New Zealand’s Police Commissioner has questioned the impartiality of the force’s first Indian superintendent after it was announced he is standing as a Labour Party candidate.
Rakesh Naidoo, a South African-born Indian immigrant and the Ethnic, Iwi and Communities national partnerships manager at NZ Police, was confirmed on Monday as the 13th candidate on the Labour list.
New Zealand has a mixed member proportional system where just under half of the seats in parliament are filled by representatives from party lists, and as the left-wing Labour Party is likely to win the most list seats, Mr Naidoo is almost certain to be elected.
Commissioner Richard Chambers said he only become aware of Mr Naidoo’s candidacy on Thursday, and that it was “untenable” for him to continue as superintendent, The New Zealand Herald reported.
“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,” he said in a statement.
“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 NZ Police.
“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.”
Police Minister Mark Mitchell also expressed his disappointment at Mr Naidoo, who has access to sensitive briefings relating to government policy.
“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,” he said.
“Police have clear guidelines for staff pursuing political matters, and it is now for them to consider whether his actions were in line with these requirements.”
But Mr Naidoo was backed by Labour leader Chris Hipkins, who said called him a “real catch” due to his work with ethnic communities, and his candidacy was praised by local Indian media.
Indian Newslink called it a “landmark moment” and said Mr Naidoo “possesses the unique ability to articulate the needs” of ethnic communities that “frequently face structural marginalisation”.
The Labour list also includes Sri Lankan-born Vanushi Walters at 8, Indian-born Priyanca Radhakrishnan at 18, Eritrean refugee Ibrahim Omer at 31, Chinese-born Naisi Chen at 35, Naresh Perinpanayagam at 57, and Indian-born Kharag Singh Sidhu at 61.
Header image: Left, right, Rakesh Naidoo (supplied).
