Speaker 1: Kiota. I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page,
Speaker 1: a daily podcast presented by the New Zealand Herald. An
Speaker 1: investigation by the New Zealand Herald has revealed concerns with
Speaker 1: police recruitment over the last several months. We've learned that
Speaker 1: prospective cops who didn't pass fitness or literacy tests were
Speaker 1: allowed to start training, and dozens of recruits graduated from
Speaker 1: police college despite not being assessed on their ability to swim.
Speaker 1: It's prompted and ordered by police of the process and
Speaker 1: promises to change things. But has the damage already been done?
Speaker 1: And said Harold. Investigative reporter Michael Morra has led the
Speaker 1: charge on this and is with us today on the
Speaker 1: Front Page to run through what's gone wrong here and
Speaker 1: how police have responded. For those of us who don't know, Michael,
Speaker 1: what does it take to become a police officer? I
Speaker 1: assume that we just can't rock up and sign up.
Speaker 2: Pay, Absolutely not. So there are background checks. Police would
Speaker 2: be interested to know about any previous convictions, any possible
Speaker 2: gang links or affiliations, so those checks are done as
Speaker 2: well as that you have to pass various fitness standards,
Speaker 2: including completing a two point four kilometer run under a
Speaker 2: certain timeframe. There's also a grip strength test and a
Speaker 2: jump test, so those are all requirements before you start
Speaker 2: at Police College and training. Along with that, there's psychometric testing,
Speaker 2: so this is essentially to test that you have the abilities,
Speaker 2: the cognitive abilities for police work, so it assesses things
Speaker 2: like your ability to reason and so all of those
Speaker 2: things combined give police a good idea of whether or
Speaker 2: not that applicant is a suitable person to go through
Speaker 2: Police College to then become a constable and join the
Speaker 2: New Zealand Police.
Speaker 1: I understand there have been some concerns about the recruitment process.
Speaker 1: What are they? So?
Speaker 2: I was first alerted to concerns about the recruitment process
Speaker 2: in April, and essentially the information that came to me
Speaker 2: was that there had been instances where applicants seeking to
Speaker 2: start at Police College were being given exemptions or having
Speaker 2: discretionary decisions based on their applications, which it was alleged
Speaker 2: at the time was allowing people who had not passed
Speaker 2: fitness tests into the Police College. That was of course
Speaker 2: of interest because police have always said even with the
Speaker 2: new five hundred new police officers, by November target that
Speaker 2: the government introduced that standards would not drop. That standards
Speaker 2: to become a police officer in New Zeland is still
Speaker 2: very rigorous and robust, and you have to dot all
Speaker 2: the ey's and cross all the t's and get through
Speaker 2: all of these various steps before you can bear constable
Speaker 2: in New Zealand.
Speaker 3: I believe that both the Minister and the Commissioner have
Speaker 3: not been upfront with New Zealanders about the process at
Speaker 3: the Police College, and this risks undermining the integrity of
Speaker 3: the New Zealand Police. I asked a straight up question
Speaker 3: during Scrutiny Week as to whether a direction or an
Speaker 3: order was given for recruits to be let through, and
Speaker 3: the answer from both the Minister and the Commissioner of
Speaker 3: Police was that that had not occurred. And now this
Speaker 3: information that's come to light seems to contradict that.
Speaker 1: So police have audited hundreds of recruitment applications over fitness
Speaker 1: standard breaches. Tell me a little bit more about that.
Speaker 2: So when I started asking questions about this, Police confirmed
Speaker 2: to me that in indeed they had identified that at
Speaker 2: least three candidates had been allowed into Police College in
Speaker 2: the past year. This was in April when I first
Speaker 2: started asking questions, and they were allowed in because discretionary
Speaker 2: decisions on their application had been made or some form
Speaker 2: of exemption had been made, which essentially allowed potential police
Speaker 2: officers had failed the prerequisites to be a police officer
Speaker 2: to just go ahead and get into Police College anyway.
