Thursday, December 20, 2018



Wally Haumaha should be fired

The Independent Police Conduct Authority has released its report on allegations of bullying against Deputy Commissioner Wally Haumaha. While they don't uphold the core complaint of bullying, due to a lack of (evidence demonstrating) persistence, they do find that he repeatedly behaved in an inappropriate, unprofessional, and intimidating manner, and that he improperly approached police staff in an effort to solicit support for himself and discredit his victims when the allegations came out.

Reading the report, there are a number of things which stand out. First, Haumaha is a shit manager who should never be put in charge of other people. There's an obvious culture clash between hierarchical police and consensus-based public servants, but this was exacerbated by his utter lack of people-management skills. Second, Haumaha systematically "fails to remember" his bad behaviour. Either he sees it as normal, or he simply lies his way out of trouble. Second, that other police officers report agreeing to his demands "out of fear" - phrasing which tells us everything we need to know about him. This is not a person who should ever be put in charge of other human beings. Simply on professionalism alone he is unfit for office.

Wally Haumaha should be fired. The question is whether the Prime Minister will exercise her powers under the Policing Act to make that happen, or whether she will continue to let an unprofessional thug undermine the police and its public reputation.

Update: Apparently, its the latter. Its amazing how tolerant the government is of poor behaviour if it wears a uniform.