SUPPLEMENT TO

New Zealand Gazette

OF THURSDAY, 19 FEBRUARY 2004

WELLINGTON: FRIDAY, 20 FEBRUARY 2004 — ISSUE NO. 18

Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct

SILVIA CARTWRIGHT, Governor-General

ORDER IN COUNCIL

To all to whom this order shall come, and to:

The Honourable JAMES BRUCE ROBERTSON of
Wellington, a Judge of the High Court of New Zealand; and

Dame MARGARET CLARA BAZLEY of Wellington,
retired public servant:

GREETING:

Recitals

WHEREAS, in 1993–94, Louise Nicholas made a complaint
to the Police at Rotorua alleging that she had been sexually
assaulted in the mid-1980s by three members of the Police:

And whereas, following an investigation by the Police, and a
further investigation by the Police on behalf of the Police
Complaints Authority, none of the three members of the
Police was charged with any offence and none of them was
subject to any internal Police disciplinary action:

And whereas, when charges were preferred against a fourth
member of the Police in relation to sexual assaults against
Louise Nicholas, which were alleged to have occurred in the
early 1980s, that member of the Police was, after two
mistrials, acquitted:

And whereas, in February 2004, The Dominion Post
reported allegations by Louise Nicholas of defects in the
investigations made by both the Police and the Police
Complaints Authority into the complaints against the three
members of the Police above-mentioned:

And whereas concerns have been raised about the conduct
of members of the Police involved in the investigation
of allegations about the fourth member of the Police
above-mentioned:

And whereas, in February 2004, Judith Garrett also alleged
that the investigation carried out by the Police into a
complaint that she made that she had been sexually
assaulted by a member of the Police in Kaitaia in 1988 was
inadequate:

And whereas it has also been alleged that investigations
carried out by the Police into other allegations of sexual
assault by members of the Police or by associates of the
Police or by both have been inadequate:

And whereas these various allegations raise questions about—

(a) the adequacy and impartiality of the investigation by
the Police into complaints in relation to sexual
assaults alleged to have been made by members of
the Police or by associates of the Police or by both,
including the complaints made by Louise Nicholas
and Judith Garrett; and

(b) the extent to which the behaviour that gave rise to
those original complaints was subject to disciplinary
action; and

(c) the prevailing attitude or tolerance of the Police, both
in the past and now, in respect of complaints alleging
sexual assault by members of the Police or by
associates of the Police or by both; and

(d) the general propriety of the conduct of members of
the Police in respect of sexual matters:

And whereas the truth of the allegations against the Police
and the questions raised by those allegations are matters of
public importance:

Appointment and order of reference

NOW, THEREFORE, pursuant to the Commissions of
Inquiry Act 1908, I, Dame Silvia Cartwright, the
Governor-General of New Zealand, acting on the advice
and with the consent of the Executive Council, appoint you,
the Honourable James Bruce Robertson and Dame Margaret