The IPCA’s usual annual funding of about $4 million will get a $3.8m boost, spread over four years, to help it resolve up to 40 per cent more complaints a year.

According to Budget data, the IPCA received 3206 complaints in the 2018/19 reporting year, up from 2592 the previous year. It forecasts that complaint numbers will continue to rise, with about 3800 expected in the 2019/20 year.

Association senior legal officer Liz Gooch believes there are several reasons for the increase in complaints.

Most significantly, she says, it reflects an increase in the number of serious incidents that police are now dealing with, especially those involving firearms.

Secondly, there also been an increase in police numbers and the number of contact points that police have with the community.

Thirdly, she says, public awareness of the IPCA has increased and digital technology has made it easier to lodge a complaint online.

Additionally, there is now much better communication about complaints between Police and the IPCA, and vice versa.

In recent years, the IPCA has introduced a restorative justice process for low-level complaints about police. These include “use of language”, failure to investigate complaints and failure to keep in touch with victims. Such complaints may also include more complex matters where the parties agree.

Rather than demonstrating a decline in police conduct, Liz says, the increasing number of complaints is more likely to be reflective of the IPCA’s oversight covering a broader range of conduct issues, from the lowest level of complaint to the highest.

“When people think of IPCA complaints, they assume it must be about use of excessive force, or deaths in cells, or shootings. Actually, what they are investigating is much broader than that and a lot of it is not publicly reported,” Liz says.

She says the IPCA has an imperative to be independent and separate from Police and to help maintain public confidence in the police, reviewing compliance with policies and legislation, but that needs to be balanced with what police are dealing with at the frontline.

In a report to Parliament published at the end of February, the IPCA said it did not have sufficient capacity and resources to manage a 30 per cent jump in complaints since the start of 2019.

It received a funding top-up of $400,000 at the end of last year from Justice Minister Andrew Little, with a promise to consider more in this year’s Budget. According to IPCA chair Judge Colin Doherty, that boost was used to hire staff to help assess and triage complaints.

The report says the IPCA is working with the Ministry of Justice on an independent review of its core functions to ensure it is operating efficiently and effectively, and to identify areas for improvement.

Judge Doherty said funding was essential for the IPCA, which was an important, constitutional and legislative regulation for police. “It’s not to police the police, but it is to ensure the New Zealand public can have trust and confidence in New Zealand police.

“We are not here to bag the cops. We see our job as learning lessons and enhancing public trust and confidence,” he said.

Any member involved in IPCA inquiries should contact their field officer for advice.