The following is a list of controversies involving the New Zealand Police. The New Zealand Police is perceived to have a minimal level of institutional corruption. However, throughout its history, the New Zealand Police has been the subject of a number of controversies. Some have been investigated by the Independent Police Conduct Authority; others have received significant publicity.

Wrongful convictions Arthur Allan Thomas

Arthur Allan Thomas (born 2 January 1938) is a New Zealand man who was wrongfully convicted twice of the murders of Harvey and Jeannette Crewe in June 1971. Following revelations that crucial evidence against him had been faked by the police, in 1979 Thomas was granted a Royal Pardon.

In 1980, the Government ordered a Royal Commission of Inquiry into his convictions which concluded that Detective Inspector Bruce Hutton and Detective Len Johnston were responsible for planting the cartridge in the garden to incriminate Thomas. Thomas was subsequently awarded NZ$950,000 in compensation for his 9 years in prison and loss of earnings.

Mike Bush, then deputy Police Commissioner, described Hutton as having "integrity beyond reproach" at his funeral in 2013.

The dawn raids

The dawn raids were crackdowns in New Zealand from 1973 to 1979 and then sporadically afterward on alleged illegal overstayers from the Pacific Islands. The raids were first introduced in 1973 by Prime Minister Norman Kirk's Labour government, who discontinued them in April 1974. However, they were later reintroduced and intensified by Rob Muldoon's Third National government. These operations involved special police squads conducting often aggressive raids on the homes and workplaces of overstayers throughout New Zealand, usually at dawn and almost exclusively directed at Pasifika New Zealanders, regardless of their citizenship status. Overstayers and their families were often prosecuted and then deported back to their countries.

1981 Springbok Tour

The 1981 South Africa rugby union tour of New Zealand and the United States|1981 South African rugby tour, known in New Zealand as the 1981 Springbok Tour, and in South Africa as the Rebel Tour, polarised opinions and inspired widespread protests across New Zealand. The allegedly excessive police response to the protests also became a focus of controversy. Although the protests were among the most intense in New Zealand's recent history, no deaths or serious injuries resulted.

As protection for the Springboks, the police created two special riot squads, the Red and Blue Squads. These police were, controversially, the first in New Zealand to be issued with visored riot helmets and long batons (more commonly the side-handle baton). Some protesters were intimidated and interpreted this initial police response as overkill and heavy-handed tactics. After early disruptions, police began to require that all spectators assemble in sports grounds at least an hour before kick-off. While the protests were meant to be largely peaceful resistance to the Springbok tour, quite often there were "violent confrontations with rugby supporters and specially trained riot police."

Following several years of debate about police accountability in New Zealand, sparked in part by the role of Police during the 1981 Springbok Tour, the Police Complaints Authority was established on 1 April 1989 to act as an independent oversight body for police.

Alan Hall

Alan Hall was convicted for the murder of Arthur Easton in 1985. His conviction, which was later overturned, has been described as one of New Zealand's worst miscarriages of justice.A brother's 36-year fight against one of New Zealand's worst miscarriages of justice, The Guardian, 15 June 2022. In August 2023, the Government agreed to pay him $5 million in compensation, the largest nominal payout for wrongful conviction in New Zealand history.Alan Hall to get $5m compensation for wrongful murder conviction, Stuff, 18 August 2023.

When Hall was arrested, police subjected him to lengthy interrogations, on one occasion for eight hours, and another for 15 hours, without a lawyer or support person present. It was later revealed that police and Crown prosecutors colluded in falsifying evidence and withholding mitigating evidence from the judge and the jury in order to secure a conviction.

In 2024, two police officers and a prosecutor were charged with perverting the course of justice, and a reward of $100,000 was offered for information leading to the conviction of the real murderer.

1989 Murder of Deane Fuller-Sandys and Leah Stephens

Deane Fuller-Sandys and Leah Stephens disappeared in Auckland, New Zealand, five days apart in August 1989. Stephens' remains were discovered in a forest three years later. Fuller-Sandys' body has never been found. In 1999, Gail Maney, Colin Maney, Stephen Stone, and Mark Henriksen were convicted in relation to the murders. The convictions of all four were overturned in October 2024 due to a miscarriage of justice caused by police misconduct including falsified evidence and police blackmailing key witnesses. Maney spent a total of 16 years in prison; Stone spent 26 years behind bars and was released on bail a few days after the convictions were overturned.

Integrated National Crime Information System (INCIS)

The Integrated National Crime Information System (INCIS) was a computer software package developed by IBM in the early 1990s to provide improved information, investigation and analysis capabilities to the police. Deputy Police Commissioner, Barry Matthews, was responsible for its implementation and acknowledged that police requested 'hundreds and hundreds of changes' to the system as the programme was being developed. It never worked as required and ended up costing $130 million before it was finally abandoned in 2000.

