List of New Zealand Police controversies

Arthur Allan Thomas (born 2 January 1938) is a New Zealand man who was wrongfully convicted twice of the murders of Harvey and Jeannette Crewe in June 1971. Following revelations that crucial evidence against him had been faked by the police, in 1979 Thomas was granted a Royal Pardon. In 1980, the Government ordered a Royal Commission of Inquiry into his convictions which concluded that Detective Inspector Bruce Hutton and Detective Len Johnston were responsible for planting the cartridge in the garden to incriminate Thomas. Mike Bush, then deputy Police Commissioner, described Hutton as having "integrity beyond reproach" at his funeral in 2013. == The dawn raids ==

The dawn raids were crackdowns in New Zealand from 1973 to 1979 and then sporadically afterward on alleged illegal overstayers from the Pacific Islands. The raids were first introduced in 1973 by Prime Minister Norman Kirk's Labour government, who discontinued them in April 1974. However, they were later reintroduced and intensified by Rob Muldoon's Third National government. These operations involved special police squads conducting often aggressive raids on the homes and workplaces of overstayers throughout New Zealand, usually at dawn and almost exclusively directed at Pasifika New Zealanders, regardless of their citizenship status. Overstayers and their families were often prosecuted and then deported back to their countries. == 1981 Springbok Tour ==

near Kingsland railway station The 1981 South Africa rugby union tour of New Zealand and the United States|1981 South African rugby tour, known in New Zealand as the 1981 Springbok Tour, and in South Africa as the Rebel Tour, polarised opinions and inspired widespread protests across New Zealand. The allegedly excessive police response to the protests also became a focus of controversy. Although the protests were among the most intense in New Zealand's recent history, no deaths or serious injuries resulted. As protection for the Springboks, the police created two special riot squads, the Red and Blue Squads. These police were, controversially, the first in New Zealand to be issued with visored riot helmets and long batons (more commonly the side-handle baton). Some protesters were intimidated and interpreted this initial police response as overkill and heavy-handed tactics. After early disruptions, police began to require that all spectators assemble in sports grounds at least an hour before kick-off. While the protests were meant to be largely peaceful resistance to the Springbok tour, quite often there were "violent confrontations with rugby supporters and specially trained riot police." Following several years of debate about police accountability in New Zealand, sparked in part by the role of Police during the 1981 Springbok Tour, the Police Complaints Authority was established on 1 April 1989 to act as an independent oversight body for police. == Alan Hall ==

Alan Hall was convicted for the murder of Arthur Easton in 1985. His conviction, which was later overturned, has been described as one of New Zealand's worst miscarriages of justice. In August 2023, the Government agreed to pay him $5 million in compensation, the largest nominal payout for wrongful conviction in New Zealand history. When Hall was arrested, police subjected him to lengthy interrogations, on one occasion for eight hours, and another for 15 hours, without a lawyer or support person present. It was later revealed that police and Crown prosecutors colluded in falsifying evidence and withholding mitigating evidence from the judge and the jury in order to secure a conviction. In 2024, two police officers and a prosecutor were charged with perverting the course of justice, and a reward of $100,000 was offered for information leading to the conviction of the real murderer. == 1989 Murder of Deane Fuller-Sandys and Leah Stephens ==

Deane Fuller-Sandys and Leah Stephens disappeared in Auckland, New Zealand, five days apart in August 1989. Stephens' remains were discovered in a forest three years later. Fuller-Sandys' body has never been found. In 1999, Gail Maney, Colin Maney, Stephen Stone, and Mark Henriksen were convicted in relation to the murders. The convictions of all four were overturned in October 2024 due to a miscarriage of justice caused by police misconduct including falsified evidence and police blackmailing key witnesses. Maney spent a total of 16 years in prison; Stone spent 26 years behind bars and was released on bail a few days after the convictions were overturned. == Integrated National Crime Information System (INCIS) ==

