Connell Brian: Appointments — Police Complaints Authority—Ian Albert Borrin 
Connell Brian: Appointments — Police Complaints Authority—Ian Albert Borrin 
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BRIAN CONNELL (National—Rakaia) 
: 
 National supports this motion. Judge Borrin has proved himself to be a worthy holder of his current office and we support his reappointment. The last speaker’s concerns are not shared by the National Party. What I lament though is the fact that whilst we are reappointing Judge Borrin to this position the legislation that would give him real teeth to exercise his office the Independent Police Complaints Authority Amendment Bill is languishing somewhere on the Order Paper. The Law and Order Committee of which I was a member discharged its responsibilities and reported back to the House on 17 November 2003 but this bill has still not come back to the House for a second reading despite the urgency of the moment. 
The police force is clearly under close scrutiny. At the moment with allegations of pack rape and corruption flying around would it not have been nice to have an independent Police Complaints Authority structure in place to deal with those issues rather than having to institute a separate inquiry altogether? We are now facing a crisis of public confidence in our police force which is I believe very unfortunate and really very unwarranted. 
Until recently most New Zealanders had a view that one of the greatest assets of our police force was that it was strong and well disciplined. Unlike some police forces as the previous speaker pointed out our police force does not meddle in politics and it certainly does not brutalise its citizens. The police do a difficult job under difficult circumstances despite constant battles with some of their top-heavy administration. 
I accept that our police force is not perfect and it is a concern that the Police Complaints Authority is seen to lack independence in dealing with some of the bad apples. Every day we hear stories and allegations of police misbehaviour or ineptitude. Some relate to well-known cases like that of Arthur Allan Thomas the Tamihere trial and the Bain case which Joe Karam continues to bring into public profile. On the whole people overwhelmingly respect our police force for the work it does but given cases like those and given the  
20/20 
 programme that screened last Sunday evening is it any wonder that people— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member must come back to the specific motion. Television programmes do not have much to do with it. 
BRIAN CONNELL 
: Thank you Mr Speaker for your advice. There is little doubt that some members of the community have concern about the Police Complaints Authority’s performance of its role in accordance with the standards that have been set for it. Everyone hears rumours about inappropriate police behaviour. Whether or not the stories are true does not really matter; what concerns me is that those stories are being heard. No one who relays such stories really believes that the police will be brought to account for their actions because under current Police Complaints Authority arrangements the very institution that deals with the complaints is perceived to be part of the old boy network. I believe that Sir Rodney Gallen picked up this issue when he said: “The dissatisfaction expressed almost entirely arose out of the concern that the investigations in each case were actually made by the police and the comment was repeatedly made that no one would expect persons connected with the organisation against which the complaint was made to act fairly and independently.” Judge Borrin will clearly have his hands full in dealing with that public perception. 
An independent authority to rule on complaints against the police is needed here as it is in the legal and medical professions. No one will take seriously a body that is not seen to be independent and impartial. What is worse the current situation makes allegations against our police more believable because a clean verdict by the Police Complaints Authority means nothing—no one really expects a guilty one. I believe that that is really unfortunate. 
If all the information were made available to those expressing concerns about the Police Complaints Authority it would become apparent in my view that 99 percent of those cases had very little merit. I think the Waitara case is an example. There is no doubt that that whole affair was a sad tragedy but what Officer Abbot and his family had to endure was a sheer living hell. His story might have been totally different if the Police Complaints Authority had had credibility. The public need to know that the authority is more than a rubber stamp otherwise “Of course they will clear him.” will be the reaction. We can hear the conversations now when we go down to our local: “Who do you think they will believe—the crim or the cop?”. That is I am afraid the concern that has been created around the Police Complaints Authority and as I said before I lament that. 
At the moment the issue of credibility around the Police Complaints Authority is without foundation and I would like to see the Government move quickly to introduce the Independent Police Complaints Authority in order to give some of that credibility back to a police force that I believe does a very fine job on the whole for the New Zealand public. The work that Judge Borrin and his team will engage in will be a vital step in rebuilding the image of the police within our community. Despite the current allegations against some of our police personnel I do not believe at all that there is a widespread problem in our police force and I for one am a very strong supporter of the police. But as the saying goes Caesar’s wife must be without suspicion and so must it be with the police force. 
Finally I repeat that National supports the motion. We convey our best wishes to Judge Borrin and his team in the hard work they have ahead of them. Their job in lots of ways is very unrewarding. They are in a difficult position more often than not because there is a suspicion regardless of what results they achieve that the result is not a fair result. That is why I again urge Government members to make sure that the Independent Police Complaints Authority Amendment Bill is put at the head of the Order Paper.