PCA refuses to investigate Dunedin Police claims

The Police Complaints Authority has said they will not investigate the claims made in Investigate about the Dunedin Police, as there is no formal complaint for them to act on, and that the Police should investigate first.

I think this is regrettable. Not because I think the claims made in Investigate are necessarily correct. But because they are serious enough to damage public confidence in the Police, if there is not an independent investigation into them. Before the Bazley Report came out, one might have been more secure in thinking that there is no way this could be true, but that benefit of the doubt has been removed.

Ian Wishart points out that the PCA went out of its way to say that the relevant Act of Parliament does not give the PCA the functions of a Commission of Inquiry. This is language like the Ingram Report, which said a body with the appropriate powers is needed to fully investigate the claims.

If I was one of those police officers named in Investigate, I would be demanding a proper inquiry to clear my name.