The Integrated National Crime Information System (INCIS) was a computer software package developed by IBM in the early 1990s to provide improved information, investigation and analysis capabilities to the police. Deputy Police Commissioner, Barry Matthews, was responsible for its implementation and acknowledged that police requested 'hundreds and hundreds of changes' to the system as the programme was being developed. It never worked as required and ended up costing $130 million before it was finally abandoned in 2000. The wasted resources and on-going problems surrounding the failure of the project were a huge distraction for the police. When it was about to be scrapped, Police Association president Greg O'Connor said "The reality of it is that the sooner ... the huge distraction that is Incis is gone, the better." Funding wasted on INCIS subsequently led to budget cuts in other areas so that infrastructure such as cars and communications centres were poorly resourced. == Inadequate communications centre response ==

In 2004 and 2005, the police were criticised over several incidents in which callers to the Police Communications Centres, particularly those using the 111 emergency telephone number, received inadequate responses. In October 2004, the Commissioner of Police ordered an independent review into the communications centres under sustained political scrutiny after the Iraena Asher incident received a lot of publicity and a whistle-blowing employee resigned. On 11 May 2005, the Review Panel released its report which criticised the service for systemic failures and inadequate management. The report expressed ongoing concerns for public safety. Police acted on the recommendations of the review with a number of initiatives, including increasing communications centre staff numbers and then initiating a demonstration project for a single non-emergency number centre, to reduce the load on the 111 service. The single non-emergency number 105 was launched on 10 May 2019. == Historical sexual misconduct by police ==

In 2004, a number of historical sexual misconduct allegations dating from the 1980s were made against both serving and former police officers. In March 2006 assistant police commissioner Clinton Rickards and former police officers Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum were charged with raping and sexually abusing Louise Nicholas in Rotorua during the 1980s. The defendants claimed all sex was consensual and were found not guilty on 31 March 2006. In February 2007 the same three men faced historical charges of kidnapping and indecent assault for the pack rape of a 16-year-old girl with a whisky bottle that took place in the early 1980s, and again they were acquitted. Throughout both trials, the jury were unaware that Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum had been convicted of a previous pack rape in 2005 and were already serving prison sentences for this crime. Rickards was forced to resign from the police but was paid $300,000 as part of his termination package. == Failures to investigate Wairarapa sexual abuse cases in 2008 ==

In 2008 there was a public scandal regarding the failure of police to investigate a backlog of sexual abuse cases in the Wairarapa. The head of the Masterton Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB), Detective Senior Sergeant Mark McHattie, received an unspecified disciplinary outcome and has since been promoted to head of the Auckland CIB's serious crime unit. == Covert spying on the public and activist groups ==

In 2008, the police's Special Investigation Group came under considerable media scrutiny after it was revealed Christchurch man Rob Gilchrist had been hired by officers to spy on individuals and organisations including Greenpeace, Iraq war protestors, student associations, unions, animal rights and climate change campaigners. == David Lyttle framed for the murder of Brett Hall==

David Lyttle was wrongfully convicted of murdering his friend of 30 years, Brett Hall, a convicted drug dealer who had spent time in prison. Hall went missing from his property north of Whanganui in May 2011, but his body has never been found. Despite having no forensic evidence linking Lyttle to Hall's disappearance after four years of investigating, police initiated an undercover operation targeting Lyttle. The operation resulted in a false confession and no further forensic evidence to prove Lyttle's involvement in Hall's disappearance. == 2012 Raid on Kim Dotcom==

Acting upon a US Federal prosecutor's request, police arrested Kim Dotcom and three other Megaupload executives in a leased $30 million mansion at Coatesville near Auckland on Friday, 20 January 2012 (NZDT, UTC+13). This was pursuant to a request from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation that the four be extradited for racketeering and money laundering. To secure Dotcom's arrest, police executed an early morning raid that coincided with Dotcom's birthday celebration. The police armed, anti-terrorism Special Tactics Group was placed in charge of executing the raid, with police conducting warrantless surveillance of Dotcom's home including the unlawful placement and use of Covert listening devices. Between 40 and 80 police officers and support staff were involved in the raid, which was criticised for the excessive and overwhelming use of force involved. Dotcom later won an undisclosed settlement in a lawsuit against police for the tactics used in the raid in 2017. == Inhumane treatment of youths held in police detention ==

