'Blindingly obvious': NZ has major problem with how police officers are prosecuted, IPCA chair says

The Chair of the Independent Police Conduct Authority says New Zealand has a major problem with how police officers are prosecuted, describing the potential conflict of interest as "blindingly obvious".'

In a Select Committee report, Judge Kenneth Johnston KC said the issue was part of a ''very enormous concern" for him.

The committee said it has observed that MPs sometimes received correspondence from members of the public who were unhappy with police decisions not to prosecute cases.

While acknowledging that it was not appropriate for legislators to be involved in these matters, the committee questioned whether the IPCA had sufficient capacity to investigate situations where ''a clear law'' was not being enforced by Police,

Judge Johnston told the committee that many overseas jurisdictions had separate organisations responsible for making prosecution decisions involving police officers.

He described New Zealand as the "stand-out exception", adding "the conflict or the potential conflict that the public is entitiled to be worried about is blindingly obvious.''

The IPCA chair said he believed forthcoming legislation would include changes aimed at improving the independence of prosecutions involving police officers.

"We heard that he thinks that new legislation will include an amendment that will bring 'a degree of genuine independence, I hope'', to the prosecution of police officers, at least for criminal as opposed to summary offences," the report says.

The Committee acknowledged this gap and urged progress in this area.

Police Commissioner Richard Chambers said the matter was under consideration as part of the response to the IPCA's November 2025 report.

"The Government has proposed establishing an Inspector General of Police. Discussions on this are still under way and decisions are yet to be made, so I cannot comment further at this point," he said.

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