Speaker 2: And on acknowledging that, they announced an audit and that
Speaker 2: audit was carried out from January last year into April
Speaker 2: this year. So I was essentially scrutinizing oneenty twenty two
Speaker 2: recruits from fourteen wings over that time.
Speaker 1: Period and didn't nearly three hundred and fifty recruits graduate
Speaker 1: despite skipping a swimming assessment.
Speaker 2: Yes, that was another tip that I was provided with
Speaker 2: after my initial coverage of the fitness test issue, I
Speaker 2: was informed that indeed some of the recruits who were
Speaker 2: going through Police College graduated despite not carrying out the
Speaker 2: swimming assessment. Now Police told me, look, this is not
Speaker 2: a pass or failed test, but obviously it's important for
Speaker 2: anyone who's joining the New Zealand Police to have an
Speaker 2: understanding a personal understanding of their abilities in the water,
Speaker 2: so if they are faced with an emergency situation which
Speaker 2: would involve them getting into the water. They are going
Speaker 2: to have an understanding from a personal level whether they
Speaker 2: should indeed get into the water and rescue someone or not.
Speaker 2: But just to emphasize here, this was never a pass
Speaker 2: or fail test. But on revealing that hundreds of recruits
Speaker 2: had not been assessed on their abilities in the water,
Speaker 2: Police Minister Mark Mitchell did not like this at all
Speaker 2: and he essentially ordered them all those recruits to return
Speaker 2: to the pool and carry out the assessment, saying it's
Speaker 2: important those recruits who were now actually police offices know
Speaker 2: their own abilities.
Speaker 1: How did this come to your attention that this was happening.
Speaker 2: Well overall, I mean it was you know, via a
Speaker 2: couple of sources who informed me that this was going on.
Speaker 2: This is not in relation to the swimming assessment that
Speaker 2: was separate, but in a sense there was a level
Speaker 2: of disquiet within police. I was informed that substandard recruits
Speaker 2: were being allowed through into Police College when they had
Speaker 2: not passed key prerequisites, including the fitness test to become
Speaker 2: a police officer. And so that was the overriding concern.
Speaker 2: And of course as a journalist that is of interest
Speaker 2: because of the promises we have heard for months now
Speaker 2: that standards would not be dropped, and so of course
Speaker 2: we had this audit that was carried out.
Speaker 1: It just seems like one of those stories that you
Speaker 1: get a tip off and you just start scratching the
Speaker 1: surface and more and more kind of comes out. Am
Speaker 1: I right in thinking that?
Speaker 2: Absolutely? I mean to the Police's credit on establishing after
Speaker 2: I asked questions about exemptions and discretionary decisions, to their credit,
Speaker 2: they did carry out this audit, and of course they
Speaker 2: went a lot further than just looking at the fitness test.
Speaker 2: They in fact looked at a whole lot of areas
Speaker 2: and went back until January twenty twenty four, and the
Speaker 2: results of course verified my reporting that indeed there were
Speaker 2: candidates who had failed the fitness test but were being
Speaker 2: allowed into Police College anyway. But it also revealed there
Speaker 2: were a whole lot of other areas where candidates had
Speaker 2: failed to meet the key prerequisites but were allowed in
Speaker 2: any way. So seventeen Police College applicants failed the fitness
Speaker 2: test completely or were allowed to complete parts of the
Speaker 2: assessment on different dates, which is a breach of policy.
Speaker 2: Those people were allowed into the Police College one hundred
Speaker 2: and twenty eight candidates. This is the biggest sort of
Speaker 2: area of failure failed basic English assessments but got the
Speaker 2: green light to go into Police College. Anyway, There were
Speaker 2: thirty six recruits who failed psychometric tests but were allowed
Speaker 2: to reseit those tests until they passed, and that was
Speaker 2: seen as a breach of policy because the recommendation is
Speaker 2: that if you fail that psychometric test, you stand down
Speaker 2: for at least six months before you are allowed to
Speaker 2: reset the tests. So there were many areas where breaches
Speaker 2: were confirmed.
