Saunders Vindicated By Independent Review

“The independent review of reports on recruiting standards provides welcome vindication for Senior Sergeant Saunders,” Police Association President Greg O'Connor said today.

 “Professor Hattie’s examination of the papers prepared by Senior Sergeant Saunders and Mr Annan show clearly that Senior Sergeant Saunders’ study of this issue was undertaken professionally and in good faith.  Both his professionalism and his concerns have been vindicated by Professor Hattie’s report and recommendations.”

“Clearly the pressure that has been placed on Senior Sergeant Saunders, personally and professionally, has been totally unjustified,” Mr O’Connor said.

“The Police Association has been supporting Senior Sergeant Saunders through this independent review and will continue to do so.”

“Professor Hattie confirms that minimum recruit entry criteria on reasoning tests have declined, and that more tutorial assistance has been required, but finds no clear reason for this decline.  As Professor Hattie states [Appendix 1, page 9], ‘What is in dispute is not whether there was a decline in the performance in this first test, but the possible causes.’”

“But in terms of recruits graduating from training, the report finds no evidence that overall performance of graduates has declined.  This tends to confirm the view of the Police Association and others – including Senior Sergeant Saunders – that New Zealanders can have confidence that the vast majority of new police officers graduating from the College are every bit as capable as their predecessors.”

“Concerns have only ever been about the marginal candidates.  Professor Hattie confirms that is where the focus should lie, recommending [page 26] ‘there should be tightening of the Guidelines for making decisions about marginal candidates and when and how re-sitting is permitted.’  That is clearly an area where Police still have some work to do,” Mr O’Connor said.

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