Police officer censured after going well over the odds

RNZ recently reported that a police officer was caught travelling at 150km/h on a 100km/h road, without sirens or lights on. The excuse was a beauty – they claimed to be “testing” the speed of the car. But ultimately that didn’t fly. 

The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) investigated. They said that the Eastern District officer was not responding to an incident at the time. Evidently the vehicle was travelling 54km/h over the limit when caught by police radar, the IPCA said.

A legitimate excuse for speeding would have been responding to an emergency or undertaking urgent duty driving. In this instance, neither was the case. The officer was found in breach of police policy and the code of conduct by the IPCA.

They also accepted they should not have been travelling at that speed.

A charge of exceeding the speed limit was upheld and the officer has since undergone a programme of diversion, so no conviction was entered.

The IPCA said it was “satisfied” with the outcome reached.