A police victims' advocate and a man mistakenly arrested and held at gunpoint by officers have slammed police for making no changes to a system they say fails to provide adequate care for victims.
Shannon Parker, who runs the New Zealand Police Conduct Association (NZPCA), says in the last 15 months there have been three incidents in which police held the wrong person at gunpoint.
But she says in each of those incidents, adequate care was only provided when a complaint was lodged, media were contacted or a third party got involved to assist the victim.
She accepts mistakes can be made in high-pressure situations but from her dealings with police over the last 10 years, she feels they simply "don't care" about the victims they've created.
Parker says urgent changes need to be made to how police treat people who are wrongly held at gunpoint.
"The common theme in these matters is that there were no contact details provided to these victims at the time of the incident and no support offered," Parker told Newshub.
"The victims all report to have been terrified at the time and left in shock afterwards, which you can understand - I mean, it's not like police in New Zealand have never shot anyone."
The incidents
In November 2020, Northland Police were forced to apologise for an incident in which two innocent teenagers relaxing in a park were held at gunpoint, leaving them "extremely traumatised".
The pair - a 17-year-old boy and his 16-year-old girlfriend - were in Mander Park in Whangārei when officers swarmed the area in search of an armed offender who had shot at police that morning.
Northland District Commander, Superintendent Tony Hill said one of these individuals had a hoodie over his head at the time and his face was not visible, but he matched physical descriptions of the man sought by Police.
"The male seated on the bench was approached and asked to identify himself but refused to engage with police staff," Hill said at the time.
Hill said given the seriousness of the situation, officers escalated their response and armed staff moved to take the man into custody to establish his identity.
"At this point, the individuals have complied with Police instructions. It was soon established that the male was not the person being sought by Police," Superintendent Hill said.
Police told Newshub following the incident in Whangārei, they were aware a complaint had been made to the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA).
"We note that the authority has reviewed this and found that the actions Police took around resolution in this case were appropriate," a police spokesperson said.
Just two months later, in January 2021, Brandon Moase and his friend James* were mistakenly arrested at gunpoint with his one-year-old in the car.
Minutes later, police realised they had arrested the wrong people.
"One of the cops basically just said 'cut them loose, it's not them'," James told Newshub at the time.
"I don't know about Brandon, but I just got the 'sorry about the confusion' thing - half-arsed as. Then we got sent on our way."
Moase told Newshub at the time he "didn't really know what the hell was going on", was left "in shock" and wasn't offered any support.
In the days after the mistaken arrest, Waitematā District Commander Superintendent Naila Hassan organised to meet with the men. But after listening to what they had to say, James was left mortified by Superintendent Hassan's response.
"She tried to offer us movie tickets and food vouchers after we'd just sat there for 10 minutes telling her how traumatised and shocked we were," he said.
"I just felt like I'd been completely swept under the rug. It didn't matter what had happened to us or what our feelings were. It felt more like she was just trying to make her men look good."
In August 2021, Timothee Matariki arrived at his Māngere East home when suddenly armed police swarmed on him at his back door. They told him to put his hands up, their firearms were raised and aimed at his body.
He told reporters he was in handcuffs for an hour while he protested his innocence before being let go by police.
It came after a "serious incident" where multiple shots were fired at an address on Don Buck Rd in Massey using a restricted firearm.
Police said their inquiries lead them to Matariki's address.
"While clearing an address of interest and looking for the offenders and firearm, a male entered the address," Detective Inspector Kevin McNaughton of Waitematā Police said at the time.
"He was briefly detained, and then it was quickly established that he was not involved in the situation and he was released. At no point was he arrested.
"This was an extremely fast moving incident where there was a serious risk to our community and police staff."
Lack of changes
Moase agrees with Parker that changes need to be made so victims are not left isolated after "traumatising" incidents.
"Given there were other similar incidents within a year, addressing this should have been done with some urgency - but it seems as though police just don't care about victims when they create them."
He said his incident was "traumatic" and said the lack of care by police was "shocking".
"This was a traumatic incident that has impacted heavily on both of us," Moase said.
"Police's lack of care and support immediately after the incident was shocking and caused us further stress. We are disappointed but not surprised to learn police have made no changes to how they treat victims of these incidents."
Parker laid a complaint with the IPCA that was shown to Newshub.
The complaint said victims were not immediately followed up with by police, no contact details were left with them in case they had questions, police only took action once the media or a third party was involved, and no effort was made to ensure they were OK.
Parker says she's yet to hear anything about her complaint or if any changes are going to be made.
"These are incidents where Police knew they had created a victim," Parker says.
"I have recently been in contact with the IPCA and am now confident they are taking the matter seriously but I am unaware of any changes that Police have made to their processes in relation to the handling of these incidents.
"Based on the many complaints I am involved with each year, my opinion is that Police Managers and Police Professional Conduct staff just don’t care about the victims of their own. They say all the right things in the media but the reality is very different."
The IPCA has not responded to Newshub's request for comment.
*James is not his real name.
