Another day, another IPCA finding that police unlawfully arrested and assaulted someone. And as usual, the police simply refuse to accept the finding:
The arrest of a man using excessing force and resulting in a head injury was not justified, an investigation has found.If you or I knocked someone over, causing a head injury, then stuck them in a truck and locked them in a room, that would be assault and kidnapping and we would be charged. But repeatedly, the police refuse to acknowledge breaking the law, and on the rare occasions when they do, decide that it is "not in the public interest" to prosecute their own, hiding behind a "confidential employment process" (though in this case they didn't even bother doing that). And when the IPCA tells them they're wrong, they just ignore it.The Independent Police Conduct Authority said the arrest last year in the early hours of Sunday 27 February on Wellington's Courtenay Place was not lawful.
[...]
Meanwhile the police have again denied the arrest was unlawful, and sought legal advice in the decision.
Acting Wellington District Commander Tracey Thompson said police are satisfied staff made the right decision that night.
This is not acceptable. The IPCA exists to provide oversight of the police. It is therefore incumbent on the police to accept their oversight body's decisions (just as the SIS must accept the decisions of IGIS). I've argued for a long time that the IGIS needs independent powers to prosecute police staff where police won't; its clear we also need to extend that to include the employment relationship, and allow them to discipline and fire officers where they have made a finding against them (and discipline and fire officers who cover for them). Otherwise, this institutional corruption in the police will never end.