Speaker 4: So we receive about five hundred applications per month to
Speaker 4: join our organization who made their way to me for
Speaker 4: exemptions over the fourteen sixteen months or so, So that
Speaker 4: should offer you some reassurance that the standards have not dropped,
Speaker 4: have not been adapted, and the public can be reassured
Speaker 4: that there are top quality people graduating out of the
Speaker 4: college every single month. So I hope that provides some
Speaker 4: reassurance to them.
Speaker 5: Colleagues of ours were part of the public release of
Speaker 5: information earlier on that goes back to able one hundred
Speaker 5: percent support the decision, and I understand they're going to
Speaker 5: be voted of police officers. And that's the third.
Speaker 1: Reason, And what's this about? Police Assistant Commissioner Jill Rodgers
Speaker 1: allowing recruits who failed fitness tests to start at Police College.
Speaker 2: Well, one of the overriding concerns of my sources was
Speaker 2: that this drop and standards was essentially being blamed on
Speaker 2: frontline staff, so staff within recruitment staff at the Police College,
Speaker 2: when in fact, it was alleged, according to my sources,
Speaker 2: some of these big decisions and exemptions were being made
Speaker 2: at the top level of police, so within the Police executive.
Speaker 2: Now I had information that Assistant Police Commissioner Jill Rodgers
Speaker 2: did indeed allow some exemptions and make those calls herself.
Speaker 2: I asked this question of the Police media team and
Speaker 2: they indeed confirmed that Rogers did allow at least a
Speaker 2: couple of candidates who had failed the fitness test to
Speaker 2: go ahead and start Police College. It's worth noting, however,
Speaker 2: that the Police Commissioner has said that he fully backs
Speaker 2: Jill Rogers in doing this and making these discretionary decisions
Speaker 2: at the time. But of course, since this order has
Speaker 2: come out and all of the issues that have come
Speaker 2: from this, both the Commissioner and the Assistant commission have
Speaker 2: been very clear that no further exemptions will be permitted
Speaker 2: at all for any candidate.
Speaker 6: Nobody should go to work worrying whether their store is
Speaker 6: going to be robbed or ram rated. But I'm sick
Speaker 6: of it. Kiwi's are sick of it, and it's unacceptable,
Speaker 6: and that's why our government has rammed up our actions
Speaker 6: to keep Kiewe safe and to make New Zealand a
Speaker 6: much tougher place for anyone involved in crime. So you'll
Speaker 6: be seeing some fresh faces on CBD streets, with beat
Speaker 6: officers having already been deployed at the start of this
Speaker 6: month in Auckland to help police to reduce crime and
Speaker 6: importantly improve public safety. It's all part of our plan
Speaker 6: to restore law in order and to get New Zealand
Speaker 6: back contract.
Speaker 1: Well, we know that there's a real push to get
Speaker 1: five hundred extra cops on the front line by the
Speaker 1: end of November. The government's promised one hundred and ninety
Speaker 1: one million dollars over four years and has dubbed it
Speaker 1: a priority. Was that a mistake? Do you think promising
Speaker 1: these extra cops and publicizing this as a headline.
Speaker 2: Well, look, I mean I'm not a politician, but politicians
Speaker 2: will make all sorts of promises prior to coming into power.
Speaker 2: Law and order's always been one of those areas which
Speaker 2: interests people in a wide part of our society looking
Speaker 2: at this and promising the five hundred police officers, and
Speaker 2: very clearly they are not going to meet that target
Speaker 2: by November. So I mean, look, a police have always said,
Speaker 2: including the Police Commissioner, has always said that that target
Speaker 2: was ambitious. It's looking increasingly unlikely that that target will
Speaker 2: be met. Of course, as soon as I broke the
Speaker 2: story their first story in April about exemptions and discretionary
Speaker 2: decisions being made to allow substandard recruits into Police College.
