Wellington, 17 February 2011. – Children who endure sexual abuse need police to respond in a timely and efficient way to lessen their trauma and ensure that their safety is a priority, says UNICEF NZ.

UNICEF NZ was responding to the Independent Police Conduct Authority’s final report on its investigation into delays, substandard investigation and poor record keeping, released today.

UNICEF NZ Executive Director, Dennis McKinlay emphasised that the report stated, and he agreed, that such serious failures were totally unacceptable and must never happen again.

“Children who are victims of such terrible crimes have the right to the best and most impeccable service to address the crime and have the offending stopped,” says Mr McKinlay.

“It is disappointing, to say the least, that cases were left for so long, up to 11 months in one case, before an investigation was even begun.

“However, UNICEF NZ was assured during a visit to the Police Commissioner that the systems failures which allowed this to happen would be addressed immediately.

“We are pleased to see that the report acknowledges that police are now committed to ensuring a consistently high standard of service in the investigation of child abuse and the public can have confidence that reporting child abuse will be given best attention”

Mr McKinlay added that UNICEF will be watchful to ensure that the standard of service is maintained.

ENDS

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