The wasted resources and on-going problems surrounding the failure of the project were a huge distraction for the police. When it was about to be scrapped, Police Association president Greg O'Connor said "The reality of it is that the sooner ... the huge distraction that is Incis is gone, the better." Funding wasted on INCIS subsequently led to budget cuts in other areas so that infrastructure such as cars and communications centres were poorly resourced.

Inadequate communications centre response In 2004 and 2005, the police were criticised over several incidents in which callers to the Police Communications Centres, particularly those using the 111 emergency telephone number, received inadequate responses. In October 2004, the Commissioner of Police ordered an independent review into the communications centres under sustained political scrutiny after the Iraena Asher incident received a lot of publicity and a whistle-blowing employee resigned. On 11 May 2005, the Review Panel released its report which criticised the service for systemic failures and inadequate management. The report expressed ongoing concerns for public safety.

Police acted on the recommendations of the review with a number of initiatives, including increasing communications centre staff numbers and then initiating a demonstration project for a single non-emergency number centre, to reduce the load on the 111 service. The single non-emergency number 105 was launched on 10 May 2019.

Historical sexual misconduct by police In 2004, a number of historical sexual misconduct allegations dating from the 1980s were made against both serving and former police officers. In March 2006 assistant police commissioner Clinton Rickards and former police officers Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum were charged with raping and sexually abusing Louise Nicholas in Rotorua during the 1980s. The defendants claimed all sex was consensual and were found not guilty on 31 March 2006. In February 2007 the same three men faced historical charges of kidnapping and indecent assault for the pack rape of a 16-year-old girl with a whisky bottle that took place in the early 1980s, and again they were acquitted. Throughout both trials, the jury were unaware that Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum had been convicted of a previous pack rape in 2005 and were already serving prison sentences for this crime.

Rickards was forced to resign from the police but was paid $300,000 as part of his termination package. Complaints about inappropriate sexual behaviour by police officers led to a three-year inquiry conducted by Dame Margaret Bazley. Her highly critical report was released in 2007.

Failures to investigate Wairarapa sexual abuse cases in 2008 In 2008 there was a public scandal regarding the failure of police to investigate a backlog of sexual abuse cases in the Wairarapa. The head of the Masterton Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB), Detective Senior Sergeant Mark McHattie, received an unspecified disciplinary outcome and has since been promoted to head of the Auckland CIB's serious crime unit.

Covert spying on the public and activist groups

In 2008, the police's Special Investigation Group came under considerable media scrutiny after it was revealed Christchurch man Rob Gilchrist had been hired by officers to spy on individuals and organisations including Greenpeace, Iraq war protestors, student associations, unions, animal rights and climate change campaigners.Call for commission of enquiry, NewstalkZB, 21 December 2008, retrieved 30 December 2008.State Of It: Police SIG Unit Wasted On Tag-Busting , Scoop, Selwyn Manning, 19 December 2008, retrieved 30 December 2008.

David Lyttle framed for the murder of Brett Hall David Lyttle was wrongfully convicted of murdering his friend of 30 years, Brett Hall, a convicted drug dealer who had spent time in prison. Hall went missing from his property north of Whanganui in May 2011, but his body has never been found.

Despite having no forensic evidence linking Lyttle to Hall's disappearance after four years of investigating, police initiated an undercover operation targeting Lyttle. The operation resulted in a false confession and no further forensic evidence to prove Lyttle's involvement in Hall's disappearance. Police further ignored a lead from an informant who claimed Hall was murdered during a drug deal, withheld evidence from Lyttle's defence team, and improperly delayed the disclosure process.

2012 Raid on Kim Dotcom

Acting upon a US Federal prosecutor's request, police arrested Kim Dotcom and three other Megaupload executives in a leased $30 million mansion at Coatesville near Auckland on Friday, 20 January 2012 (NZDT, UTC+13). This was pursuant to a request from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation that the four be extradited for racketeering and money laundering.

To secure Dotcom's arrest, police executed an early morning raid that coincided with Dotcom's birthday celebration. The police armed, anti-terrorism Special Tactics Group was placed in charge of executing the raid, with police conducting warrantless surveillance of Dotcom's home including the unlawful placement and use of Covert listening devices. Between 40 and 80 police officers and support staff were involved in the raid, which was criticised for the excessive and overwhelming use of force involved. Dotcom later won an undisclosed settlement in a lawsuit against police for the tactics used in the raid in 2017.

Inhumane treatment of youths held in police detention