'She didn't deserve to be a cop'

The victim of a motor vehicle crash with an off-duty Hawke's Bay police officer says the officer should never have remained in the police after she pleaded guilty to careless driving causing injury three years ago.

Mikayla Paul was sentenced to two months' disqualification from driving after the crash which left two people with numerous injuries including fractured pelvises.

Paul, now 23, recently resigned from the police after another indiscretion, this time an assault, when she attacked a woman during a night out in Napier last year. Louise Maki from Galatea, near Rotorua, spent 13 days in hospital after the 2009 Boxing Day accident.

"She didn't deserve to be in there [the police] after what she did to us," she said yesterday.

"Finally, finally she's seen the light and knows she shouldn't be there. That's not good in the community full stop, let alone [by] a policewoman."

It was "not a good look" for the force and did nothing for their credibility, she said, adding she had felt left out of the investigating process.

"We weren't mistreated, it was just they weren't too worried about us being the victims." The accident occurred just after noon on December 26, 2009. Paul had been approaching a T-intersection in Bay View near Napier that was controlled by a give way sign.

After having given way to one vehicle, she pulled into the intersection and collided with the motorbike carrying Ms Maki and driven by her partner David Storey.

During the court hearing in early 2010, a judge found Mr Storey had failed to switch on his lights, in accordance with a law which required all motorcycle riders to have their headlights on during daylight hours.

Later that year Paul was also convicted of driving while disqualified.

A police spokeswoman yesterday declined to respond to Ms Maki's comments.

Paul resigned from the police after her recent assault conviction.

She was ordered to pay $882 in emotional harm reparation and costs.

It's understood she has now found new employment in Australia.

New Zealand Police Association president Greg O'Connor said decisions regarding employment after a conviction, at that time, had been made by outside employment lawyers.

He said it would not be in the public interest if there was a hard and fast rule regarding police working with convictions because it didn't take into account the quality of the officer.

"That would deprive the public of some very good police officers and it would not be in the interest of the public," Mr O'Connor said.

"It would cost a lot of very good police officers their careers if that were the case."