Police behaviour in streets studied

Press, 8 March 1984, Page 8

Police behaviour in streets studied

PA Wellington The man appointed to head the new police internal complaints section wants to find out why so many complaints against the police result from street incidents.

Detective Superintendent P. M. Faulkner, who took up his new post a month ago, said yesterday that files showed many complaints had their origin on the street.

Mr Faulkner said this could be because police were “working in a hostile environment” where they were required to take action against people. Many complaints were counter-allega-tions against the police after an arrest.

However, there could be a problem with the way the police dealt with some street incidents, he said. If

there was an identifiable firoblem the police would ook to correct it.

Mr Faulkner said he would discuss any problem of training with the director of police training. Mr Faulkner’s appointment was announced in December by the Commissioner of Police, Mr K. 0. Thompson. Mr Thompson said he was confident that setting up an internal complaints section would improve the police disciplinary system while preserving the balance between public expectation and police morale. Mr Faulkner’s job is to co-ordinate all complaint files and to check them to make sure the investigation has been fair and thorough.

Mr Faulkner said his reading of complaint files indicated that the police

were honest in dealing with complaints against their workmates.

He said it was “a bit of a fallacy that a policeman would countenance dishonesty or over-harsh treatment” by a colleague. The police usually told the truth though it was not likely that the police would incriminate themselves. He was not so naive as to believe policemen always told the truth about incidents, but he said he had been impressed with the level of truthfulness.

He said police officers often reported matters involving other police. Police complaints, though rising, were not a serious problem, he said. In 1982 there had been almost 250 complaints, with about 40 sustained.