Police Act Review, 18 December 2007
Policing Bill available for viewing
A Bill to modernise New Zealand Police's outdated 1958 Police Act is available for viewing on the Police Act Review website [www.policeact.govt.nz].
The Bill has two major purposes:
To confirm and strengthen Police governance, accountability and organisational arrangements in a way suitable for a contemporary age
To improve Police’s effectiveness, especially by updating human resource management provisions, and establishing a clear framework for the exercise of policing powers by particular Police staff.
Policing Bill at a glance -
The Bill will replace the 1958 Police Act. It has 120 clauses and six schedules. There are 30 new clauses covering matters not in the 1958 Act, and over 20 sections of the 1958 Act become redundant. There are 12 clauses which import sections from other Acts into the Policing Bill (e.g., international policing operations); and 58 clauses carried forward from the Police Act 1958 with updated provisions and modernised language. The Bill has a 30 page explanatory note at the front, followed by 75 pages of clauses and schedules.
New proposals in the Bill
Principles to guide policing in a New Zealand context
Outdated disciplinary system replaced by a Code of Conduct
Clearer governance arrangements for the Commissioner of Police
Better support for frontline staff to take particulars of identification
Updated framework for negotiating employment terms and conditions for Police employees
A process to gather Police employee biometric data for use in pre-employment vetting and as elimination data from crime scene samples
Consolidating laws relating to international and United Nations policing
What's out from the 1958 Act
Police's almost total reliance on internal employment law in favour of mainstream employment relations
Police's Victorian age rules and regulations
Offences which have been replaced in other Acts, e.g., bribing members of Police
Special constables and the practice of staff being sworn in as temporary constables