Media releases 2023

The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that Police were justified in shooting a man who confronted officers with a crowbar and knife at Kaiapoi on 25 June 2022. The man suffered serious injuries to his hands, chest, abdomen and legs but survived.

The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that two Police officers in Gisborne used reasonable force to arrest and restrain a man, after he assaulted an officer. 

The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that, while Police’s decision to charge a man for causing a crash that killed two people was justified, their subsequent decision to escalate the charges from ‘careless’ to ‘aggravated’ was not. There were also serious deficiencies in the crash investigation. 

The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that Police officers who visited a man at his home on two occasions should have taken contemporaneous notes at the visits rather than after the event. The Police Vetting Service later relied on the information officers recorded about these visits. The Authority found that parts of proposed vetting releases on the man were not substantiated and should not be disclosed by the Police Vetting Service. 

The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found Police were justified in using force during the arrest of a 14-year-old girl in Christchurch. However, her care while in custody was inadequate. 

The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that an officer in Auckland used unreasonable force in punching a woman to the head, after she bit his arm. 

The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that two officers were justified in striking the driver of a stolen car while attempting to extract him from the driver’s seat. However, it has also found officers kicked and punched the driver after he was pulled out onto the ground, and that this use of force was unjustified.

The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that, on 5 September 2021, an Inspector from Tāmaki Makaurau personally breached the COVID-19 Health Order by taking a group of people across the border in a Police vehicle to attend a tangi. This was at a time when Tāmaki Makaurau was in Alert Level Four and in general lockdown due to community transmission of the Delta variant. The rest of the country was at Alert Level Three.