Category: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

An Auckland-based detective with decades of experience in police is facing a criminal investigation for allegedly possessing objectionable material.

RNZ earlier revealed criminal investigations had begun into three police staff in relation to “misuse and inappropriate content”.

RNZ understands one of the staffers is an award-winning detective based in the Auckland region.

The detective, and police, have been approached for comment.

It’s understood he has been stood down.

Do you know more? Email sam.sherwood@rnz.co.nz

It follows an audit of staff internet usage sparked by the resignation of former Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming who recently pleaded guilty to possessing objectionable publications, including child sexual exploitation and bestiality over a four-year period.

Acting Deputy Police Commissioner Jill Rogers told RNZ on Thursday six out of 20 staff under investigation in relation to “misuse and inappropriate content” had been stood down.

“Those six are being investigated for serious matters, ranging from potentially accessing objectionable material, or accessing inappropriate material while also subject to separate misconduct matters.”

Some of the staff being investigated may have had legitimate purposes for accessing material, which police would verify through their inquiries.

“Criminal investigations are being conducted into three of the cases.”

Police were not able to disclose the ranks of those under investigation.

Rogers earlier told RNZ a “small number of users of concern” were under investigation.

RNZ asked for clarification but did not receive a response from police.

On Wednesday, Rogers said police continued to progress investigations into about 20 cases of misuse and inappropriate content as part of the ongoing audit of staff use of police devices.

“Employment processes are underway in some of these cases while others are still at the preliminary stages of investigation.

“We can assure the public appropriate action will be taken in every case and cannot rule out charges if the Solicitor General’s guidelines for prosecution are met.

“We are unable to comment further while these processes take their course.”

Rogers earlier confirmed to RNZ a police officer had been stood down from duty for “inappropriate content on a police device”.

“The officer is under employment investigation for serious misconduct, relating to inappropriate, but not objectionable, material on a police-issued device. The alleged misconduct was uncovered through following recent audits of staff internet usage.”

Police Commissioner Richard Chambers earlier told RNZ the misconduct being investigated was uncovered as a result of the new monitoring measures introduced following the Rapid Review of the settings for police devices, launched after McSkimming’s resignation.

“I sought that review because of my concern that such conduct was not being detected. This offers some reassurance that we now have the necessary tools to detect potentially inappropriate behaviour.”

The investigation into McSkimming led to concerns that staff could bypass internal controls and “exploit vulnerabilities to access inappropriate content”.

The concerns prompted Chambers to order a “rapid review” of police’s information security (INFOSEC) controls to ensure police had sufficiently strong controls to prevent or detect the misuse of police technology and equipment for non-work-related purposes.

A summary of the review said the main risks were; weaknesses in technology configuration, lack of visibility over user activity and gaps in governance.

The report included key findings and recommendations in relation to each of the risks.

There was “inconsistent application” of internet access policies across different workgroups as well as a “lack of robust filtering mechanisms” to consistently prevent access to unauthorised websites.

The review also found there was “insufficient monitoring of internet usage to detect and respond to potential security threats and inappropriate usage”.

Other findings included unmanaged devices being used for operational activities and inadequate monitoring of user activity and network traffic.

There was an absence of centralised logging and analysis tools to detect anomalies and potential issues and “insufficient resources allocated to continuous monitoring and incident response”.

The review also said there was a lack of “clear governance structures and accountability” for INFOSEC controls, with “inconsistent enforcement” of security policies and procedures.

The report called for “improved oversight and coordination among different workgroups”.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Corrections officers are expected to face the Coroners Court as the second part of an inquest into the death of a man pepper sprayed at Mt Eden Corrections Facility gets underway this week.

Caleb Moefa’auo, 26, died in 2022 after suffering a cardiac arrest shortly after being pepper-sprayed by an officer.

The first phase of a coronial inquest into his death was held in July.

Phase two began in the Auckland District Court on Monday. It will focus on the circumstances of his death, how his mental health contributed to what happened and whether the officers involved adequately took this into account.

