Police Association members know better than most that an allegation is not a finding of guilt.

But under a new Police disciplinary policy, an allegation or criminal charge could now put a member’s income at risk – potentially for months or even years while Police investigations and court proceedings run their course.

The Police Association is warning members to take the change seriously and says it is prepared to challenge proposed unpaid suspensions, including through legal action if necessary.

The revised Employment Resolutions and Disciplinary Policy came into effect on July 13, expanding the circumstances in which Police can consider suspending an employee without pay.

The association has strongly opposed the change, arguing it is an unfair and potentially unlawful shift in the balance of power between Police and its employees.

Under the new policy, unpaid suspension can be considered where very serious alleged Code of Conduct breaches could lead to dismissal if upheld, or where an employee faces criminal charges carrying the possibility of imprisonment, charges likely to lead to dismissal if proven, or charges resulting in remand, electronic monitoring or bail conditions that prevent the employee from working.

Some of those circumstances are longstanding and not controversial – for example, where an employee refuses to participate in an employment investigation, or where they are already on leave without pay or where they are remanded in custody.

It is the much broader grounds that concern the association.

The concern is not theoretical. Between 2020 and 2025, 77.4% of criminal charges Police laid against its own employees did not result in a conviction. Between January 2024 and September 2024, only 310 of the 5012 allegations against employees, or just 6%, were upheld. Too many members are being charged and prosecuted, senior legal officer Harley Dwyer says.

“Diversion and other alternative processes are often not available to members in circumstances where those options would be offered to the public.”

Against that backdrop, Harley says the expanded policy risks undermining the presumption of innocence.

Police’s ‘woeful’ record

Harley says the fundamental problem is that Police is putting itself in a position where it can investigate and prosecute an employee, while also deciding whether that employee should continue receiving a salary.

“Police is in the unique position of being the employer, investigator and prosecutor,” he says.

“It is unacceptable for Police to effectively assume the position of the court by stopping an employee’s pay because of what might happen in court, or simply because of the seriousness of a charge.

“Police regularly modify, drop or bargain charges or charges are dismissed in court for lack of evidence, rising significant questions about the initial charging decisions – the same decisions that will influence any decision to stop pay.”

The association also says investigations can take an extraordinary amount of time.

It is aware of employment cases involving criminal charges that have remained open for almost four years, with an average duration of more than 438 days. RNZ recently reported that seven Police investigations had been open for more than 1000 days, including two involving staff who had been under investigation for more than 1500 days.

“Woefully, some employment-only investigations have taken almost four years,” Harley says.

That raises a critical question: Who carries the financial cost when an investigation takes years to complete?

Under the new regime, the answer could be the member.

“Police cannot transfer the financial burden of its own delays on to an employee,” Harley says.

“Requiring an employee, rather than Police, to bear the consequences of lengthy delays creates all the wrong incentives for Police to complete fair processes promptly.”

“If someone loses their income because Police has suspended them without pay, they still have a mortgage or rent, insurance, rates, food, family commitments and legal costs. Those bills do not go on hold while an investigation runs.”

Huge psychosocial risk

Finding alternative employment is unlikely to be a realistic option for many Police employees.

“For most, if they are suspended without pay, they will be forced to resign simply to survive and that cannot be undone,” Harley says.

Members work in highly specialised roles and Police places restrictions on secondary employment. Although Police has amended its secondary employment policy to say favourable consideration will be given to applications from employees suspended without pay, a member facing criminal charges would likely have to disclose that situation to a prospective employer.

The association says that could make alternative employment extremely difficult to secure.

And while the new policy says Police will consider compensation where an employee is ultimately not dismissed, the association says that is nowhere near enough and will not encourage Police to fairly consider reasonable alternatives to dismissal.

A member who goes without wages for months may have to borrow money, incur penalties, fall behind on mortgage, rent payments, or take on expensive debt simply to keep their family afloat. Being paid back later does not necessarily undo those consequences.

“Back-paying someone’s wages years later does not put them back in the position they were in before Police stopped paying them,” Harley says. “It cannot undo the financial damage, the stress, the impact on their whānau or the effect it may have had on their ability to defend themselves.”

The association is also concerned about the potential health and safety consequences.

A disciplinary investigation is already a highly stressful experience. Add the prospect of losing a household income, uncertainty about how long the process will take and the stigma associated with criminal allegations, and the psychosocial risks could be significant.

The association warns that unpaid suspension could create serious risks to members’ mental wellbeing.

It argues that Police has obligations under both employment and health and safety law to consider the consequences of its own processes, decisions and delays.

No justification given

The policy does contain some safeguards following consultation with the association.

Police introduced a two-stage assessment requiring consideration of the relevant risk factors, the seriousness of the allegations and alternatives to unpaid suspension.

Annual, sick and long-service leave will continue to accrue, and periods when an employee is required to be available to respond to an employment process will revert to paid suspension.

But the association is still not satisfied.

Harley says one of the association’s ongoing concerns is that Police has never explained why such a significant expansion of the policy was necessary.

“Police has failed to outline the reasons for the policy change or justify it, despite requests from the association.”

It argues that the expanded policy reduces members’ existing employment rights and is inconsistent with the collective agreements, which incorporate Police’s disciplinary policy, Code of Conduct and Ngā Mātāpono guiding principles.

The association has reserved all legal rights and remedies and is considering how best to challenge the policy. That could include challenging individual proposed unpaid suspensions rather than waiting for a wider legal test case.

Harley says the association will be watching the first cases closely.

“We will consider the merits of vigorously challenging every proposed suspension without pay,” he says. “Members could be justifiably suspended without pay but should not assume that because Police has written something into a policy, that it means it is lawful or that they have to simply accept it.”

Allegation is not guilt

The association’s position is that unpaid suspension should remain an exceptional measure. While the CEA and Policing Act provide for it, “unpaid suspension must be reserved for only the rarest and most exceptional cases”, Harley says.

The association says it is aware of only two cases in which Police has suspended an employee without pay in the past 20 years and both were justified.

The danger, Harley says, is if the new policy is not cautiously applied using the highest possible bar, it could turn the presumption of innocence into something that exists only in theory.

“An allegation is not a finding of guilt, and a charge is not a conviction,” he says. “Police should not be able to punish someone financially while the very process that will determine what actually happened is still under way.”

For members, this is the real issue.

A suspension without pay is not simply a change in duty status. It can mean the loss of the income that pays the mortgage, keeps the lights on and supports a whānau – at a time when the member may have done nothing more than face an allegation that has yet to be proved.

And, if Police takes months or years to resolve the matter, the association says it should not be the member who pays the price for the delay.