It turns out that new Deputy Police Commissioner Wally Haumaha has a huge and stinking rotting corpse in his closet:
New deputy police commissioner Wally Haumaha questioned why Louise Nicholas publicly accused his friends in the police of raping her in the 1980s and continued to support them after the scandal broke, according to interviews with fellow officers.
One officer told the 2004 Operation Austin investigation into the police sex allegations that Haumaha, who was appointed to the senior role by Police Minister Stuart Nash last month, described Nicholas' allegations as "a nonsense" and that "nothing really happened and we have to stick together".
[...]
[Haumaha] described Schollum as a good friend, a dynamic leader and a "legend in his own right".
"It was no secret that Bob was attractive to a lot of women. The legend was that he was never short of a girlfriend or female company," Haumaha told Price.
[...]
Haumaha also spoke highly of Rickards and Shipton, who was an "awesome cop and good friend" whom other police officers were jealous of.
These comments should have immediately ruled Haumaha out of contention for any senior position (or indeed, any position in the police). It is important that the New Zealand public can have confidence in the police. Having an apologist for rapists as Deputy Commissioner simply makes that impossible.
It is unclear whether the SSC panel which recommended Haumaha's appointment knew of his background, but Stuart Nash, the Minister who signed off on it, was not informed. And that's unacceptable. As for what to do about it, deputy commissioners hold office at the pleasure of the Governor-General. The Prime Minister can simply advise the Governor-General to sack Haumaha, and that is exactly what they should do.