Moefa’auo had previously been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, and was staying at Tiaho Mai – a residential unit to support people with mental health issues – after pleading guilty to aggravated assault and shoplifting in June of 2021.

In December of 2021 he was sent to Mt Eden Corrections Facility after allegedly assaulting a fellow patient at Tiaho Mai, and was later found to be at risk of self-harm so placed in the prison’s Intervention and Support Unit.

Phase one of the inquest outlined the events leading up to his death.

The lawyer assisting the coroner, Rebekah Jordan, had said Moefa’auo had taken a shower that day. He had used three towels to dry himself and had taken a fourth, when an acting senior corrections officer approached him, holding a can of pepper spray.

Moefa’auo was told to pass the towel to another officer, which he did, before being directed to get onto his knees.

When Moefa’auo began to rise, the acting senior officer shouted at him, before spraying him.

“Caleb was clearly affected by the pepper spray. A number of officers restrained Caleb on the ground and placed him in handcuffs… While this was happening Caleb repeatedly apologised and made the first of a number of comments that he could not breathe,” Jordan said.

The officers took him back to his cell, where he stopped responding.

The prison officer who sprayed Moefa’auo was charged with assault, but found not guilty by a jury. The jury was not told that Moefa’auo had died, as the fact was deemed prejudicial.

Phase two began on Monday with a prayer from Moefa’auo’s grandfather, as well as opening comments from his mother, Justine Lauese.

She said the family was seeking clarity about the circumstances and choices that led to Moefa’auo’s death.

“We love Caleb so deeply, and even though he cannot stand here with us, we stand here for him, for his dignity, his voice, and for the gentle hope that meaningful change can come in his name,” Lauese said.

“We need to fully understand what happened to our son so that real and effective change can be made.”

Lauese said she and her family carried the weight of what happened to Moefa’auo everyday.

“His death has affected us emotionally, mentally and spiritually in ways we will carry forever.”

Coroner Heather McKenzie thanked the family, who sat watching from the back of the courtroom wearing ‘Justice for Caleb’ pins.

“Having Caleb’s family here really gives him a voice,” she said.

McKenzie highlighted the importance of seeing the person behind the timelines and statements.

“In the first part of the inquest we heard a lot of policy evidence, and it can be easy in that setting to lose sight of the emotional toll, and also the events that happened on the day,” she said.

“But this week is the sharper end of things, and you mentioned that you, as Caleb’s family and the others, have carried the weight of his death and I really do, sincerely, acknowledge that.”

The inquest continues.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

High-flying members at one of Auckland’s most exclusive golf clubs have been given an extension to keep taking helicopters to the course.

It comes after Auckland Council issued abatement notices to Mangawhai’s Te Arai Links and its sister club Tara Iti to halt helicopter activity after a noise complaint.

Those abatement notices were due to come into force last week, but Auckland Council had recently extended the deadline to March 31 to give the clubs more time to apply for a resource consent.

“We have asked them to ensure flight plans do not impact on local residents,” the council’s field operations manager David Pawson told RNZ in a statement.

That wasn’t the decisive action that Dave Green, the Whangaripo resident who first made the complaint, had hoped for.

“I’ve lived here for 20 years. I bought the place in 2004, largely for the peace and quiet to get away from everybody. There were just a lot of helicopters flying over my property, especially on the weekend,” he explained.

“They’re quite loud. There were just several flights, you know, like one an hour or something just coming over my place. I’ve actually [had] one screaming over my bedroom at 7am in the morning.”

“The noise is very intrusive. You’ve sort of got to stop what you’re doing. You can’t hear each other yelling over the sound of a helicopter going, past the property.”

Green said that in the months since he first made the complaint, the number of helicopters had reduced.

“I’m not against helicopter flights to Tara Iti and Te Arai Links. Obviously, it’s a big tourist thing, and it’s great,” he clarified.

“What I’m pushing for is, can they change the flight path to be sort of more, you know, that neighbourly friendly kind of flight path plan where they’re not just flying over rural property?”

