42 THE PCA

THE WATCHDOG YOU HAVE WHEN YOU’RE NOT HAVING A WATCHDOG

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Killed shopkeeper’s family lodge complaint

2:15PM Wednesday Oct 08, 2008

The family of Navtej Singh have lodged a complaint over the way police handled his shooting.

Family members say they want answers from the Independent Police Conduct Authority about why police took so long to enter the Manurewa shop after Mr Singh was shot.

Father-of-two Mr Singh was shot in the chest with a .22 rifle during a raid on his liquor store in Riverton Drive in June and died the next day.

The family say they are not seeking financial compensation but simply want answers over the handling of the case.

Seven people were charged with a variety of offences after the shooting.

At a meeting this afternoon it was also announced that the Sikh community, worried about a series of attacks on shopkeepers, is setting up a fund to help with legal costs if they face police action.

An Otara liquor store owner involved in a brawl outside his shop last week has been charged with assault.

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Supporter frustrated by corrupt process

21 Jun 2008

Steve Potter displays the correspondence to date (photo deleted) in his fight to prove the innocence of Shane Cribb and to bring those responsible to justice. Alexandra man Steve Potter, the driving force behind a bid to prove the innocence of a young Alexandra man charged with careless use of a motor vehicle causing injury, claims police denied support for the then teenager during an interview.
Mr Potter, in a letter sent to the Police Complaints Authority in December 2005, said police interviewed Shane Cribb, then aged 17, after he collided with an unmarked police vehicle being driven by Commercial Vehicle Investigation Unit (CVIU) senior constable Neil Robert Ford in July 2005.

Mr Cribb had his conviction dismissed on Thursday, almost three years after the crash.

Attempts by the Otago Daily Times yesterday to contact police for comment were unsuccessful.

In a four-page letter to the Police Complaints Authority, Mr Potter said police unfairly and unjustly attached blame for the crash on Mr Cribb and denied Mr Cribb support when he was interviewed after the crash.

The letter said police would not allow Mr Potter to support Mr Cribb during the interview.

Mr Potter yesterday told the Otago Daily Times police had later allowed Mr Cribb’s stepmother to be at the interview.

In his letter, Mr Potter meticulously outlined the sequence of events surrounding the crash as he believed they had happened, and how police had described them, with accompanying drawings, and asked for the charges against Mr Cribb to be dropped.

He told the authority that either to pervert the course of justice to protect a fellow officer, or through an incompetent investigation that lacked thoroughness, the police had unfairly and unjustly attached blame for the accident to Shane Cribb and subsequently laid charges against him.

Judge I. A. Borrin replied in January 2006, saying the authority had no power to intervene in the prosecution process.

The authority could not direct the charges be dropped and the authority could not consider issues which were the function of the court to decide.

He said Mr Cribb could come back to the authority once court proceedings were concluded if he had any issues he wanted addressed.

Judge Borrin said he was required by law to notify the Commissioner of Police of all complaints received but he would not do that at that time, as the material Mr Potter had forwarded to the authority could be useful in Mr Cribb’s defence.

Mr Potter wrote back in May 2006 telling the authority he wished to proceed with a complaint.

The letter also made several other complaints.

Judge Borrin wrote back reiterating his earlier comments, and advised Mr Potter to ensure he made any claims he planned to make to the High Court within the required time.

He also said he had forwarded the complaint to the Police Commissioner.

Mr Potter told the Otago Daily Times yesterday he had sent a total of five letters to the Police Complaints Authority, now called the Independent Police Conduct Authority, and each time he was told it was before the courts and it was a police matter.

“I kept telling them I was not interested in them getting involved in the judicial process.

“I was only interested in them investigating the police that caused the judicial process to be required in the first place,” he told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.

A letter had also been sent to police commissioner Howard Broad urging him to intervene.

Commissioner Broad acknowledged receipt of the letter and no further correspondence was received from him, he said.

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Too late, you had your chance!

Police watchdog reopens death file

May 20, 2008

The Independent Police Conduct Authority has reopened its file into George Tipene Harris, after charges related to his death were laid in court last week.

Two serving police officers, a former officer and a man believed to be now serving in the Queensland police face charges of conspiring to defeat the course of justice after allegedly lying about the way Mr Harris died.

