PETERS REITERATES CALL FOR INDEPENDENT BODY TO REPLACE POLICE COMPLAINTS AUTHORITY

Following up concerns he first raised publicly whilst Deputy Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Winston Peters MP, Leader of New Zealand First, today said the not guilty verdict in the Joe Karam defamation case highlighted serious questions regarding the Police Investigation into the murder of the Bain family.

Mr Peters also reiterated his longstanding call for an independent body to replace the existing Police Complaints Authority.

“Not because the Police have necessarily done anything wrong but because the public need to have their confidence restored in the process and be assured that internal investigations are conducted impartially and without bias from within,” said Mr Peters.

Mr Peters also applauded the Auckland District Law Society for releasing a paper on this issue and supporting the Attorney General’s call for a review of the Police Complaints Authority and, in particular, that the proposed review should “examine fully the question of whether or not the public can ever be confident in the independence of decisions of the PCA where investigations are carried out by other police officers and not by independent investigators employed by either a separate body or from within the PCA itself”.

“This is a serious issue of accountability that needs to be addressed by government and debated with the public,” said Mr Peters.

ENDS

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