Green noted that Auckland Council was in a challenging position, given the high-end golf courses were owned by American billionaire Richard Kayne.

“If they have good reason for extending it till March… As long as we get a resolution that we can all have a talk about, you know, like a public submissions consent, then it’s fine,” he said.

“But if they’re just going to sort of do some dodgy backroom kind of deal with Ric Kayne and push something through without public notification, that won’t be fine.”

The Department of Conservation told RNZ there was a low flying exclusion zone over shorebird nesting areas in Te Arai.

That could limit helicopter operator’s options for an alternative flight path.

“To mitigate disturbance around Te Arai we worked with the Civil Aviation Authority to introduce in 2020 a low flying exclusion zone over the main shorebird nesting areas. This includes the dunes, beachfront, and stream mouth,” DOC operations manager Olivia Keane said.

“In the Te Arai area, our current conservation focus is on introduced predators, disturbance by people and dogs, weather impacts, and loss of habitat which pose far greater risks to wildlife [than helicopters].”

The operator of Te Arai Links and Tara Iti Golf Club declined RNZ’s request for comment.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

More than 120 million tonnes of food is thrown away or wasted in New Zealand every year, a new report has found.

The amount is equivalent to 237 kilograms of waste per person.

Nearly a third of the waste comes from households, with processing and food production making up the remainder.

The report was commissioned by the Ministry for the Environment and is the first-ever attempt to quantify how much is wasted across the entire food chain.

The authors found 18 percent of all food wasted goes to landfill, where it creates methane, one of the gases contributing to climate change.

The total proportion of food wasted is between five and 10 percent, the report said.

That was “considerably lower” than the global estimate fo 30 to 40 percent, but did not take into account food that might be wasted after it was exported.

“New Zealand produces large quantities of food, which is then exported and any waste associated with consuming that food further down the supply chain will occur outside New Zealand, in another country,” the report said.

A huge amount of food wasted was still edible, the research found.

That was especially the case in primary production, where 581 million tonnes (78 percent) of wasted food was still edible, and in wholesale or retail, where 85 percent of food thrown out was edible,

About half the food that households threw out was edible – equivalent to 190 million tonnes a year.

Some councils, including Auckland and Christchurch, have introduced organic food collections in the past few years.

However, the government last year scrapped the requirement for all urban areas to introduce kerbside composting.

The Ministry for the Environment said councils would still be supported to introduce schemes if they wanted to, through the government’s Waste Minimisation Fund.

The fund itself was drastically cut in the 2024 Budget, losing $178 million over four years.

The remaining $30m a year is still available for organic waste diversion projects.

Although households contributed significantly to wasted food, the biggest loss was in primary production, the report found.

A total wastage of 37 percent happened at this point in the chain.

The report found there were opportunities to limit food waste in primary production, but it would mean “changes in consumer expectations” and food-handling systems.

“This needs to be offset against concerns regarding food safety.”

The report found big gaps in the data available.

“Currently there is no information available on food waste in prisons, schools, hotels, and fast-food restaurants and very little information for hospitals, aged care, cafés, and restaurants.”

If data collection improved, the amount of wastage was likely to increase, it said.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A police dive squad is searching for a missing man in a Christchurch lake

Police were alerted about 6.50pm on Sunday of a man reported missing in Lake Rua in Harewood.

Search and Rescue teams, alongside the dive squad, were continuing the search there on Monday morning.

A dragon boating event, the Aoraki Open, was held at Lake Rua earlier on Sunday.

Aoraki Dragon Boat Association president Karen Lloyd-Griffiths told RNZ she and another board member were the last to leave the lake about 5.30pm, following the regatta.

“It is a very sad and sobering turn of events, especially following such a wonderful spring day. Our thoughts are with his whanau and this time,” she said.

All training sessions had been cancelled until the person was found and any rāhui had been lifted, Lloyd-Griffiths said.

The public could expect an increased police presence around the area throughout Monday, a police spokesperson said.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand