The Police Commissioner says there was "no direction or order" to drop standards in order to fulfill a coalition promise and recruit 500 more police officers.
Richard Chambers says once he knew "discretion" had been applied, he made it clear standards still needed to be met for those graduating as police officers.
Both Chambers and Police Minister Mark Mitchell fronted a scrutiny hearing on Monday - a chance for MPs to grill Ministers on this year's Budget decisions - where they were also asked about unconscious bias within the police.
The discussion around "discretion" comes after findings from an audit into recruitment standards at the Royal New Zealand Police College found a significant number of applicants were allowed into the college, despite failing preliminary tests.
The Police College sometimes gives discretion to recruits who fall short of certain standards, although they must still pass the tests before graduating - but the audit found this had become increasingly common.
The findings prompted Police Commissioner Richard Chambers to instruct the college not to accept anyone who hasn't met all mandatory recruitment standards.
Just last month, a review found more than 300 police officers were not assessed on their swimming abilities before graduating leading to the audit. Those recent recruits had to do the assessments retrospectively, and it was announced police would review the swimming training policy.
Another issue was a failure by some to meet the literacy standard required before going to Police College.
Police Minister Mark Mitchell and Police Commissioner Richard Chambers fronted a scrutiny hearing today. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Labour's police spokesperson Ginny Andersen asked Mitchell in the hearing "who gave the order to drop standards at the Police College in order to try deliver the 500 [new police] quicker"?
Mitchell responded saying it was an operational matter but as Minister his view was that there were no specific orders "ever" to drop standards.
He blamed the previous government, and has previously said, "there is no doubt in my mind that the priorities set by the previous government around recruiting contributed to this."
He said there might have been a change in the approach taken, but under this government, "we've been very clear what our expectations are, and that is that there will be no reduction or change in standards."
Mitchell added that when it came to recruiting, the Commissioner and his statements had been "unambiguous" about his expectations.
Richard Chambers added the Minister was correct, "there was no direction or order."
He did say however that once he was made aware that "discretion" had been applied on a number of different standards and expectations, that those standards needed to be met.
"I've been very clear about under my Commissionership, we have standards that we will meet, and if some people need to do some extra work before they join New Zealand police, then that's up to them to do."
Going forward, he said he was very clear "we do have expectations of standards."
Mitchell emphasised the recruits who failed preliminary tests did so before attending police college, and under the Commissioner's direction that will no longer happen.
"Now there is no discretion around those standards. They'll meet the standard before they go to the college, but once they're at the college, they have to meet the standard before they graduate."
Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Chambers doubled down saying standards were "critical to ensuring that this country has the best police officers it deserves."
Chambers said it had been some of the "decision makers" involved in the recruitment process and some others at the Police College, but from now on any decisions of "that importance" will sit with him.
Asked whether it was members of the Police Executive who drilled into those decision-makers that using discretion was okay, Chambers said "not that I'm aware of no."
'Full of reckons'
During the hearing, Chambers was also asked about the Understanding Policing Delivery (UDP) report released last year - and prompted by the Black Lives Matter movement - which investigated fair and equitable policing.
It found Māori men were more likely to be stopped, tasered, and prosecuted by police due to 'bias' and 'structural racism.'
Te Pāti Māori MP Tākuta Ferris asked Chambers why the police continued to perpetuate that behaviour when engaging with Māori and what was being done in terms of funding to address the issue.
Chambers said the Police Executive under the former Commissioner decided to implement some of the recommendations from the report.
Chambers and Mitchell asked Ferris to clarify what behaviour he meant.
"The behaviour is pulling Māori up more than anyone else, the behaviour is charging more than anybody else, the behaviour is excessive force against Māori," said Ferris, and all the other identified systemic situations or problems that Māori are faced with when engaging with the Police.
Chair of the committee Andrew Bayly attempted to bring the discussion back to the "numbers" but Mitchell said he wanted to respond.
The Police Minister said he "struggled" with the idea police were racist and asked if he could share his own experience. He questioned some of the findings in the report, saying they didn't line up with his experience as a frontline police officer on the East Coast.
"That was a tough beat," he said, and had anyone behaved in a racist way then, they would have been called out and "drummed out really quickly".
"I actually think we have a world class police service that serves without fear or favour and is colour blind."
He said the UDP report seemed to be "full of reckons".
Mitchell accepted Māori were over-represented in New Zealand when it came to these issues, but said the solution was working together rather than pointing a finger at police and "calling them racist."
Chambers was asked again after the hearing about the report, and confirmed he'd read it once becoming Commissioner.
He acknowledged the over-representation of Māori in victimisation and offending statistics, and said New Zealand police had a role to help change that.
''We're a learning organisation," he said, "there's always going to be things that we need to consider in terms of, how can we get better outcomes for the country? And that is not unique to Maori communities."
When asked about disproportionate police brutality against Māori, he said the front line had a tough job to do, and they deal with the situation in front of them.
"We put a lot of effort into training front line staff with the decision making around tactical options, and I'm confident in the decisions they will make."
He acknowledged "from time to time" police may not get it right when it came to decisions tactical options, but "fortunately, that is a very rare occurrence."
When asked if unconscious bias still existed in the police force, he said no.
"No one in the police tolerates that. And if anyone says to me that there's a particular member of the New Zealand police who doesn't see how important it is to be impartial, then I'd like to know who they are."
Other policing issues
Other issues raised with the Commissioner was the increased consumption of meth in New Zealand, which he called a "real concern," but said police were working hard with other agencies and international partners to address that issue.
On reaching the target of 500 new police officers, he said there were a number of factors at play but police were working "incredibly hard." He also reiterated pressure to meet that target had no bearing on the use of discretion in police college admissions.
He discussed the gang patch ban, saying he was proud of the work police had done, charging more than 500 gang members for wearing insignia and seizing more than 130 patches. He also added gang members were making "reasonably good decisions to comply with the new law."
Chambers had discussed in the hearing how police were pulling away from mental health callouts, but later told reporters police would always have a role in dealing with mental health. He said more than 70, 000 calls for support from police were to situations that were potentially mental health related.
"That's a high, high demand, but that is also why we are needing to make some decisions about how much time - that frontline time - absorbs it, potentially at the expense of something else."
He said police would still work closely with health to deal with what is essentially a "health problem," and that partnership was a "critical opportunity" because police aren't experts in dealing with mental health.
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