Why NZ cops made me beat a retreat

A BRITISH policeman recruited to New Zealand a year ago to plug staff shortages has lifted the lid on why he quit and went home.

Constable Rob Clarke claims the New Zealand force is badly run and sometimes tolerant of police brutality and racism. But police say they need evidence before they will investigate.

Clarke is among six of the 76 English recruits to return home and it is understood a further three may soon follow.

Two months ago it was revealed the recruits proved the department underpaid them by $250,000 and were compensated. Their salaries now recognise their service in Britain as promised.

A wife of a recruit told a police magazine last year her husband was bullied, undervalued and felt like quitting.

But Clarke said these concerns were the tip of the iceberg. He claims:

n In Police College training, a senior officer said officers should ask prisoners to give a voluntary blood sample and "distract" anyone refusing by talking about something else. They should then "quickly" get prisoners to sign the consent form before they withdrew consent.

n He was regularly asked if he had "given the bash lately". Once, after chasing a man in a stolen car, an officer twice yelled to Clarke to "give him the bash now".

n Maori were called racist names and one Maori man was left in cells overnight without food and threatened with fictitious charges if he did not admit to a crime.

n A man who had run away after being asked for his driver's licence had surrendered to a dog handler but was set upon by the police dog and bitten up to 12 times. Police said the dog handler was later found not at fault.

Clarke said he complained to two senior officers about these concerns and was told: "I bet that happened in the UK, too."

The Portsmouth officer of 11 years said he should have opted out of the job at the recruitment process because a dishonest picture was painted of New Zealand.

"They told us there were palm trees, non-stop sunshine, not much crime, that kids walk to school without a worry and the country was full of happy, smiling people. It was paradise. The picture they were painting was of Fiji."

Police Association president Greg O'Connor has previously acknowledged some UK recruits had felt New Zealand had been over-sold to them.

The police training also shocked Clarke. He said it consisted of being told to memorise laws and "having the Maori language shoved down our throats". But he loved learning two hakas and Maori songs.

UK recruits dubbed the college "the Mickey Mouse show" because it did not equip the officers for real-life duties.

Clarke said inexperienced officers were put on the beat. He had an officer with four months' experience guiding him and, because she was not familiar with police procedures, Clarke often had to phone a sergeant for advice. If the sergeant did not respond, Clarke had to let minor offenders go.

He said such inexperience meant officers missed clues. In one case, he said an officer ignored a domes-tic because a woman did not want to make a complaint. But Clarke questioned her further and found she and two others had been repeatedly raped.

Clarke said although Kiwi cops were mainly hardworking, they did not help society. "They just issue tickets and uphold the law, which is 20 years behind UK policing."

Clarke has been put off policing for good and is training to be a teacher.

Police spokesman Jon Neilson said some UK officers had raised issues and said they were being looked at. He wants Clarke to detail his concerns to acting superintendent Gavin Jones.

"We take such allegations seriously and if they are found to be valid then they would be subjected to the standard inquiry processes to find the perpetrators and deal with them accordingly," he said.

Neilson initially said he was concerned Clarke was making allegations after being investigated for allegedly falsifying documents to join the NZ Police. But after the Sunday Star-Times challenged him, Neilson admitted he made a mistake. Clarke was never investigated.

Clarke gave the Star-Times per-mission to forward the information he gave us to police, which the newspaper has done.