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Speaker 1: Kiota. I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page,

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Speaker 1: a daily podcast presented by the New Zealand Herald. An

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Speaker 1: investigation by the New Zealand Herald has revealed concerns with

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Speaker 1: police recruitment over the last several months. We've learned that

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Speaker 1: prospective cops who didn't pass fitness or literacy tests were

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Speaker 1: allowed to start training, and dozens of recruits graduated from

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Speaker 1: police college despite not being assessed on their ability to swim.

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Speaker 1: It's prompted and ordered by police of the process and

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Speaker 1: promises to change things. But has the damage already been done?

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Speaker 1: And said Harold. Investigative reporter Michael Morra has led the

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Speaker 1: charge on this and is with us today on the

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Speaker 1: Front Page to run through what's gone wrong here and

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Speaker 1: how police have responded. For those of us who don't know, Michael,

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Speaker 1: what does it take to become a police officer? I

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Speaker 1: assume that we just can't rock up and sign up.

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Speaker 2: Pay, Absolutely not. So there are background checks. Police would

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Speaker 2: be interested to know about any previous convictions, any possible

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Speaker 2: gang links or affiliations, so those checks are done as

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Speaker 2: well as that you have to pass various fitness standards,

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Speaker 2: including completing a two point four kilometer run under a

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Speaker 2: certain timeframe. There's also a grip strength test and a

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Speaker 2: jump test, so those are all requirements before you start

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Speaker 2: at Police College and training. Along with that, there's psychometric testing,

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Speaker 2: so this is essentially to test that you have the abilities,

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Speaker 2: the cognitive abilities for police work, so it assesses things

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Speaker 2: like your ability to reason and so all of those

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Speaker 2: things combined give police a good idea of whether or

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Speaker 2: not that applicant is a suitable person to go through

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Speaker 2: Police College to then become a constable and join the

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Speaker 2: New Zealand Police.

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Speaker 1: I understand there have been some concerns about the recruitment process.

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Speaker 1: What are they? So?

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Speaker 2: I was first alerted to concerns about the recruitment process

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Speaker 2: in April, and essentially the information that came to me

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Speaker 2: was that there had been instances where applicants seeking to

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Speaker 2: start at Police College were being given exemptions or having

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Speaker 2: discretionary decisions based on their applications, which it was alleged

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Speaker 2: at the time was allowing people who had not passed

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Speaker 2: fitness tests into the Police College. That was of course

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Speaker 2: of interest because police have always said even with the

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Speaker 2: new five hundred new police officers, by November target that

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Speaker 2: the government introduced that standards would not drop. That standards

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Speaker 2: to become a police officer in New Zeland is still

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Speaker 2: very rigorous and robust, and you have to dot all

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Speaker 2: the ey's and cross all the t's and get through

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Speaker 2: all of these various steps before you can bear constable

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Speaker 2: in New Zealand.

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Speaker 3: I believe that both the Minister and the Commissioner have

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Speaker 3: not been upfront with New Zealanders about the process at

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Speaker 3: the Police College, and this risks undermining the integrity of

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Speaker 3: the New Zealand Police. I asked a straight up question

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Speaker 3: during Scrutiny Week as to whether a direction or an

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Speaker 3: order was given for recruits to be let through, and

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Speaker 3: the answer from both the Minister and the Commissioner of

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Speaker 3: Police was that that had not occurred. And now this

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Speaker 3: information that's come to light seems to contradict that.

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Speaker 1: So police have audited hundreds of recruitment applications over fitness

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Speaker 1: standard breaches. Tell me a little bit more about that.

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Speaker 2: So when I started asking questions about this, Police confirmed

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Speaker 2: to me that in indeed they had identified that at

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Speaker 2: least three candidates had been allowed into Police College in

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Speaker 2: the past year. This was in April when I first

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Speaker 2: started asking questions, and they were allowed in because discretionary

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Speaker 2: decisions on their application had been made or some form

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Speaker 2: of exemption had been made, which essentially allowed potential police

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Speaker 2: officers had failed the prerequisites to be a police officer

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Speaker 2: to just go ahead and get into Police College anyway.

