After a week of bad news for police, Police Commissioner Richard Chambers has admitted he was pulled over for speeding last week. Chambers was delivering a speech to graduating police recruits in Porirua today when he told the new officers and their supporters he had been ticketed for going over the speed limit.
He told the gathering of recruits, their supporters and police staff that getting pulled over was the “dumbest thing I’ve done” as commissioner. “It’s not something that I’m proud of. Course I wish I hadn’t done it. Oblivious, away with the fairies – none of that’s an excuse – I should know better. It’s the dumbest thing that I’ve done since I’ve been the commissioner of police.”
A damning report released this week by the Independent Police Conduct Authority found serious misconduct at the highest levels, including former Commissioner Andrew Coster, over how police responded to allegations of sexual misconduct by former Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming. Chambers encouraged the graduates to learn from their mistakes.
“I’m still the same person and I will still give my absolute best for my organisation and my country despite those little indiscretions like that. “You’re no different to me, you’ll make mistakes – but own it, learn from it, be stronger for it and move on,” Chambers told the graduates. Chambers would later tell RNZ he was clocked going 112 km/h as he returned from a ceremony marking the graduation of new patrol dog teams on 6 November.
“I feel terrible about the situation that I put my colleagues in. I apologised on the side of the road. Not my finest work, and I’m sorry.” Chambers said he would not have made any attempt to get out of the infringement. “I would never do that. I’m accountable and I’ve said that since the day I was made commissioner of police.” A police spokesperson said Chambers paid the $80 fine – which had been dropped in his mail box – as soon as he arrived home from the graduation. He was pulled over on State Highway 2 on the Western Hutt Road in a 100km/h zone. The spokesperson corrected Chambers, and said he was actually recorded as travelling at 111km/h – in an unmarked police vehicle but was in uniform.
Chambers was speaking at the graduation of 55 new officers of the No. 389 Recruit wing when he made the admission. He told RNZ that in the light of revelations of a senior police cover up of allegations of sexual misconduct levelled at McSkimming, the new graduates should focus on the good work they would do as police. “Don’t let these things distract you from that work. That’s what New Zealanders want, that’s what they expect.
We are dealing with a small group of former, very senior police officers. That’s a disgrace – as I’ve said – It lacks leadership, it lacks integrity. I want my new colleagues who have graduated today to focus on their careers, to focus on the work they do in communities. We’ve just got to keep going.