Borrows Chester: Policing Bill — In Committee 
Borrows Chester: Policing Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:649;Page:17867] 
CHESTER BORROWS (National—Whanganui) 
: 
 I rise to restate National’s support for the Policing Bill and to commend those involved in the preparation of legislation that will be enduring and does take account of modern policing methods and those involved in modern policing. 
Initially we referred to the bill as the “Police Bill” but later the title was changed to Policing Bill to capture the concept that a number of different organisations around the country today are involved in the work of policing. Some of those organisations are private businesses and some are local councils trusts and volunteer organisations but overarching all of them and with the mandate of the public of New Zealand is the New Zealand Police. So this bill seeks to legislate how the New Zealand Police is set up and how it remains distinct operationally from the Crown. The purpose of the bill is to provide for policing services in New Zealand and to state the functions of and provide for the governance and administration of the New Zealand Police. 
The New Zealand Police is a distinct and unique body amongst Crown agencies. It operates very much as the catch-all as well. I say that not to denigrate its role or its ability but it is in fact the case that where other agencies leave off for various reasons the New Zealand Police steps in. Not that long ago people rang the various other Government agencies at the end of the day when no one was there to answer the phone the answerphone would tell them to ring the police. So we have benefited as a country from a police service that has been prepared to step into all those different roles where nobody else can go and where others fear to go. 
A number of new provisions recognise the modern age of policing that we are in. There is I guess a step away from the paramilitary organisation that the New Zealand Police was and recognition of the fact that the police need to operate within the terms and conditions of the Employment Relations Act the employment legislation that binds the rest of us in society. The bill also recognises the uniqueness of police officers and the rank of constable. 
It is interesting to note too the concept of individual officer discretion which is a fundamental principle of the police in New Zealand. I remember as a young cop having a scrap with a grisly old sergeant who had— 
Nathan Guy 
: How did you get on? 
CHESTER BORROWS 
: I won actually. I had to defend my right not to arrest somebody having been ordered to arrest that person for an offence that I did not believe he had committed. I was a cop with just a couple of months’ experience and I turned round and said “No I’m not going to. You can arrest him if you like and direct me to do the paperwork but I’m not going to arrest this guy because I don’t think he has done anything wrong.” The sergeant and I fell out just after that. 
Hon Annette King 
: Did a lot for your promotion. 
CHESTER BORROWS 
: I can tell members that it did not help my chances of getting off the beat. 
The point is of course that within the New Zealand Police those decisions are up to an individual officer’s discretion. Constables have the ability to assert sovereignty over those decisions but they must be accountable for that. It is in the minds of a number of police officers as they work this country’s streets and rural areas—although they do not make a heck of a lot of it—that a decision that has taken seconds to make because of an emergency situation or some prevailing urgency is later trawled over by people who are paid an awful lot of money who have years and years of experience and frankly who have the opportunity to pull to bits the decision that a constable who may have been a constable with those powers for only a matter of weeks had seconds to make. 
I want to commend the police on this point: if we look at the number of decisions made in those circumstances we find that only rarely are they found to have been wrong. In actual fact frequently those decisions that have taken huge amounts of time to make and act on are often the ones that are pulled to bits and found to be wanting.