Work out the real cost of this. Firstly, it's not just about the cost of the ticket, it's about how many man hours were wasted - Harrison should be charged with wasting Police time! And the sentence should reflect the seriousness of this corruption and waste of resources, using Police time and resources to steal $200 - the sentence should act as a deterrent to other corrupt, selfish, greedy Police.
This is what Police get up to all day - and this is the National Manager of "Youth Services Group! - no wonder our youth are so mixed up with role models like this! - Like the corrupt Masterton Police who had no case to answer in Court again the other day!
We urgently need a commission of inquiry into the NZ police. Support Transparency in NZ and or call for a judicial review and a commission of inquiry into the NZ Police, and Wairarapa Police in particular. And while we wait (pigs might fly all right), we'll inquire into it for them, right here at Kiwikileaks, the Official Website of Transparency in New Zealand, building a better country, one step at a time: (Open the images on this site in 'Paint' or a similar program to enlarge and view in detail, and leave a comment if you have a news tip or opinion.)
One of the country's top policemen is being investigated over allegations of providing false information on a police letterhead to get a $200 parking ticket waived.
The internal police investigation into Superintendent Bill Harrison, the national manager of youth services, began last month, two years after Wellington City Council waived the fine.
A police vehicle was ticketed on Harris St, Wellington, on September 25, 2008, for not displaying a current registration label. The fine was for $200.
Mr Harrison wrote to the council that day, using police national headquarters letterhead, asking for the ticket to be waived.
"I attach a copy of the current label that, through an oversight, was incorrectly displayed (behind the old label)," he wrote.
But certified documents obtained by The Dominion Post show that the registration label Mr Harrison attached to his letter was issued one hour after the car was ticketed. The council waived the ticket on the basis that the registration was current, despite the time discrepancy.
A council spokesman said yesterday the registration had been current, and the label supplied by Mr Harrison showed a later time because it was a replacement.
It is understood police have obtained council documents relating to the infringement as part of their investigation.
Assistant Commissioner Grant Nicholls said in a statement yesterday that police became aware of "details of the allegation" in December and started an immediate investigation.
"We are affording the superintendent all the rights of the employment process given to anyone alleged to have failed to meet the standards of behaviours expected in their employment."
The case would be concluded "as quickly as possible", the statement said.
Mr Nicholls declined to respond to further questions.
A woman who answered the phone at Mr Harrison's Churton Park home yesterday said he was at work. He is still based at police national headquarters.
The only other infringement held by the council against the police car was in 2007 for an expired-meter offence, which was later paid.
Last week, PricewaterhouseCoopers released a progress report on whether police were changing their culture after the 2007 commission of inquiry into police conduct, which was led by Dame Margaret Bazley.
The report found there was little confidence among police that "concerning" staff behaviour would be detected, and no action was being taken over poor-performing senior staff at police headquarters.
"The commissioner and all his inspector mates in bullshit castle at headquarters should get back on the street and get a reality check," one officer told PricewaterhouseCoopers.
-The Dominion Post (NZ), 29 January 2011
It took police two years to even begin an investigation of the matter, this 'investigation' seems to involve a cover up of a criminal act, using a document with intent to deceive, and any number of dishonesty offences, but he hasn't been charged with a single thing, and probably got a very nice severance package or whatever you want to call it, when he
retired, on 17 May 2011, avoiding any disciplinary action. The question remains - when is he going to be charged?He was found guilty of serious misconduct by the police inquiry, and police refused to release details of the outcome of their inquiry. It was only released following a complaint to the Ombudsmen's Office. Police need to charge him and get on with it.
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