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Speaker 2: And on acknowledging that, they announced an audit and that

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Speaker 2: audit was carried out from January last year into April

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Speaker 2: this year. So I was essentially scrutinizing oneenty twenty two

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Speaker 2: recruits from fourteen wings over that time.

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Speaker 1: Period and didn't nearly three hundred and fifty recruits graduate

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Speaker 1: despite skipping a swimming assessment.

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Speaker 2: Yes, that was another tip that I was provided with

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Speaker 2: after my initial coverage of the fitness test issue, I

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Speaker 2: was informed that indeed some of the recruits who were

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Speaker 2: going through Police College graduated despite not carrying out the

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Speaker 2: swimming assessment. Now Police told me, look, this is not

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Speaker 2: a pass or failed test, but obviously it's important for

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Speaker 2: anyone who's joining the New Zealand Police to have an

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Speaker 2: understanding a personal understanding of their abilities in the water,

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Speaker 2: so if they are faced with an emergency situation which

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Speaker 2: would involve them getting into the water. They are going

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Speaker 2: to have an understanding from a personal level whether they

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Speaker 2: should indeed get into the water and rescue someone or not.

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Speaker 2: But just to emphasize here, this was never a pass

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Speaker 2: or fail test. But on revealing that hundreds of recruits

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Speaker 2: had not been assessed on their abilities in the water,

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Speaker 2: Police Minister Mark Mitchell did not like this at all

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Speaker 2: and he essentially ordered them all those recruits to return

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Speaker 2: to the pool and carry out the assessment, saying it's

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Speaker 2: important those recruits who were now actually police offices know

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Speaker 2: their own abilities.

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Speaker 1: How did this come to your attention that this was happening.

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Speaker 2: Well overall, I mean it was you know, via a

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Speaker 2: couple of sources who informed me that this was going on.

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Speaker 2: This is not in relation to the swimming assessment that

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Speaker 2: was separate, but in a sense there was a level

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Speaker 2: of disquiet within police. I was informed that substandard recruits

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Speaker 2: were being allowed through into Police College when they had

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Speaker 2: not passed key prerequisites, including the fitness test to become

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Speaker 2: a police officer. And so that was the overriding concern.

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Speaker 2: And of course as a journalist that is of interest

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Speaker 2: because of the promises we have heard for months now

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Speaker 2: that standards would not be dropped, and so of course

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Speaker 2: we had this audit that was carried out.

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Speaker 1: It just seems like one of those stories that you

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Speaker 1: get a tip off and you just start scratching the

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Speaker 1: surface and more and more kind of comes out. Am

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Speaker 1: I right in thinking that?

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Speaker 2: Absolutely? I mean to the Police's credit on establishing after

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Speaker 2: I asked questions about exemptions and discretionary decisions, to their credit,

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Speaker 2: they did carry out this audit, and of course they

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Speaker 2: went a lot further than just looking at the fitness test.

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Speaker 2: They in fact looked at a whole lot of areas

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Speaker 2: and went back until January twenty twenty four, and the

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Speaker 2: results of course verified my reporting that indeed there were

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Speaker 2: candidates who had failed the fitness test but were being

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Speaker 2: allowed into Police College anyway. But it also revealed there

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Speaker 2: were a whole lot of other areas where candidates had

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Speaker 2: failed to meet the key prerequisites but were allowed in

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Speaker 2: any way. So seventeen Police College applicants failed the fitness

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Speaker 2: test completely or were allowed to complete parts of the

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Speaker 2: assessment on different dates, which is a breach of policy.

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Speaker 2: Those people were allowed into the Police College one hundred

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Speaker 2: and twenty eight candidates. This is the biggest sort of

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Speaker 2: area of failure failed basic English assessments but got the

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Speaker 2: green light to go into Police College. Anyway, There were

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Speaker 2: thirty six recruits who failed psychometric tests but were allowed

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Speaker 2: to reseit those tests until they passed, and that was

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Speaker 2: seen as a breach of policy because the recommendation is

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Speaker 2: that if you fail that psychometric test, you stand down

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Speaker 2: for at least six months before you are allowed to

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Speaker 2: reset the tests. So there were many areas where breaches

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Speaker 2: were confirmed.