The four appeared in the Manukau District Court on Friday, with two granted interim name suppression.

Serving officer Clinton Hill, 29, is charged with assaulting Mr Harris, 24, on October 3, 2004, shortly before he ran into the path of a street sweeper and was killed.

Benson Murphy, understood to be a Queensland police officer, faces a conspiracy charge.

The charges followed a police inquiry into an alleged cover-up.

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Drunk Cop bashes and sober cops cover up

Police face cover-up charges

Two serving New Zealand police officers, a former officer and a man believed to be currently serving in the Queensland police force face charges of conspiring to defeat the course of justice after allegedly lying about the way a man died. The four appeared in Manukau District Court yesterday, the New Zealand Herald reported. Two of the four were granted interim name suppression. Serving officer Clinton Hill, 29, is charged with assaulting George Tipene Harris, 24, on October 3, 2004, shortly before he ran into the path of a street sweeper and was killed. Benson Murphy understood to be a Queensland police force officer faces a conspiracy charge. The charges follow a high-level police inquiry into an alleged cover-up over Mr Harris’s death. The inquiry led by Detective Superintendent Malcolm Burgess was prompted by new information claiming Mr Harris was assaulted in the back of a police car shortly before the accident. The Independent Police Conduct Authority inquired into the death in 2004 but found no one at fault.

Let’s get this straight – an off duty and drunk by his own admission cop – Clinton Hill, arrests George Harris for ‘stealing his cell phone’, while taking him to a Police station, a cop car turns up and picks them up, Hill then allegedly beats Harris up in the car, Harris escapes from the Police car and the illegal beating he is getting from the cops in the Police car and runs into the path of a truck that kills him – these cops try a cover up that is so poor and obvious that even the Police prosecutor has no choice but to prosecute – but get this – the ‘independent’ Police complaints authority (the Government changed the name from Police Complaints Authority to the ‘Independent’ Police Complaints Authority – the only change being the inclusion of the word ‘Independent’ – it is still the secret, non transparent cops investigating cops bullshit it has always been) ‘investigated’ this case and found no one at fault – that shows what a piss poor check and balance system the Police Complaints Authority is and why no serious person who has been abused by the Police can ever bother complaining when they can make findings like this one. We live in a democratic state, NOT a Police State, yes the Police have a very hard job to do, and we underfund them and under train them (19 weeks is a joke to be a cop) we have lowered the physical requirements so that they are more reliant on alpha male behaviour obtained from tasers or pepper spray rather than the confidence from the authority of the uniform but like Dame Margaret Bazely who did a report on the culture of Police put it – she doesn’t believe the Police can change their culture without outside direction and called on her recommendations to be implemented by an independent body. This was a woman who had her investigation legally stymied by the Police every step of the way costing the tax payer over $400 000 in legal fees and she ended up having to call on the Prime Minister for protection after allegations that her 20 year old marriage to a person in the Mr Asia case would be made public in an attempt to smear her character and credibility – that’s what the Police tried to do to someone as protected and untouchable as Margaret Bazely – now what do you think they could do to little only you and me – how bout a beating in a police car leading to death and then a cover up?

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Monday April 14

Police Conduct Authority grilled over complaints

MPs will keep a close eye on the reporting procedures of the Independent Police Conduct Authority.

Parliament’s Law and Order Select Committee is focussing on the body’s handling of complaints, as a number of incidents did not appear in its last annual report.

The IPCA blames the situation on its data collection, saying managing and tracking cases had been difficult with its old database. It has assured the committee a new system has been put in place.

The select committee is indicating it will keep an eye on the new system, saying it is important for public confidence in the IPCA that complaints are dealt with quickly.

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Call for independent scrutiny of police
November 28, 2007

Public confidence in the police needs to be bolstered by a truly independent Police Complaints Authority, says the authority’s chief, Justice Lowell Goddard, QC.

In a strongly worded introduction to the PCA’s annual report, which was issued yesterday, Justice Goddard said it had been a demanding year, with significant public scrutiny of the police and the authority.

That included Dame Margaret Bazley’s Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct - a scathing report that included seven recommendations concerning the PCA, each of which had been or would be actioned.

