Commissioner supports exemptions for two police recruits

By Sam Sherwood of RNZ
The Police Commissioner says he fully supports the Assistant Commissioner's decision to sign off on exemptions from recruitment standards for two recruits.
It comes after revelations Assistant Commissioner Jill Rogers personally signed off at least two exemptions from recruitment standards.
On Wednesday, a police spokesperson confirmed in a statement that Rogers gave at least two approvals in the past year, and records were being checked to see if there were more.
"As is already accepted, there had been a practice of discretion applied to some applicants to Police College in relation to the Physical Appraisal Test (PAT)," the statement said.
"Assistant Commissioner Jill Rogers can recall two occasions in the last year where she gave approval to be applied to two applicants. There was no directive, instruction, or request issued in relation to this. We are searching available documentation to confirm this number.
"As with other recruits, those two candidates went on to pass all the tests required to graduate as constables."
The statement said Police Commissioner Richard Chambers had made it clear no more discretion was to be applied. This was following the result of an audit showing the use of discretion had become "too widespread for my liking", and it had developed "over a period of years that pre-dated my time as Commissioner".
Chambers and Rogers spoke to media at Parliament on Thursday.
Chambers said there had been occasions over the years where discretion had been given.
"That's the fair and reasonable thing to do for staff who have their own personal circumstances as to why they might need a little extra support, but I've been clear going forward, there'll be no discretion."
Rogers did not want to give any of the personal circumstances about the two recruits, but said she "deemed the circumstances of their recruitment process required an exemption and allowed that".
"There are extenuating circumstances in a number of these cases, and so I don't want to talk about the personal circumstances. What I will say is the recruit pipeline to enter our initial training phase is a 12-step process. Once they get through that, they enter into the Police College, where they're required to pass all aspects of the training before they graduate as constables, so there's still a robust process for them to go for before they graduate."
Chambers said he had spoken with Rogers about the circumstances of the two recruits and "100% support her decision".
"Because when you take into account human beings choosing a career in the police that you know they aspire to be part of our organisation, there may be reasons. Sometimes we have to give some flexibility to their personal circumstances. Now that I understand those, which has been since Monday, I totally support the decision."
Chambers said he was focused on "moving forward".
"That's where I need to put my time and effort, and that's where I've asked my staff to put their time and effort to so that we can be very confident, which I am, that the quality of police officer for our country remains very, very high."
Trust and confidence in police was "critical", Chambers said.
"I've made a number of statements publicly about a number of things, actually, that sets an expectation and a standard that I know that it's not just me as a commissioner that can be proud of, it's my full executive and it's 15,000 colleagues across the country.
"We're not always going to get it right, and I've said that before. You know, we're human beings at the end of the day, and but when, when things don't quite go to plan, you know, we've got to own it, learn from it, and move on, but the focus is moving forward and continuing to be the best that we can be." Politicians clash over police recruitment targets
The government committed in its coalition agreements to recruiting 500 more police officers by November - but seems unlikely to meet that deadline.
Labour's Police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said the revelations Rogers was involved raised serious questions about whether political pressure had been applied to the Police College to deliver on that promise.
"It's pretty clear that people at the Police College themselves don't make these types of decisions, there's a hierarchy in police.
"There's been a clear pattern here of recruits not meeting standards and when the government has promised 500 more police it's pretty clear that pressure has been applied to the college and that's not right.
"They've delivered around 30 of 500, and they have until November. It's pretty clear they've failed," Andersen said.
In a statement, Mitchell's office said a draft report showed "that for the delivery of the 1800 new police target, a discretionary pass was introduced where the literacy assessment standards were not met, which has since become common practice".
"This does raise questions about political pressure."
Labour, in 2017, committed to recruit an extra 1800 police officers, marking that milestone in June 2023. RNZ has requested a copy of the draft report the minister's statement refers to.
"We have made very clear on discovering this practice that it does not meet our expectations and Police have responded quickly with the Commissioner directing that the practice be ended," his office said.
"Labour should be upfront with New Zealanders about the mess they created in order to deliver their well overdue and incomplete 1800 new police target, instead of trying to blame this government that had to come in and clean it up."
Further comment has been sought from Andersen responding to Mitchell's statements. She said the review made it clear "recruits failed physical tests and got through anyway".
"This happened in the past year, under their watch. Mark Mitchell needs to take accountability for his failure to deliver 500 more police."
The audit covers 1022 recruits between January 2024 and April 2025. Preliminary findings showed a significant number of applicants were allowed into the college, despite failing preliminary tests.

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