Media releases 2023

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. 

The Independent Police Conduct Authority found that officers were justified in using force, during the arrest of a man (Mr X) in Taranaki. However, we found that an officer was not justified in shooting at the tyres of Mr X’s moving motor vehicle. 

The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that two officers were justified in using force against a man who was resisting arrest. One officer punched the man in the head and wrestled with him on the ground, and a Police dog handler released his dog to bite the man. The dog handler then kicked the man in the arms and punched him in the head to defend his Police dog. 

The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that a Police dog handler’s decision to use his dog to apprehend a 15 year old male was justified.

The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that an officer was justified in using force during the arrest of a man in Palmerston North, but that officers failed to adequately search him when later in custody, which enabled the man to attempt to harm himself. 

The Independent Police Conduct Authority has concluded that officers in Counties Manukau Custody Unit failed to recognise Mr Jaye Taueli was losing consciousness while in a restraint chair. This led to a delay in calling an ambulance to provide medical assistance. Mr Taueli died in hospital the following afternoon.