Justice Goddard said the PCA’s reliance on police to conduct investigations into their own conduct had the potential to involve conflicts of interest and thus diminish the perceived independence of the authority.

She said Dame Margaret’s report had confirmed her view the PCA needed its own “robust investigative capability”.

“The public confidence I seek to ensure will be greatly enhanced by the authority being seen to undertake its own investigative work …

The authority’s ability to report and make recommendations in a timely manner will also be enhanced.”

The PCA received more than 3500 complaints in the past financial year and almost 3100 were accepted for investigation - a rise of 612 on the previous year.

“The increase … is disappointing and placed increased pressure on the authority,” the report said.

The PCA has one investigations manager and four investigators. Before the establishment of the unit in 2003 police investigated all PCA complaints.

“The authority’s investigators now investigate serious complaints against the police and incidents in which deaths or serious bodily harm appear to have resulted from the actions of the police,” the report said.

“In addition, the investigators carry out limited investigation work on less serious matters when the authority considers close monitoring of a police investigation to be desirable.”

However, a decision to “lift the intensity of its investigation into the most serious matters” was being hampered by the investigation team’s high caseload, the report said.

The PCA has been strongly criticised in recent years for its large backlog of cases, and in February the outgoing authority, Judge Ian Borrin, told a select committee that 830 cases were on the books.

In 2006-07 the authority accepted 3093 complaints for investigation, but closed just 1018. However, that closure rate represented a 24 per cent improvement on last year - a gain Justice Goddard said she hoped would be maintained by a Budget funding increase and a review into the backlog which she had commissioned.

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Police chase rules come under scrutiny

August 22, 2007

A review of the rules around police chases is to be carried out after concerns over the frequency of pursuits that have ended in serious or fatal injury in the past three years.

The review is to be carried out by the Police Complaints Authority and will determine whether the present policy and general instructions provide enough guidance for officers involved in pursuits.

It will be the first time the rules have been reviewed since 2003, when procedures and guidelines for pursuits were tightened after three deaths in two high-profile chases.

Justice Lowell Goddard, who heads the PCA, said the authority was “concerned” about the frequency of fatal and serious injury police pursuits.

“It has decided to review all such incidents since the police introduced updated policy and general instructions on pursuits in March 2004.”

Guidelines introduced then by the police put safety ahead of arrests.

Supervisors were told they could order chases to be abandoned.

Police media spokeswoman Jane Archibald would not say last night how many pursuits had been carried out since 2004, when the changes were implemented. But it is understood at least two people have died during pursuits this year.

Newspaper reports show that in the year to last November 2089 pursuits took place, 539 resulted in accidents and 26 of these resulted in injuries and three deaths. About 570 were abandoned.

Police Deputy Commissioner Operations, Rob Pope, welcomed the review, saying it would provide “a valuable, independent perspective”.

“The very nature of police pursuits means there will always be a high level of public interest in the policies and procedures police must follow.”

The Police Association said it was important the review did not shift the blame away from offenders, as that would just “encourage irresponsible driving and lead to further tragedies”. “It is drivers who refuse to stop for police, not police officers, who are to blame for members of the public becoming innocent victims of those offenders’ selfish and irresponsible actions,” said association vice-president Stuart Mills.

“Offenders who are the subject of police pursuits often pose a danger to the public long before a pursuit begins, for example, drunk and dangerous drivers, or serious offenders fleeing from scenes of crime.”

Mr Pope said the police were also conducting their own review to determine the effectiveness of training, policy and procedure changes implemented during the last review.

They are due to report back to the commissioner in the middle of next month.

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Monday, 5 February 2007

Why an internal Complaints Authority will not work for CYFS.

The Police Complaints authority is a complete and utter waste of time. The vast majority of complaints made to it are referred back to the Police ‘professional conduct division’.

The police officers who fill this division will:

1. Try to convince you to agree that you complaint was groundless. the formal name for this is conciliation, and in the official report it gives the impression that some form of redress or apology or conciliation has been offered. This is far from the truth, what in fact happens is that police use sophisticated interrogation and manipulation techniques to destroy your confidence in your complaint and to get you to drop it.

2. If you refuse to be ‘conciliated’ you will be subjected to character assassination and ad hominem attack - your motives will be questioned - and the complaint will be denied. Any lie put forward by the offending officer will be accepted out of hand and your evidence counts for nothing.

