West Coast sergeant abused power - IPCA

West Coast police held three people in custody which the IPCA found breached their rights (file)
West Coast police held three people in custody which the IPCA found breached their rights (file)

The police watchdog has found West Coast officers breached the rights of three people they detained during a drug arrest last year, keeping two in custody illegally and holding another handcuffed for eight hours.

The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) found the operation at Greymouth Police Station in May, 2015, breached several rights including basic humanity, dignity and access to a lawyer.

Police made all three arrests at a Greymouth home after searching for one man, named as Mr X, over an assault charge but smelled cannabis after the entering the property. A further two people at the house, a man and a woman, were arrested, charged and detained on drugs charges.

The IPCA found police were within their rights to arrest Mr X for assault but breached them by holding him in handcuffs for eight-and-a-half hours and failing to get him quick access to a lawyer.

They also found police were outside of their rights to detain the other two, the man and woman, for as long as they did without proper access to a lawyer. The man was held for 15 hours and the woman for 19 while police waited for an officer to return to his shift for an interview.

The decision states that police are "legally required to bring an arrested person before the court as soon as reasonably possible" or should release them without charge or on bail, saying "police are not entitled to detain someone in custody for the sole purpose of interviewing them".

The IPCA also determined police failed to provide the woman, and the man arrested for assault, with timely access to legal advice. Both the man and the woman arrested over the drugs were later dismissed when police dropped charges.

IPCA chair Sir David Carruthers said the officers should have known better and the "sergeant's actions were a flagrant abuse of his power".

"As an experienced officer, the sergeant must have known full well that it was illegal to detain the man and woman," he said.

In response, police accepted the findings from the IPCA and have reiterated correct custodial practices with all West Coast staff.

Newshub.