The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) launched an investigation into the treatment of young people in police detention and in October 2012 issued a report which found that the number of young people being held has more than doubled since 2009. It said that "youths in crisis are being locked up in police cells and denied their human rights." Practices that "are, or risk being, inconsistent with accepted human rights" include: being held in solitary confinement; having cell lights on 24 hours a day; family members being prevented access; and not being allowed to see the doctor when they have medical or mental health problems. == The 2014 raid on Nicky Hager ==

, whose books – most notably The Hollow Men and Dirty Politics – have explored several political scandals since the 1990s. In August 2014, investigative journalist and author Nicky Hager released a book titled Dirty Politics which exposed inappropriate, aggressive, and borderline illegal conduct of a variety of senior New Zealand Government ministers and officials. The book included copies of private emails hacked from Cameron Slater, the son of former National Party president John Slater, who ran a blog called Whale Oil Beef Hooked (generally referred to as WhaleOil). Slater then complained to Police that he had been hacked. On 2 October 2014, Police executed a 'general search warrant' on Hager's home in Wellington, seizing a number of personal items belonging to Hager and his family members, including USB storage devices, documents, CDs, phones and computers. The search lasted for over 10 hours. Police claimed to be looking for evidence proving the identity of a hacker known as Rawshark who had confidentially provided Mr. Hager with information for his book. The search of Hager's home received widespread international criticism and were seen as a state-sponsored attack on press freedom. Hager filed a judicial review lawsuit in the High Court of the police search warrant. On 17 December 2015, the High Court in Wellington issued a judgment declaring the search warrant and search to be unlawful. An Independent Police Conduct Authority investigation was launched and concluded that the search warrant application practices used by police were also inadequate. In 2023, Hager was awarded an ONZM for his investigative journalism in connection with Dirty Politics. == Constable Vili Taukolo convicted of corruption ==

Between February 2018 and March 2019, Auckland constable Vili Taukolo acted as a paid informant for organised crime groups, reportedly passing on police intelligence and other information in exchange for payments of up to $10,000 each. Taukolo also sold classified intelligence to offenders and their associates involved in the $50 million Mexican drug cartel methamphetamine bust in 2017 known as Operation Grandeur. Vili Taukolo was convicted of corruption and sentenced to 2.5 years in prison. The NIU was initially comprised 12 staff, led by a detective inspector and is based in Wellington. == Use of excessive force against, and the wrongful detention of, Daniel Bond ==

On 2 May 2019, Daniel Bond was having alcoholic drinks with a friend in a parked Campervan that he was living in. Police officers stopped, suspecting Bond was about to drive while intoxicated. The officer improperly demanded Bond's personal details, to which Bond refused and began recording the confrontation on his phone. The officer aggressively took the phone out of Bond's hand, Bond filed a complaint with the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA), who found multiple deficiencies in the police investigation against Bond. Judge Colin Doherty, Chair of the IPCA deemed Bond's arrest, detainment, and the excessive use of force by police to be unlawful. Bond filed 23 criminal charges in a private prosecution against the officers involved. Bond's case was dismissed by an Auckland District Court Judge after several prosecution deficiencies with his case. == The 2019 death of Allen Ball while in custody ==

On 31 May 2019, police officers were called to a domestic violence incident at a home in the Taranaki region. Sergeant Sandra Ilene Shaw, Probationary Constable Corey Steven Waite and Constable Craig Michael Longworth, of the Hāwera police station responded. Upon arrival, officers encounted 55-year-old Australian-born Allen Ball, who reportedly consumed 1 liter of bourbon whiskey, allegedly assaulted his partner and threatened to harm himself before leaving the house. Police found him a short time later after arriving on the scene. When asked by the officers, Ball denied that he consumed anything other than alcohol. Ball was arrested and taken to Hāwera Police Station. During the journey, Ball became unresponsive while being spoken to by police. He remained unresponsive on arrival to the police station and needed six people to carry him into the station where he was left on a cell floor at around midnight. In June 2020, after a police investigation of Ball's death, the three arresting officers were placed on leave and charged with manslaughter on the grounds that the officers were derelict in their duty of care. It was revealed at trial that Ball's cause of death was the result of extremely high levels of codeine and tramadol, in addition to alcohol toxicity. The matter was also investigated by the Independent Police Conduct Authority. Ball's siblings, who lived in Australia, flew to New Zealand for a three-week trial in the High Court of New Zealand in New Plymouth where the officers were acquitted on 3 June 2021. In 2023, the coroner's office decided to decline investigating Ball's death. Police closed their employment investigation in 2023, following the coroner's decision, and likewise declined to take any further action. == Racially targeted warrantless photos of minors ==

