15 April, 2007

Forensic Medical Examiners Support Bazley’s Recommendations And Have Confidence In Current Police Handling Of Sexual Assault Crimes

Doctors for Sexual Abuse Care (DSAC) commends the report of the Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct. Within the limits imposed on her by the Terms of Reference Dame Margaret has produced a powerful commentary which highlights significant issues with the conduct of the Police in respect of sexual matters and makes strong recommendations for the future.

The recommendations in the Report will enable the Police to monitor more effectively the behaviour of Police and to take more efficient action against individual Police who offend and bring their profession into disrepute. Although the initial concern of the Inquiry was that of the handling of sexual assault allegations against Police members, there is much in this report which relates to the handling of sexual assault allegations in general.

Four issues are of particular concern to DSAC.

1. It is essential for the Police to have excellent standards in all sexual assault investigation processes, not just those made against their own members.

2. It is important that the recent publicity concerning predominantly past events within the Police force does not impact on the public’s present confidence in reporting any sexual assault crime.

3. DSAC does have confidence in the current Police handling of sexual assault crimes in general, within the limits of the immediate resourcing available to them, and that such adequate resourcing is a key issue requiring addressing.

4. Full implementation of the Adult Sexual Assault Investigation Policy is essential and this needs to be supported with adequate resources for training and for the provision of appropriate facilities.

DSAC represents the doctors throughout New Zealand who provide medical care for victims of sexual assault. We work closely with the Police in management of complaints of sexual assault by providing medical care and forensic medical assessments. Our organisation was founded twenty years ago to improve medical care for these women, men and children, and to lobby for improved management of sexual assault complaints by all agencies, judicial and investigative as well as medical and counselling. We would concur with the comments of the Commission that “the policies and procedures surrounding how such allegations are investigated have improved markedly over the past 25 years”.

In our recent experience the Police are committed to responding to sexual assault complaints in ways which support and respect such victims. Senior Police have been willing to accept criticism of their management and work towards developing improved procedures with education of the force towards a change in ethos. Their policies require them to work closely with victim support agencies from early in the process. Increasingly our experience has been that in the majority of situations the Police are very professional and excellent at managing the difficult task of balancing empathy and support for the victims with the necessity of being objective and thorough in fulfilling their duties as part of the justice system.

In recent years the Police have taken a strong lead in supporting and developing practices which improve the situation for complainants. DSAC fully supported the development of the Adult Sexual Assault Investigation Policy and are pleased to see the Commission’s recommendation that this should be supported with adequate training and resources.

“The New Zealand Police should review the implementation of the Adult Sexual Assault Investigation Policy to ensure that the training and resources necessary for its effective implementation are available and seek dedicated funding from the Government and Parliament if necessary”.

Over the past 18 months the Police have been working with DSAC to initiate a process for improving services for medical care of sexual assault complainants. This has led to a tripartite working party with ACC, Ministry of Health and the Police working with DSAC and Police Medical Officers. This is very positive but has yet to demonstrate an ability to fund a fully modern service. We hope that the government will respond to the message from Dame Margaret’s report and ensure that dedicated extra funding is made available from central government for provision of this service across the country.

“The New Zealand Police should initiate cooperative action with the relevant agencies to seek more consistent Government funding for the support groups involved in assisting the investigation of sexual assault complaints by providing professional support for complainants.”

Victims of sexual assault can be men, women or children from a wide range of socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds. Our recent experience has been that in almost every case these people are treated with respect and sensitivity through what is often a difficult process fraught with emotion and trauma and the Police with whom we work act with integrity and professionalism in a stressful and difficult job. DSAC considers the public can have confidence currently to report sexual assault crimes to the Police. We hope that the implementation of Dame Margaret’s recommendations will give more victims confidence to come forward.

DSAC is heartened by Prime Minister Helen Clark’s assurance that the Government is committed on behalf of the general public to implementing all of Dame Margaret’s recommendations.

Ends

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