The problem of police deceit

Stuff reports that an Auckland police officer is being prosecuted for perjury and perverting the course of justice:

An Auckland police officer has been charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice and perjury.

Court documents seen by Stuff say the 29-year-old officer wilfully attempted to pervert the course of justice by entering false bail breaches without physically checking whether the person on bail was abiding by their conditions in January 2019.

He also faces two of the same charges for a time period between October 2018 and March 2019.

The 29-year-old is further charged with committing perjury at the Manukau District Court by falsely stating as part of his evidence under oath, that he recorded a breach of bail in his notebook.

Its good that they are prosecuting, but this raises some obvious questions. Most pressingly, if this officer lied in these cases, did he lie in others? Every case he has ever been involved in will now need to be scrutinised, and possibly appealed. But also, it invites the question of whether there is a wider issue: if one police officer lies in their paperwork or in court, others may have done the same. And when people can end up in jail as a result of those lies, that's not a prospect we can tolerate. We need to take a serious look at what institutional protections the police have against this behaviour, and how they can be improved to completely eliminate it. Because one person in jail (or even in court) as a consequence of police lies is one person too many.