The two-year review was commissioned following complaints over an appearance by controversial activist Kelly Minshull at Auckland's Albert Park in 2023. Photo: RNZ / Jordan Dunn
Police failed to protect people from protesters at a high-profile rally and made unlawful arrests at another, says the Independent Police Conduct Authority.
It says police training and procedures need an overhaul, but they also need law changes to give them more powers to deal with increasingly disruptive protesters and the rise of counter-protests.
The authority's review of the policing of public protests said police should be empowered to arrest people who disobeyed their instructions during a protest.
It also recommended new laws to protect critical infrastructure and private homes, and to allow police or councils to charge protest organisers for some or all of the cost of traffic management.
The two-year review was commissioned after police received 168 complaints linked to demonstrations during an appearance by controversial activist Kelly Minshull, also known as Posie Parker, at Auckland's Albert Park in March 2023.
The review said Minshull's rally - called Let Women Speak - was abandoned after about 2000 protesters arrived and drowned her out, surrounding her and her supporters on a band rotunda at the park.
It said police "did not properly respond to unfolding events by deploying additional staff to protect LWS supporters".
"It is clear that police officers in Albert Park, including the forward commander, were told by many people that there were people in the park who needed police assistance. While police had insufficient staff to manage the general disorder in any meaningful way and there is no suggestion that officers failed to help anyone they directly witnessed being assaulted or threatened, the responses police gave to the people who approached them were inadequate."
It also said two separate arrests of people counter-protesting during a Palestine solidarity protest in Auckland in November 2023 were unlawful.
One was arrested for breaching the peace and the other for obstructing police.
The review said New Zealand did not have any specific laws governing protests and public order, and that needed to change.
"At the operational level, this lack of statutory guidance results in a systemic failure to provide Police with sufficient guidance as to what reasonable limitations can be imposed when they are planning for a protest event," the review said.
It said police tried to apply laws regarding offences such as trespass, disorderly behaviour and breach of the peace, but they were not well-suited to protest situations.
Instead, there should be a new Public Assembly Act requiring notification of public assemblies, and police should have new powers.
"We have proposed that the most senior officer at the scene should be able to impose conditions on the protesters as a whole or any group of them (of the same type as those that may be imposed in advance in respect of protests on public roads or throughways or that comprise an occupation).
"We have also proposed that in respect of protests, the current offence structure be substantially revised to provide better protection of protesters' rights and more clarity and certainty as to the limits of the law for both protesters and police officers alike," the report said.
The report said any condition or instruction should not unreasonably limit the rights of freedom of expression, movement or assembly and a general power to require people to "move on", as exists in the United Kingdom and parts of Australia, was not appropriate.
The report said police also needed better policies, procedures and training.
"We have identified three significant gaps that need to be addressed: the need for enhanced guidance on the balancing of rights; inconsistencies in the nature and extent of risk assessments; and insufficient understanding of, and training about, crowd dynamics."
It said police established roles with full-time public order focus since the 2022 Parliament occupation, but now needed to develop specialised annual training for team leaders and commanders.
It said front-line staff also needed standardised training which could be extended to relevant council staff.
The report said police should also "develop national guidelines as to the level of risk to which Police ought to deploy, including guidance as to the way in which officers should balance risks to safety against their role in facilitating the exercise of democratic rights by protesters and others".
Police also needed to replace end-of-life equipment including personal protection equipment and look at what equipment was being used in other countries.
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