In 2021, police were accused of racially profiling Māori, particularly minors, by taking photos of any youth apprehended during the course of patrols or who police arbitrarily considered "suspicious" using a police mobile app called "OnDuty" which was connected to the National Intelligence Application (NIA) system. Police claimed the photos were a necessary part of combatting crime through more effective intelligence sharing. Public complaints and media coverage of the ongoing issue led to a joint inquiry of the Independent Police Conduct Authority and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) in 2022. The report found the police's unlawful surveillance photos and biometric data collection tactics were widespread, included warrantless photos and videos, fingerprinting minors who had not been charged with a crime, and that police officers had threatened minors with arrest for not complying. The report also revealed serious issues relating to the storage, retention, and disposal of the unlawfully collected material and a lack of any police policy around safeguarding the data. Police failed to meet this deadline, citing poor data management practices (first outlined in the OPC report as being problematic and unlawful) Police were given an extension until mid-2025 to comply, however Police have missed this deadline as well citing a lack of funding for technologies that would allow them to delete unlawfully obtained evidence. == Use of controversial CIPEM interview technique ==

Following the dismissal of a number of homicide cases at trial, it was revealed that police had coaxed wrongful confessions from suspects using a controversial and secret interview technique known as Complex Investigation Phased Engagement Model (CIPEM). CIPEM was developed by Detective Superintendent Tom Fitzgerald, head of the Criminal Investigation Branch, and has been in use since 2019 but was kept secret from the public until 2022. France determined the interviews to be "a sustained pursuit of a particular truth" and described the use of the CIPEM technique as "manipulation" and "nonsense." The investigative reporting that followed led to extensive media coverage and public scrutiny of the CIPEM technique. Following a number of public complaints about CIPEM, and after repeated interview requests by Stuff journalists to Police Commissioner Andrew Coster, the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) launched an investigation into police use of CIPEM. It was later revealed that police attempted to conceal internal emails related to CIPEM from Official Information Act requests in order to hide Tom Fitzgerald's involvement in CIPEM interviews or other officer's doubts about the technique's efficacy. , the IPCA investigation is still ongoing. == 2022 Wellington protest and occupation of Parliament ==

in Wellington on 13 February 2022 The 2022 Wellington protest and occupation of Parliament was an anti-mandate and anti-lockdown occupation of the grounds of Parliament House and Molesworth Street in Central Wellington during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. For 24 days spanning 6 February 2022 - 2 March 2022, an estimated 1,000 people occupied parliamentary grounds, blockaded surrounding roads, and established a makeshift tent camp on the parliamentary grounds until Police forcibly dispersed the protestors. On the final day of the occupation, protesters set fire to tents and other camping gear as police moved to disperse the remaining protesters. Many within New Zealand expressed anger with the long time it took the police to restore order and end the harassment of the public by the protesters. Others criticised the police commissioner Andrew Coster for his lengthy focus on de-escalation, despite the protesters being highly decentralised and overwhelmingly unwilling to negotiate. On 24 March 2022, the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) announced it had received nearly 1,900 complaints about the way the police handled the protest and that it would undertake an investigation. Many of the complaints came from people who were not present at the protests. On 29 June 2022, documents released under the Official Information Act 1982 showed that the Police had deployed two long-range acoustic devices (LRADs) during the forced removal of the protesters on the last day of their occupation of Parliament's grounds. LRADs are controversial since they can emit a sound level of 140 decibels, causing permanent hearing damage. In total, 40 Police officers were injured during the protests and a total of 220 people were arrested in relation to the protest. Over one-third of the 2,309 Police personnel deployed to deal with the protest and occupation have sought mental health support services to deal with emotional trauma encountered during the protest. On 14 December 2023, the IPCA released its report into the 1,905 complaints related to the Parliament protest and occupation. The report confirmed six incidents of excessive force by Police; with three cases being justified and two being deemed excessive. == Murder of Farzana Yaqubi ==