Probation service probe

Press, 5 September 1981, Page 1

Probation service probe

Wellington reporter A 'two-man committee has been appointed by the State Services Commission to investigate newspaper allegations of misconduct and mismanagement in the Christchurch office of the probation service. The committee is Mr N. S. Coad, a former Director-Gen-eral of Lands, who was prominent in the Marginal Lands Board inquiry last year, and Mr A. A. P. Willy, a Christchurch barrister. It has been appointed under the Slates Services Act. 1962, and' will have power to summon witnesses and examine them on oath. The investigation will begin, in Christchurch on Sep-

tember 16. After receiving the report, the State Services Commission and the Secretary for Justice will then determine what further action is necessary. Some of the allegations which had been made were rather imprecise, said the chairman of the State Services Commission (Dr M. C. Probine). It was necessary that the commission ascertain, what substance there was to them before any action could properly be taken. The interests of staff demanded that the investigation be conducted in private, but action taken as a result of the investigation would clearly need to be made

public to preserve confidence in the probation service, he said. The weekly newspaper. “New Zealand Truth," in its edition of August 4 printed a report that named a Christchurch female probation officer who the newspaper alleged was cohabiting with a probationer under her care. “Truth" said that in her report the officer had made several references to her client’s relationship with a young woman and how he looked after her child while she worked, but the officer had not mentioned that she herself was the young woman. The officer resigned from the service last month.