As promised during the roadshow, CANZ has documented the major concerns raised by the members and is now circulating them for your consideration. We have attempted to categorise the concerns for ease of consideration and comment. They will be followed in the next day or two by a list of proposed options for your consideration. If you feel that we have missed anything, please don’t hesitate to contact your site delegate or National Executive member. If you don’t tell us, we won’t know!

1. PCPs (vehicle search)

• Resourcing for vehicle searches, where will this come from? Bare minimum staff provided for this task currently, there is no flexibility in making additional staff available.
• Further training required for checkpoint staff. (Staff searches may end up with legal action being taken against the dept and individuals. Are we prepared for this? And who will pay the bills?
• What is the purpose of vehicle checkpoints when there is no overseas comparison? We are the only country that does this. Overseas experience has been quoted as the main motivator for introducing the searching policy.
• Why carry out vehicle searches? When PPM B 12 Prison Checkpoints Para 9 refers to “where there is no clear intention to introduce an unauthorized item to the prison that where circumstances permit the item may be held or locked in the persons vehicle” This discretion negates the purpose for conducting the vehicle search altogether.
• Does PPS have the ability to process vehicles in a timely manner to enable staff to commence work in time.
• What happens when a staff member refuses for their vehicle to be searched?
• What are the grounds for an investigation when at that time staff are not officially on duty?
• Staff do not want the drug detection dogs in their cars because of medical conditions (asthmatic), some are dog breeders, some have concerns over damage to upholstery etc. Why can’t they leave their cars off the property without being suspected of having something to hide?
• Is the department prepared to pay for repairs, cleaning expenses, medical bills?

2. Reasonable Cause

• Awaiting the PPS definition of what constitutes reasonable cause, as per CANZ/PPS interactions. Where/what is it??
• Who determines what is reasonable when detaining a staff member for the purpose of a search?
• If suspicious activity is reasonable cause, this requires further explanation/definition and a communicated process by which the information will be held/verified/actioned. Provide the process prior to implementation?
• If the receipt of intelligence information constitutes grounds for reasonable cause, what is the process for the vetting of this information, prior to any search being conducted?
• Where is this information held and by whom?
• Bill of Rights Sect 21 Unreasonable Search and Seizure states that everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable search and seizure. It is unreasonable to search a vehicle when it is not being introduced to the area of work for a corrections officer (units, wings).
• What are the current results from vehicle searching that justifies the use of this search method?
• What is the reasonable cause for searching bags/articles “automatically” on entry to the institution?
• If reasonable cause is determined and a search is required, is a manager present through out? What if no managers are available - will this be a delegated function and, if so, to whom?
• Are all shifts going to be searched? Or are only the day shifts going to be discriminated against?
• There are already processes whereby staff can be investigated if contraband is suspected of being taken into a prison.

3. Privacy and Dignity

• The policy indicates that any item in the possession of any person may be searched. Staff regularly take food into an institution because of their hours of work. Are their meals going to be searched?
• Medication is of a personal and sensitive nature. It is not any one else’s business what medication my doctor has prescribed me and that I need to take during my shift. Does this not impinge on the right of doctor/patient confidentiality?
• The policy states that the searching of staff (including rubdown) will take place in a manner that affords privacy! In reality, it appears that this will occur where other visitors are present and are aware that it is taking place. This may then be relayed to the inmate that they are visiting.
• What steps/processes are PPS putting in place to ensure the reputation of any officer is not compromised and/or tarnished that is subject to such a search and found not to be concealing any contraband?
• Items of a personal nature are sometimes, by necessity, taken into an institution.
• The searching of staff bags compromises staff privacy and dignity, not only by the searching, but also via the potential for their personal information to become known by others.
• It is not good enough to say that staff will keep this information to themselves, as this does not happen. It is too late when staff’s personal information has been spread around the institution.
• The searching of a colleague by another is not dignified. It is humiliating and embarrassing.

