Police did not use excessive force while detaining a 16-year-old, but his arrest and a prior traffic stop were unlawful, the police watchdog has ruled.
The details of the incident, which took place in Whangamatā on New Year’s Eve in 2022, are detailed in a recently released report by the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA).
The incident occurred at around 6.45pm on December 31, when the teenager was in the back seat of a silver Holden Commodore with three other occupants.
The Holden was travelling along Port Road when a police van approached it from the opposite direction.
The van then performed a U-turn and signalled for the Holden to stop.
The traffic stop
Officers told the Authority they decided to stop the vehicle to check its roadworthiness and ensure a local alcohol ban in place at the time was being followed.
Over the New Year’s period, the town was subject to an alcohol ban in restricted areas.
“The population of Whangamatā swells significantly in the lead up to New Year’s Eve, and alcohol-fuelled disorder has previously received significant media attention,” the report reads.
“Police deploy additional resources to the Whangamatā area at this time of year as part of efforts to reduce alcohol-related harm and violence. The primary role of the PSU involved in this matter was the enforcement of the alcohol ban made under TCDC’s Alcohol Control Bylaw.”
The bylaw gives police the power to seize and remove any alcohol that breaches the ban and arrest anyone found to be committing a related offence.
One of the officers told the Authority: “We are trying to reduce alcohol-related harm.
“We’ve worked [previous operations] where we’ve had less effort put into early prevention and early intervention around alcohol-related harm, and that has exploded at the end of the night. The reason why we stopped that vehicle, that was part of our job.
“We need to make our own work, so that means stopping a vehicle. We can talk to them, we can check to make sure they’re not drink-driving, make sure they’re not breaching the alcohol ban, educate them about the alcohol ban. If we’re just driving around, that just means we are not doing something, which is a waste of our time,” he said.
He summarised their approach: “See a car, pull it over, carry on, see the next car, pull it over.”
Another officer described the vehicle as a red “muscle car, like a modified sports car, lower to the ground”. The Authority found no way to prove the vehicle had been illegally modified.
Soon after the vehicle stopped, the officers said they found three bottles of alcohol in the map compartment behind the front passenger seat that appeared to be a third full. This violated the ban.
After refusing to answer questions, the 16-year-old was arrested. A front-seat passenger, who was wearing a gang patch, was also arrested when trying to interfere with the 16-year-old’s arrest.
One of the officers explained why the pair were arrested, saying: “We have a power of arrest. We will arrest them and take them back to a place of safety, ie, custody, where we can talk to them.
“On the side of the road is not where we’re gonna have a discussion with someone trying to ask them for their details.”
The teenager described how he felt while being questioned by police.
“I have never been through any of this before, I kept on declining because I obviously don’t know or understand what is going on. They didn’t explain anything to me,” he said.
An officer described the teen’s behaviour as “irrational” and “bizarre” as he was escorted to the van, trying to pull his way out of the hold he was in.
The officer explained that once they reached the back of the van, his level of resistance had “increased”.
This resulted in a brief struggle, where the teen dropped to the ground and was promptly put into “gooseneck” wristlocks by two of the officers. After regaining control of the teen, he was placed in the back of the police van.
After the pair were arrested, police removed a “large number” of sealed bottles and cans from a chilly bin in the boot, pouring their contents onto the road.
The teen and the other passenger were taken to Whangamatā Police Station, where they were briefly detained before being released.
After being released, the 16-year-old sought medical assistance, and his wrist was found to be fractured.
Watchdog’s findings
In his findings, Judge Kenneth Johnston KC found the officers did not use excessive force while detaining the 16-year-old.
However, he did find that the officers, although acting in “good faith,” had stopped the vehicle unlawfully, meaning they had no lawful basis to arrest the teen or use force to do so.
“Police stopped Mr X’s Holden for the purpose of enforcing TCDC’s alcohol ban,” Johnston explained.
“Although members of the PSU appear to have held a genuine belief that they had the power to stop vehicles for this purpose, there is no such statutory power. The vehicle in which Mr X was travelling was therefore stopped unlawfully.
“The enforcement of the alcohol ban in respect of the vehicle and its occupants was therefore without lawful basis.
“Even if the vehicle stop had been lawful, police did not comply with the provisions of the Local Government Act 2002. Mr X, and anyone else believed to be in possession of alcohol, should have been told that they had the opportunity to remove it and given a reasonable chance to do so, prior to a search of the vehicle taking place.”
Police acknowledged the Authority’s findings and said the officers wanted to “prevent alcohol-related harm and violence and were acting to enforce the alcohol ban”.
Waikato District Commander Superintendent Bruce Bird said police also acknowledged the recommendations from the IPCA, which included having clearer operational orders which outline what powers can be used when policing alcohol bans, as well as further training as required for officers in this space.
