The New Zealand Police are addressing child abuse as ‘National Priority’ and taking steps to control its occurrence and warn perpetrators of zero tolerance.
The authorities have been implementing a new Case Management System (CMS) over the past year to tackle the issue.
About 400,000 cases of child abuse are reported every year.
Police Commissioner Howard Broad said CMS is under nationwide implementation and that all child abuse investigators have been trained in accordance with the objectives.
He said the System is being implemented in stages.
“Once fully rolled out, it would help the Police manage and keep an overview of all the 400,000 files they deal with each year, providing the required assurances to public,” he said.
An Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) Review Report, released in February, warned the enforcement authorities to be aware of the proper use of the System and ensure that it is ‘business as usual.’
Mr Broad agreed, saying that no technology was immune from human error or reluctance.
“It is therefore critical that we remain on track. The new CMS must be implemented appropriately to plug gaps that occur in managing criminal investigations,” he said.
The IPCA Report had apparently pointed out shortcomings in the system.
But according to Mr Broad, when IPC began its inquiry in September 2009, the Police had already taken steps to implement the new CMS into the existing Integrated National Crime Information System (INCIS) framework, which was built in the mid-1990s for intelligence analysis processes.
Detective Inspector Jim Gallagher, who is leading the Child Protection Implementation Team, said training on child abuse and neglect was a priority for the Police.
“Such training was earlier provided only to CIB staff and those working on child abuse cases. But we now believe that all those in the Police force should know how to respond to reports of child abuse and neglect,” he said.
It is understood that training on child abuse will become a subject of wider training when a new syllabus is put in place in July 2011.