Speaker 2: The concern at that point from my sources from the
Speaker 2: Labor Party and from the Police Association was that there
Speaker 2: was political pressure being applied to those within the police
Speaker 2: executive who in turn were applying pressure to other staff
Speaker 2: to meet targets. And one of the ways it was
Speaker 2: alleged to meet those targets is to drop standards, make
Speaker 2: some discretionary decisions around candidates who maybe weren't up to
Speaker 2: scratch quite but you know, would let them go in
Speaker 2: any way. So that is the allegation that that they
Speaker 2: have succumbed to political pressure. Of course, that is something
Speaker 2: that Police Minister Mark Mitchell and the Associate Police Minister
Speaker 2: Casey Costello deny. They say they have never applied pressure
Speaker 2: to anyone within police.
Speaker 1: Do you think as well, that by opening the door
Speaker 1: to underqualified candidates are policing problems just they're going to
Speaker 1: get worse, aren't they not better? I think we all
Speaker 1: want the best people possible on the front lines, don't we.
Speaker 2: Well, that is the concern of some of my sources
Speaker 2: is that if you are allowing candidates who don't meet
Speaker 2: the grade to essentially end up on the front line,
Speaker 2: you know, working on the streets as a police officer,
Speaker 2: then that is not great for public safety. And in fact,
Speaker 2: that is a key point the Police Association made to
Speaker 2: me after the initial story I did on this, was
Speaker 2: that it's all about public safety and we have to
Speaker 2: be reassured as the public that those officers who are
Speaker 2: graduating from police college and then starting their careers on
Speaker 2: the beat are up to scratch. I think though, it's
Speaker 2: also worth putting into this into context. While there have
Speaker 2: been dozens of breaches identified, I think it would be
Speaker 2: going too far to say that we have, you know,
Speaker 2: all recruits. So we're coming out of the Police College
Speaker 2: and not up to scratch, because this is a section
Speaker 2: of applicants that were scrutinized over a certain period of time.
Speaker 2: And while that did reveal breaches, it did not show
Speaker 2: that all oney twenty two recruits over that January twenty
Speaker 2: twenty four to April twenty twenty five period, it did
Speaker 2: not show that all of them were no good.
Speaker 1: Is there anything else we need to get clarity on
Speaker 1: from Police Michael when it comes to the recruitment process.
Speaker 2: Well, certainly the findings of the audit sparked by my
Speaker 2: initial reporting have been released in a preliminary form, you know.
Speaker 2: So this is a preliminary and not a final report.
Speaker 2: So we will at some point be expecting to receive
Speaker 2: the final report. And of course the Police Minister is
Speaker 2: actually alleging that the final report. He's apparently been given
Speaker 2: a verbal briefing on it, according to his office, and
Speaker 2: he is saying, well, that will show, especially when it
Speaker 2: comes to literacy, and remember literacy was a key standard
Speaker 2: that was dropped. One hundred and twenty eight recruits failed
Speaker 2: English a basic English assessment over this period. You know,
Speaker 2: that was under review. And he will say or he
Speaker 2: is claiming that indeed it was the Labor Party who
Speaker 2: under their previous administration introduced a drop and standards to literacy.
Speaker 2: Labor is saying, well, no, it should be the Police
Speaker 2: Minister Mark Mitchell, who accepts blame for this drop and
Speaker 2: standards because the period that was under review was a
Speaker 2: period when he was the Police Minister. But no doubt
Speaker 2: there is a lot more to come out of this yet.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us, Michael Pleasure. That's it for this
Speaker 1: episode of the Front Page. You can read more about
Speaker 1: today's stories and extensive news coverage at enzadherld dot co
Speaker 1: dot nz. The Front Page is produced by Ethan Sells
Speaker 1: and Richard Martin, who is also our sound engineer. I'm
Speaker 1: Chelsea Daniels. Subscribe to the Front Page on iHeartRadio or
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts, and tune in tomorrow for
Speaker 1: another look behind the headlines.