Cop posing with gang patch could bring police discredit – employment lawyer

Both the assistant police commissioner and the police minister call the images disappointing.

Police said there would be an internal process to determine further action, and employment lawyer Barbara Buckett told RNZ the photos could have serious consequences.

“Even though the legislation didn’t exist yet, that was certainly what the police understood that they were taking into account, that there was an issue that would be turned into demands,” she said.

“It could therefore be seen as mocking the intention and the situation, and bringing his employer into disrepute.”

Buckett said police would consider what steps needed to be taken.

“The overriding requirement of the police as an employer is to act as a fair and reasonable employer would do in the circumstances,” she said.

“And I think there are options open to them, including possible dismissal, if they feel this is serious misconduct.”

Chris Cahill, president of the police association, said he was more concerned about the footage being leaked.

“Officers hanging around the office with their buddies, I don’t really think there’s a big problem with that,” Cahill said.

“The real issue for me is how it got onto social media, and how stupid it was to let that happen. But there’s probably more of a story about why it was only released now and who did it.

He believed the photos had been released strategically.

“Obviously the idea of ​​putting it on social media, if it was the officer or his comrades who did that, is stupid, but I’m more suspicious because it’s only being released now that there’s something more controlled behind that release .”

Buckett also said the leak itself was concerning.

“The fact that something happened outside the organization I think should also be concerning, but that doesn’t change what happened on the individual,” she said.

Under the new legislation, officers were already cracking down on gangs.

The chairman of the Head Hunters West chapter was charged Monday with violating the law.

And on Sunday evening, a man wearing a Killer Beez T-shirt voluntarily handed it over to authorities at an Auckland hospital.

IHI research director Dr Catherine Leonard said the photos would strain relationships between officers and gang members.

“I think the implications for the photos only destroy the trust and relationship between police and communities that police have worked hard to build over the last decade,” she said.

Leonard said this posed a risk to the safety of police and gang members.

“What we want to do is improve that safety, improve that communication when there are incidents where police need to intervene, and there are incidents where police need to intervene with gangs,” she said.

“If they have that trust and that relationship with gangs, they are much better able to address that in communities.”

But Cahill said they had to be viewed in context.

“Our officers have a stressful job, they do a lot of difficult work,” he said.

“Sometimes you have to have a little bit of, you know, a little bit of fun to break that out, and sometimes in the context there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with what they’re doing, and then you look at it in a different light. and you say, “That probably wasn’t the smartest thing I ever did.”

Police said they would investigate to understand the full circumstances of what happened.

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