an overhaul of the internal disciplinary system, which Dame Margaret described as "cumbersome, time-consuming, and outdated".
Mr Broad said he found the report "painful reading".
He felt Dame Margaret's most important recommendation was for the adoption of a code of conduct.
"If we had a code of conduct back in the 80s, I think that would have made a difference," Mr Broad said.
"The code of conduct takes you into a lot more personal responsibility about your own actions."
A draft has been drawn up, and Mr Broad said that because police officers were police officers 24 hours a day, their off-duty behaviour was also relevant.
He took full responsibility for the criticisms made by Dame Margaret.
"I can't change what's happened," he said. "I'm deeply apologetic for the harm that this small number of police officers, with a small number of breakdowns in our process, has caused."
He also said: "To the women of New Zealand, I say I have been disgusted and sickened as you will be by the behaviour of these few officers as put before the commission of inquiry in many of the files that have covered some 25 years of our recent history.
"To all New Zealanders, I am truly sorry that a very few of our number have undermined the high expectations that you rightly have of your police."
The Police Complaints Authority is also likely to be changed as a result of the inquiry.
Dame Margaret recommending that the Ministry of Justice review the secrecy provisions in the law governing the authority.
She asked for the review to ensure that the law did not inappropriately prevent the authority from investigating complaints that may result in criminal or disciplinary proceedings being taken against a member of the police.
