A police officer was not justified when he shot at a stolen police car in a remote part of the Bay of Plenty in October 2017, the Independent Police Conduct Authority has decided in a report released today.
The lone officer was transporting two young children home in Murupara when he stopped to arrest a man believed to have been involved in a recent armed robbery.
The officer handcuffed the man, with his hands in front of his body, before placing him in the front seat of the patrol car. He then drove to a residential address to drop off the children.
But the arrested man took advantage of the fact the officer had left the keys in the ignition - sliding into the driver's seat, locking the doors and reversing out of the driveway.
The officer, who had been armed with his pistol, shouted for the man to stop and fired two shots at the vehicle's tyres but the man managed to escape.
The vehicle was found abandoned later the same evening, along with the officer's M4 rifle and ammunition still secured within the boot's gun safe.
The man was located three weeks later and charged with offences relating to the theft of the police car, as well as earlier, unrelated offences.
In a statement today, authority chair Judge Colin Doherty said, "This situation need never had occurred had the officer appropriately assessed the situation and mitigated any potential risk posed by the man".
"However, he failed to remove the car keys, enabling him to escape in the police car. The authority has determined that, at the time the shots were fired, the man did not pose an immediate risk of serious harm or death. The officer therefore did not have justification for firing at the vehicle."
The IPCA also found that supervision of the officer was lacking, with police failing to recognise and address his poor decision-making and inappropriate use of force.
Police officials today acknowledged the IPCA's findings, and said they have since addressed the concerns raised by the report with the officers involved, which "have included an employment investigation."
"Murupara is like a lot of other rural communities where staff work by themselves a lot of the time. The decision-making of the officer involved in this incident was driven by a desire to keep himself and the community safe," police added. "However, his decision to routinely carry a firearm did not follow police policy."
The work can be quite challenging at times and due to the remote locations in a critical incident immediate assistance is not always available, police also noted.
"All officers are able to carry a firearm after a risk assessment of the situation faced. We acknowledge the correct process was not followed by the officer involved or the supervising officer when deciding to routinely carry a firearm.
"All those staff involved in the process that enabled this to happen have been spoken to and the policy around carrying firearms has been reinforced with them."
The officer is now based in Rotorua and a review was carried out to identity areas for improvement, including understanding police policies and the initial employment investigation which followed the incident, police said.
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