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Speaker 4: So we receive about five hundred applications per month to

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Speaker 4: join our organization who made their way to me for

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Speaker 4: exemptions over the fourteen sixteen months or so, So that

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Speaker 4: should offer you some reassurance that the standards have not dropped,

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Speaker 4: have not been adapted, and the public can be reassured

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Speaker 4: that there are top quality people graduating out of the

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Speaker 4: college every single month. So I hope that provides some

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Speaker 4: reassurance to them.

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Speaker 5: Colleagues of ours were part of the public release of

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Speaker 5: information earlier on that goes back to able one hundred

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Speaker 5: percent support the decision, and I understand they're going to

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Speaker 5: be voted of police officers. And that's the third.

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Speaker 1: Reason, And what's this about? Police Assistant Commissioner Jill Rodgers

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Speaker 1: allowing recruits who failed fitness tests to start at Police College.

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Speaker 2: Well, one of the overriding concerns of my sources was

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Speaker 2: that this drop and standards was essentially being blamed on

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Speaker 2: frontline staff, so staff within recruitment staff at the Police College,

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Speaker 2: when in fact, it was alleged, according to my sources,

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Speaker 2: some of these big decisions and exemptions were being made

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Speaker 2: at the top level of police, so within the Police executive.

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Speaker 2: Now I had information that Assistant Police Commissioner Jill Rodgers

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Speaker 2: did indeed allow some exemptions and make those calls herself.

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Speaker 2: I asked this question of the Police media team and

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Speaker 2: they indeed confirmed that Rogers did allow at least a

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Speaker 2: couple of candidates who had failed the fitness test to

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Speaker 2: go ahead and start Police College. It's worth noting, however,

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Speaker 2: that the Police Commissioner has said that he fully backs

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Speaker 2: Jill Rogers in doing this and making these discretionary decisions

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Speaker 2: at the time. But of course, since this order has

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Speaker 2: come out and all of the issues that have come

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Speaker 2: from this, both the Commissioner and the Assistant commission have

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Speaker 2: been very clear that no further exemptions will be permitted

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Speaker 2: at all for any candidate.

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Speaker 6: Nobody should go to work worrying whether their store is

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Speaker 6: going to be robbed or ram rated. But I'm sick

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Speaker 6: of it. Kiwi's are sick of it, and it's unacceptable,

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Speaker 6: and that's why our government has rammed up our actions

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Speaker 6: to keep Kiewe safe and to make New Zealand a

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Speaker 6: much tougher place for anyone involved in crime. So you'll

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Speaker 6: be seeing some fresh faces on CBD streets, with beat

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Speaker 6: officers having already been deployed at the start of this

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Speaker 6: month in Auckland to help police to reduce crime and

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Speaker 6: importantly improve public safety. It's all part of our plan

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Speaker 6: to restore law in order and to get New Zealand

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Speaker 6: back contract.

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Speaker 1: Well, we know that there's a real push to get

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Speaker 1: five hundred extra cops on the front line by the

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Speaker 1: end of November. The government's promised one hundred and ninety

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Speaker 1: one million dollars over four years and has dubbed it

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Speaker 1: a priority. Was that a mistake? Do you think promising

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Speaker 1: these extra cops and publicizing this as a headline.

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Speaker 2: Well, look, I mean I'm not a politician, but politicians

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Speaker 2: will make all sorts of promises prior to coming into power.

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Speaker 2: Law and order's always been one of those areas which

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Speaker 2: interests people in a wide part of our society looking

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Speaker 2: at this and promising the five hundred police officers, and

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Speaker 2: very clearly they are not going to meet that target

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Speaker 2: by November. So I mean, look, a police have always said,

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Speaker 2: including the Police Commissioner, has always said that that target

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Speaker 2: was ambitious. It's looking increasingly unlikely that that target will

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Speaker 2: be met. Of course, as soon as I broke the

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Speaker 2: story their first story in April about exemptions and discretionary

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Speaker 2: decisions being made to allow substandard recruits into Police College.