3. You have the right to protest this Police investigation of themselves — and the PCA response will be to refer your response back to the police, and they will get to concoct another series of denials of it all.

4. This carries on until you get sick of it. 5. Even if the PCA does come down on your side the Police can give it 2 fingers as it has no authority over them at all.

These are the stats for complaints from last year taken from the PCA yearly report:

A. Total complaints - 2829

B. Accepted for jurisdiction - 2481

C. Not pursued - 164

D. Sustained or partially sustained - 96

E. Conciliated or not sustained - 563.

The balance are still ongoing.

So in a year, Police accept they were out of line in a whopping 3.8% of cases.

There sure are a heck of a lot of people out there making false complaints aren’t there?

How lucky we are to have a police force that can be trusted to investigate themselves eh?

Now, apply the same process to CYFS complaints………………..
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Wallace shooting report due soon
July 15, 2007

By David Fisher

A finding into the death of Waitara’s Steven Wallace is imminent, signalling an end to public inquiries about the seven-year-old police shooting.

Coroner Gordon Matenga said he was finalising the report into Wallace’s death and expected to release it “soon”.

It is expected to be made public by the end of the month.

Wallace was fatally shot by police officer Keith Abbott in April 2000, after smashing windows and a police car with a baseball bat and golf clubs, and threatening to hit Abbott.

The death sparked a range of inquiries, with Wallace’s family voicing anger at what was seen to be a lack of police accountability. The family launched a private murder prosecution against Abbott, in which he was acquitted by a jury.

The coroner’s hearing was initially set for 2001 but was postponed until 2005 until the private prosecution had been completed. Matenga, who also examined police policies on violent offenders and first aid, heard the case but reserved his decision.

The lengthy delay has caused frustration for both the Wallace family and the Police Association.

Matenga told the Herald on Sunday: “I’m in the process of completing these findings. They should be available soon.”

Asked if he meant weeks or months, he said “Not months. I know there’s a sense of frustration from everyone.”

The completion of the coroner’s inquiry means the final step in the process can also be completed.

The findings of a Police Complaints Authority inquiry into the shooting will follow Matenga’s report within months.

Wallace’s mother, Raewyn, would not comment. Ron Mansfield, the family’s lawyer, said comment would not be made until the finding was released.

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Officer who shot man wielding machete cleared
Email this storyPrint this story Thursday February 08, 2007

A policeman who shot a man wielding a machete and a meat-cleaver has been cleared of wrongdoing.

Sergeant Jason Charles Lunjevich shot Michael Ali’imatafitafi three times as he charged at police called to his North Shore house to forcibly remove a stereo in a noise control dispute.

The Police Complaints Authority found Mr Lunjevich was justified in shooting Ali’imatafitafi, whose injuries were not life-threatening.

The authority did not name Mr Lunjevich, whose name had earlier been made public in court reports about the incident.

Mr Lunjevich told the authority the offender’s face had been twisted with rage as he charged at him, ignoring calls to drop his weapons.

“I have never seen anyone look like this before in my life,” he said.

“When he was moving off on a tangent to my left he was still brandishing the machete in his right hand above his head like he was going to swing it in a chopping motion … he then swerved and began heading towards me.”

Judge Ian Borrin said Mr Lunjevich had no choice but to shoot Ali’imatafitafi with his 9mm semi-automatic pistol, because he posed an immediate threat to the officer’s life.

Mr Lunjevich’s other options for subduing the man - using pepper-spray or a baton - would have meant getting too close to the machete-waving offender.

It wasn’t until the third bullet hit him in the torso that Ali’imatafitafi, then 37, stopped advancing and collapsed 2m from Mr Lunjevich.

The incident was triggered by Ali’imatafitafi and his father, who are both hard of hearing, playing music by Maria Callas, Johann Strauss and Celine Dion loudly on their stereo.

After the pair refused to turn the volume down, police were called to seize the stereo. Ali’imatafitafi snr came out on to the driveway and smashed the stereo in front of police.

Then Ali’imatafitafi jnr emerged brandishing the machete and meat cleaver, before Mr Lunjevich shot him.