4. General

• Will there be additional resourcing to facilitate this extra activity that has not been planned or budgeted for?
• What protection is there for me if I am set up by inmates, their contacts or other staff??
• Why extend the policy to all people who enter the prison when it is clear that inmate visitors appear to be the main method by which contraband comes into prisons?
• What protection is there for staff when a drug dog indicates them and this indication is a result of contact (legitimate or unknown) with drugs in the workplace??
• There is question mark about the terms coming into a prison and onto prison property. The property of a prison has a wider application where there is no perimeter fence.
• Why does the policy include searching of vehicles and/or items when they are not being introduced to areas where inmates are located?

5. Inconsistencies

• Site layout and design differs markedly through out the country and the manner and/or frequency of application of the intended policy will vary because of this.
• Some sites appear to have the capacity to search on a regular basis, where others may not be searched/screened at all.
  ? Who/what determines if the sites where searches do not occur have contraband being brought in?
• The policy states that persons entering the prison are to be managed with respect and sensitivity. This will not occur if staff members can be subjected to this on a daily basis (searching of bags).
• There is no sensitivity being afforded to staff when they will be searched by a colleague and then be expected to have an ongoing working relationship with them.
• Has this policy had cultural overview/assessment applied to it?
• How does it deal with Treaty of Waitangi articles 2,3 & 4?
• Too much appears to be left to local sites to interpret and then apply as they see fit.
• Why hasn’t this policy been developed to the stage that it can be introduced consistently with the appropriate resourcing?
• Inconsistent responses have been provided at presentations when asked if there are any exemptions.
• Are there exemptions to any group/s of visitors?
• The airport analogy provided at the staff briefings doesn’t cut it in supporting the PPS position. It in fact supports the staff view that a third party should undertake this activity.
• Airport staff do not search each other; they are searching people they will not work with at any other time. Staff should not search staff.

6. Searching

• Why conduct a rubdown search on an officer? If they are concealing drugs they will ensure such a search will not locate them.
• What is a suitable place for the search to be conducted?
• Why should kaumatua be searched if visiting Judges’ bags are not?
• Why use force to conduct a search?
• Surely, by the time you have reached this stage, you should have reasonable grounds to detain and call the police?
• Why conduct vehicle searches if they are not being introduced into the institution’s secure area?
• There is an impact for staff that are searched and nothing is found. What does PPS intend to do support staff in these situations??
• Will there be designated search teams?
• What assurances are there that this will not occur?
• Why should staff be subjected to searches by staff whose professionalism has been called to account previously? (e.g. having proven misconducts in place)
• Are staff expected to search all vehicles when the checkpoint is in place?
• What information and training will be provided to assist staff with the searching of service vehicles and the potential Health & Safety concerns associated with such searches (hydraulic/pneumatic operating systems)?
• Is there the ability for staff to use discretion on what vehicles are searched, as occurs now for inmate visitor checkpoints?
• What is a supplementary search and what does it involve (the process)?
• The searching processes will not detect the “hidden” contraband that is trafficked in prisons (Phone cards/cigarettes/tobacco/money/food/information)
• What is being done to prevent the movement of this type of contraband?
• What is the process for recording the outcomes of this extended prison entry searching policy (who is searched, what is found)?
• What consideration has been given to dignity and sensitivity in respect of female officers rubbing down other female officers?
• What will be the response when an officer is going to be subjected to a rub down search, in the event that the officer requests that the police are called in to conduct any such search?
• What will be the process when random searches are organized for prisons with more than a single point entry?
• Will only those coming in through a specific entry point be targeted and if so how does this align with the requirement for consistency?
• If drug dogs cannot be used to sniff inmates to establish whether they have drugs concealed on them how does PPS justify the use of dogs against staff?
• What records will be kept that detail any staff member searched the result and who will have access to these?

Please retain this information and use it as reference material when considering our draft proposals for change. These proposals will be discussed with PPS representatives during the next week or so. We would like to be more specific regarding a date, but we are still awaiting a response from your employer on this issue. As always, we will keep you informed.

Regards,
Brian Davies
National Organiser
On behalf of the National Officers