Monday, 10 October 2005,

10 October 2005

Judge's Criticism of Counties Manukau Police Unjustified

"The damage done to the reputation of Counties Manukau Police by Judge Davidson's comment about a widespread sick culture, is only partly undone by today's report," Police Association President Greg O'Connor said today.

Mr O'Connor was commenting on the report of Sir David Tomkins into the Police culture in that district.

"The accusations made at the time impacted negatively on hardworking dedicated officers in what Tompkins has described as a more demanding and violent district to police than other New Zealand police districts," Mr O'Connor stressed.

"Judges and others in influential positions need to be very aware that such accusations made publicly will attract considerable and negative media attention."

"Staff in South Auckland work extremely hard in very trying circumstances and an unjustified accusation such as this, just make that job harder," said Mr O'Connor. "There will be times we get it wrong but 99% of the time we get it right"

"The Police Association will be writing to Judge Davidson to demand that he apologises to South Auckland Staff for his clearly unjustified comments on their culture," Mr O'Connor said.

ENDS

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