In 2005 Michael Ali’imatafitafi was sentenced to two years in prison for assault.

Judge Borrin said Mr Lunjevich had been faced with a situation where he was compelled to use lethal force.

The judge said he had noted that police were conducting a Taser trial.

“It is not for this authority to express a view on that particular device but … it supports the consideration by the police of non-lethal alternatives.”

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Potty mouthed porkers

13/12/2006 7:40:49 AM

Police need to mind language

Wednesday December 13, 2006
Elizabeth Binning

Police officers’ attitude and language ranks highly among complaints to the Police Complaints Authority in the past year.

According to the latest PCA annual report 1741 people made 2829 complaints about the police, most of which were accepted for investigation.

Complaints covered perjury to disgraceful conduct but the main areas of concern were neglect of duty, practice and procedure and the attitude and language of police.

Of the complaints, 96 were partially or fully sustained and 207 were settled after meetings between the police and the complainant.

Professional standards national manager, Superintendent Stuart Wildon, said police made hundreds of thousands of contacts with the public every year. It was therefore expected that there would be occasions when officers failed to meet public expectations.

Mr Wildon said the attitude and language of police often featured highly in the list of complaints. It affected the reputation of the police and was treated seriously by the force.

“We do take those sorts of complaints seriously because they often result in the first contact with the public, and of course first contacts leave long-lasting impressions and are therefore very important in the maintenance of our reputation.”

Mr Wildon said attitude and language complaints needed to be seen in light of the situations officers found themselves in, which were often negative and hostile.

“That can attract these sorts of complaints.”

Of the 336 complaints about police attitude or language, 297 were investigated.

Three cases were partially sustained, nine fully sustained, and 47 cases were settled. The rest were either not sustained or the complainants no longer wanted to pursue them.

Mr Wildon said in cases where a complaint was upheld, steps were taken to address the officer’s attitude or language.

“It may be in the form of some disciplinary sanction or of a lesser sanction where the officer is reminded of the need to maintain professionalism in those sorts of situations.

“From time to time police officers do apologise where their behaviour or attitude has caused offence. Most people feel appeased if they do receive an apology.”

The largest number of complaints came from the Wellington police district, followed by Canterbury, Auckland City and North Shore/Waitakere/Rodney but the overall number dropped nationally by 161.

Mr Wildon said the decrease was pleasing and he attributed it to a heightened awareness of integrity and conduct.

Awareness had come about because several things, including the ongoing commission of inquiry into police conduct, some high-profile public cases and clear messages from the commissioner about integrity and professionalism.

PCA COMPLAINTS 2005-06

* 1741 people made 2829 complaints, fewer than the previous year.

* 2481 complaints accepted for investigation. Five were partially sustained, 91 sustained, 207 resolved, 356 not sustained.

* 151 files opened as a result of referral from Police Commissioner after internally discovered misconduct or serious neglect of duty.

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LINK

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Walking a thin blue line

The Press | Saturday, 20 January 2007

The police watchdog is about to have a woman at the helm for the first time in its 18-year history. Will Justice Lowell Goddard be able to restore public confidence in the Police Complaints Authority?

YVONNE MARTIN reports.

She has been flagged for decades as a great hope among the sisters in law.

ver since Justice Lowell Goddard rode shotgun with Dame Silvia Cartwright as senior counsel on the commission of inquiry into cervical-cancer treatment in 1987, her card has been marked.

Now, in the latest of her bunch of “firsts” for New Zealand women, Goddard has been appointed the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) – a person appointed by the Governor-General on the recommendation of Parliament.

She replaces retiring Judge Ian Borrin next month as the first woman authority in the institution’s 18-year history.

A poised career woman at the peak of her powers, Goddard has the high expectations of the disgruntled public and police riding on her back.

The Wellington-based High Court judge has been chosen by the Government to steer the PCA through probably its toughest five years, restore public confidence in the police watchdog, and dispel the lingering perception that police investigating police means the blue team always wins.

In the next few years the PCA is likely to be renamed the Independent Police Complaints Authority, with souped-up powers and three members instead of just one.

It may also be given greater investigative capacity, with sleuths from a variety of backgrounds, not just police officers and retired police. Sweeping reforms suggested in a 2000 review by a retired High Court judge have been a long time coming.

