Police Commissioner Richard Chambers says he is "very disappointed" a senior officer on Labour Party's election candidate list did not tell him about his candidacy earlier — saying it's "untenable" for him to continue in the job.
Chambers said Superintendent Rakesh Naidoo, police's national partnerships manager for ethnic, iwi and communities, never contacted him directly about his plans to stand.
He said he was only informed by Naidoo's supervisor on Thursday — days before the list was released this morning, with the superintendent named at number 13.
The commissioner said Naidoo's candidacy would affect his ability to be seen as independent, and that police were now in discussion with him about the period of leave he would be required to take ahead of the election.
Under the most recent 1News Verian poll, which had Labour on 37%, Naidoo's ranking would likely see him being comfortably elected to Parliament as a new list MP.
Police Minister Mark Mitchell said in a statement he first became aware of the police officer's political aspirations yesterday, and that Naidoo had attended events with him as recently as Sunday afternoon.
"I am particularly disappointed that Mr Naidoo was recently included in sensitive briefings in relation to public safety and government policy and has been attending events with me as recently as yesterday afternoon," he said.
"In my view, it is critical that the public can have confidence that police are politically neutral. The respectful and right thing to do would have been for Mr Naidoo to be transparent and disclose his intentions from the outset.
"The constabulary powers that police officers hold must clearly be free from political interference or connection."
Mitchell said the Electoral Commission advised that prospective candidates should notify their employer as early as possible, and that Naidoo had "chosen not to do that".
He said it was now for police to consider whether Naidoo's actions were in line with their guidelines for staff pursuing political matters.
"Kiwis will inherently know that it is not possible to be politically neutral and also be a candidate for election for a political party."
Chambers said in a statement to 1News: "On Thursday afternoon, I was informed by his supervisor that Superintendent Rakesh Naidoo was considering standing as a candidate for the Labour Party in the general election.
"On Sunday afternoon, I was told Superintendent Naidoo had confirmed he had accepted a position on Labour’s list.
"Superintendent Naidoo has not contacted me directly on this and I am very disappointed that he did not inform me or his supervisor that he was in discussions about his candidacy at an earlier stage.
"The Police Manual requires staff who are intending to stand for public office to advise of their intentions as early as possible.
"That is essential to ensure conflicts of interest and work tasks can be managed so that the neutrality and impartiality of Police is not brought into question.
"I have not previously had any cause for concern about Superintendent Naidoo’s impartiality in his work for New Zealand Police.
Chambers said Naidoo "has been a hard-working and valued staff member".
"However, given the nature of his role, I believe it is untenable for him to continue with his current duties and that his candidacy will affect his ability to be seen as independent.
"As per the provisions of the Electoral Act which relate to leave arrangements for state servants standing for public office, police is now in in discussion with Superintendent Naidoo about the period of leave he will be required to take ahead of the election."
Opposition leader Chris Hipkins pushed back earlier today, saying Naidoo had informed the police commissioner and describing him as "a real catch for Labour".
"I'm very confident in the level of integrity that he has displayed through this process, and I've certainly had no feedback from the police to the contrary," he said.
"He's been considering it for a while. Once he was clear that he wanted to go ahead with it, he informed the commissioner."
But he said Naidoo would not join the campaign trail immediately and was having a conversation with the commissioner about what the transition would look like.
"By law, he will have to finish up with the police by no later than nomination day, but how they manage that, recognising as I do, and I absolutely respect the need for the police to be well above politics and completely impartial," Hipkins said.
"Those are questions that the commissioner will work through. He has my absolute support as he does that."
When asked whether Naidoo had received sensitive briefings while considering his candidacy, Hipkins said those were questions for the commissioner.
"I have absolute confidence in the commissioner managing that process," he said.
Hipkins described the list as "one that I'm incredibly proud of", citing a "rich diversity of candidates". The party leader said he expected "at least 10 new people will come off the list into Parliament after the election" on top of those winning electorate seats.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon backed his minister's concerns, telling media in Waikato that public servants and police were expected to be politically neutral.
"I think it would have been advantageous for him and for the Labour Party, frankly, for him to have declared his political intentions to his employer, the police," he said.
"If a candidate wants to run for office, they need to declare with their employer pretty early."
Naidoo is the national partnerships manager for ethnic, iwi and communities at the New Zealand Police.
He became the first person from the Asian community to reach the rank of inspector in 2012 and was made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2023 for services to police and ethnic communities. His governance roles included the FIFA anti-racism and anti-discrimination committee and Sport NZ.
Naidoo was one of several first-time candidates on Labour's list this year with a shot at getting into Parliament, alongside unionist Chris Flatt, broadcast executive Kingi Kiriona, Kāpiti Coast councillor Sophie Handford, barrister Max Harris and Warrick Cleine.
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