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Speaker 2: The concern at that point from my sources from the

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Speaker 2: Labor Party and from the Police Association was that there

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Speaker 2: was political pressure being applied to those within the police

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Speaker 2: executive who in turn were applying pressure to other staff

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Speaker 2: to meet targets. And one of the ways it was

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Speaker 2: alleged to meet those targets is to drop standards, make

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Speaker 2: some discretionary decisions around candidates who maybe weren't up to

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Speaker 2: scratch quite but you know, would let them go in

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Speaker 2: any way. So that is the allegation that that they

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Speaker 2: have succumbed to political pressure. Of course, that is something

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Speaker 2: that Police Minister Mark Mitchell and the Associate Police Minister

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Speaker 2: Casey Costello deny. They say they have never applied pressure

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Speaker 2: to anyone within police.

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Speaker 1: Do you think as well, that by opening the door

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Speaker 1: to underqualified candidates are policing problems just they're going to

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Speaker 1: get worse, aren't they not better? I think we all

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Speaker 1: want the best people possible on the front lines, don't we.

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Speaker 2: Well, that is the concern of some of my sources

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Speaker 2: is that if you are allowing candidates who don't meet

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Speaker 2: the grade to essentially end up on the front line,

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Speaker 2: you know, working on the streets as a police officer,

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Speaker 2: then that is not great for public safety. And in fact,

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Speaker 2: that is a key point the Police Association made to

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Speaker 2: me after the initial story I did on this, was

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Speaker 2: that it's all about public safety and we have to

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Speaker 2: be reassured as the public that those officers who are

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Speaker 2: graduating from police college and then starting their careers on

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Speaker 2: the beat are up to scratch. I think though, it's

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Speaker 2: also worth putting into this into context. While there have

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Speaker 2: been dozens of breaches identified, I think it would be

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Speaker 2: going too far to say that we have, you know,

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Speaker 2: all recruits. So we're coming out of the Police College

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Speaker 2: and not up to scratch, because this is a section

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Speaker 2: of applicants that were scrutinized over a certain period of time.

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Speaker 2: And while that did reveal breaches, it did not show

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Speaker 2: that all oney twenty two recruits over that January twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty four to April twenty twenty five period, it did

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Speaker 2: not show that all of them were no good.

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Speaker 1: Is there anything else we need to get clarity on

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Speaker 1: from Police Michael when it comes to the recruitment process.

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Speaker 2: Well, certainly the findings of the audit sparked by my

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Speaker 2: initial reporting have been released in a preliminary form, you know.

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Speaker 2: So this is a preliminary and not a final report.

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Speaker 2: So we will at some point be expecting to receive

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Speaker 2: the final report. And of course the Police Minister is

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Speaker 2: actually alleging that the final report. He's apparently been given

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Speaker 2: a verbal briefing on it, according to his office, and

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Speaker 2: he is saying, well, that will show, especially when it

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Speaker 2: comes to literacy, and remember literacy was a key standard

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Speaker 2: that was dropped. One hundred and twenty eight recruits failed

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Speaker 2: English a basic English assessment over this period. You know,

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Speaker 2: that was under review. And he will say or he

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Speaker 2: is claiming that indeed it was the Labor Party who

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Speaker 2: under their previous administration introduced a drop and standards to literacy.

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Speaker 2: Labor is saying, well, no, it should be the Police

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Speaker 2: Minister Mark Mitchell, who accepts blame for this drop and

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Speaker 2: standards because the period that was under review was a

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Speaker 2: period when he was the Police Minister. But no doubt

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Speaker 2: there is a lot more to come out of this yet.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us, Michael Pleasure. That's it for this

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Speaker 1: episode of the Front Page. You can read more about

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Speaker 1: today's stories and extensive news coverage at enzadherld dot co

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Speaker 1: dot nz. The Front Page is produced by Ethan Sells

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Speaker 1: and Richard Martin, who is also our sound engineer. I'm

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Speaker 1: Chelsea Daniels. Subscribe to the Front Page on iHeartRadio or

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Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts, and tune in tomorrow for

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Speaker 1: another look behind the headlines.