The sole-charge police watchdog role, which commands a $272,000 salary, is not an advertised position. The Government chooses who it wants to be the PCA and advises other political parties.

Goddard’s appointment was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, December 5, but went unheralded.

There was no fanfare from the PCA or Justice Minister Mark Burton who was away from the House at the time. He left Luamanuvao Winnie Laban, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister, to make the announcement on his behalf. There was no dissent from opposition parties.

Choosing a long-serving High Court judge of Goddard’s calibre – and a woman to counterbalance the perceived testosterone-heavy police force – has won cross-party support.

“Tremendous,” says New Zealand First’s law-and-order spokesman Ron Mark, who, as a staunch police critic for years, was most likely to kick up a fuss. “Her appointment in itself will lead to a greater degree of public confidence in the role,” he says.

“There is huge scepticism and that’s understandable because in many cases the PCA has not been seen to be as independent as the public expect it to be.”

The genial Borrin, who has been the authority since 2001, had no say in choosing his successor, but is just as magnanimous.

“She’s a superb appointment,” he says. Borrin retires on February 13 after reaching the statutory retirement age for the authority of 72.

His office receives about 3000 complaints a year and last year accepted 2481 of them for investigation. There is a backlog of 878 complaints, fewer than half the number waiting last year.

The Louise Nicholas historic rape allegations against three officers led to a flurry of complaints in early 2004, as has the police’s rising level of traffic enforcement over the years.

Complaints investigated by the PCA include alleged misconduct or neglect of duty by police officers, and concerns about any policy or practice of the police. The authority is also tasked with investigating any incident of serious bodily harm involving the police.

However, PCA “investigations” can be a bit of a misnomer.

The PCA does not conduct independent, stand-alone investigations into complaints against police, as some people might presume.

It largely relies on police investigators to do the legwork and reviews their investigations afterwards.

Borrin says his investigators are involved in the more significant and complex matters referred to the authority.

Last year the PCA’s five all-male investigators were involved in 175 matters.

“Where there are allegations of a criminal nature or allegations which might lead to some disciplinary measures being taken against a member of the police, then the police must be involved,” he says.

It is this aspect – police investigating police – which has copped the PCA the most flak in recent years.

“In New Zealand First’s opinion, it (the PCA) doesn’t have the resources and it doesn’t have the legislation to guarantee it total and absolute autonomy,” says Mark.

“It is in the public’s interest and that of serving police officers that the authority gains absolute autonomy.”

Retired High Court judge Sir Rodney Gallen found public confidence seriously lacking when he reviewed the PCA in 2000 after the fatal shooting of Stephen Wallace in Waitara.

The judge’s recommendations included a name change, expansion to a three-member body and enhanced investigative capacity, independent of the police.

The Louise Nicholas case raised fresh questions about the PCA’s independence. The Green Party even refused to support Borrin’s reappointment that year as unease grew over the authority’s role in investigating the historic sexual allegations against police.

The National Party supported Borrin, but MP Brian Connell warned that the authority was seen as part of the “old boys’ network”.

Proposed legislation for a PCA shake-up has stalled since its second reading in May 2005. The Government has decided to wait for the much-delayed outcome of the Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct sparked by the Nicholas case and now due in late March.

Burton has promised to advance the Independent Police Complaints Authority Amendment Bill this year.

Outside of Parliament, The Press understands there is growing tension between the police and the PCA over how internal investigations are managed.

Some high-ranking police are backing a fully independent PCA so that investigations are seen to be scrupulously clean and transparent, and therefore more credible to the public.

“New Zealand is a small place. When police are made to investigate each other, it is basically workmate investigating workmate. In what other first-world police force does that happen?” says one senior officer.

The picture gets even murkier when it is police officers laying complaints with the PCA against their peers or bosses. Several such thorny complaints from Canterbury are awaiting resolution.

In one case, the PCA is looking at how police bosses handled allegations reported by Senior Sergeant Colin Campbell that a boss harassed a female waitress at a Jade Stadium corporate function three years ago.

The investigation includes claims made by Ron Mark at a parliamentary committee meeting last year that Campbell was being drummed out of the force. (He has a knee injury sustained in 2001 when he went to the aid of tourists being attacked.)

Campbell, who once ran the police kiosk in Cathedral Square, still works for the police, but is now into his third year without a designated job. He has asked the PCA for a stand-alone investigation into his case, with no police involvement at all.

Goddard will inherit all these toxic chalices, and more, when she takes up her latest role.

Legal colleagues draw comparisons with Dame Margaret Bazley, who was appointed chairwoman of that other male bastion, the Fire Service Commission, when the industry was facing huge reform in 1999.

Bazley was tough but fair, working in excruciatingly difficult circumstances and even getting death threats and bullets in the mail.

Goddard is apparently low-key and reticent about self-publicity. She did not respond to requests for an interview for this feature.

Her work history, though, speaks volumes about her and her commitment to law. Goddard gained her law degree from Auckland University and began practising as a barrister and solicitor in 1975.

She was one of the first women appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1988, along with Chief Justice and lifelong friend, Dame Sian Elias.

The late Lord Cooke of Thorndon (earlier Sir Robin Cooke) said at the time that the barristers had achieved the rank because they had shown the necessary qualities of integrity, ability, responsibility, learning and judgment.

“They happen to be women as well,” he said.

Goddard became Crown Solicitor for Nelson in 1990 and Deputy Solicitor-General two years later.

She went on to become only the third woman to be appointed a High Court judge, in 1995, and is one of the longest-serving members. She was the first woman appointed to a division of the Court of Appeal.

“She has been a pathfinder in lots of ways and that’s been superb for us,” says Donna Buckingham, chairwoman of the New Zealand Law Society’s women’s consultative group.

“We welcome her appointment with a great deal of pleasure. Her seniority as a judge and previous experience as a Deputy Solicitor- General will equip her for the role.”

Anne Hinton, QC, an Auckland representative of the women’s group, says Goddard and Elias attracted some negative responses from male colleagues when appointed as QCs.

“They considered they were the subjects of favouritism. They (Goddard and Elias) were both quite young,” she says.

“But events have gone on to prove that it was entirely well deserved, so you don’t hear any of them commenting on that now.”

It is telling that two decades on, there are still only about a dozen women QCs practising in New Zealand.

“She (Goddard) is a lovely person. Very fair,” says Hinton.

“She’s really an ideal judge as it turned out. Perhaps she will be the next Governor-General?”

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New Focus For Police Complaints Authority

14/02/2007NZPAThe new head of the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) says increasing the independence of the authority will be one of her key priorities.

New PCA head, Justice Lowell Goddard and the man she replaced, Judge Ian Borrin, appeared before Parliament’s law and order select committee.

Questioned over public perceptions the PCA lacked independence, Justice Goddard agreed it was an area that needed urgent work.

The PCA has five investigators who can start investigations into complaints, but most of its work involves overseeing police looking into complaints against their colleagues.

Justice Goddard said the appearance of independence was fundamentally important to the office.

“It is critical to the efficacy and integrity obviously of the Police Complaints Authority … and also most importantly to the integrity of the police.”

There was an “enormous will” among police to see an independent authority.

“This is something we must critically move towards as quickly as possible.

“In terms of how to put that together, I will be having a very hard and serious look at it this year as soon as I can see my way clear to getting some good advice on this.”

Judge Borrin said there had already been some moves towards independence with the recruitment of the five investigators.

He had also raised the issue with the Government, but the idea of a fully independent PCA had been knocked back due to the estimated high cost.

He believed this number of investigators and overall independence of the PCA would build up over time, but the small office was “underpowered” with just 14 full-time equivalent staff and limited resources.

However, he said although police conducting investigations into themselves was a bad look they were usually carried out in a completely professional manner.

Efforts were usually made for the investigating officer to come from a different area than the individual they were investigating.

In more serious cases investigators could be brought in from outside the district.

Judge Borrin said the PCA had received a financial boost this financial year and had been clearing a backlog of cases.

But there were still some cases from 2000-2001 in the system.

The target time for the PCA to process complaints once an investigation was completed was recently extended to 180 days, up from 30 days when it was established.

About 99 percent of cases were completed within the timeframe, he said.

Justice Goddard, who was appointed to the full-time role last month after Judge Borrin announced his retirement, is a High Court judge.