Auckland Police officer suspended after being charged with supplying cocaine and possessing ecstasy

“These violations are said to have occurred in February of this year, outside the workplace.

“The employee, who is an authorized officer, was suspended at the start of a criminal investigation. Employment proceedings are still ongoing.”

An authorized officer is a civilian police officer who is not sworn in and who has the authority to perform certain police duties, often in the form of detention.

The man was summoned on July 31 and appeared in North Shore District Court last week.

Court documents show the offence is believed to have taken place in Auckland.

His next performance is scheduled for November.

The Herald the police asked how many drugs the officer had allegedly supplied and was in his possession.

However, police said they could not comment further while the matter is before the courts.

Chris Cahill, president of the Police Association, said it was “very rare” for a police officer to face such serious charges.

He stressed that the man was a licensed officer, not a sworn police officer.

According to Cahill, such criminal acts do not qualify for legal support through the association.

However, “if the person was a member of the association, he would be eligible for support in the employment process”.

Cocaine is a stimulant and is classified as a Class A drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act because of its “very high risk”.

Other Class A drugs include methamphetamine, heroin, LSD and magic mushrooms.

Ecstasy is a high-risk Class B hallucinogenic drug.

A Herald A report last week found that three New Zealanders die from drug overdoses every week.

A Drug overdoses in Aotearoa A report released on Saturday by the NZ Drug Foundation Te Puna Whakaiti Pāmamae Kai Whakapiri found that 1,179 people died from accidental drug overdoses in New Zealand between 2016 and 2023.

Opioids were the biggest contributor to this problem: 516 people had used at least one opioid before their death and – regardless of whether this was the cause of death or not – 35.4% of fatal overdoses were alcohol-related.

According to Sarah Helm, director of the foundation, the report’s findings are heartbreaking.

“Each of these numbers represents a person whose whānau, peer group and community has been torn apart.

“I think New Zealanders will be shocked to see the number of preventable overdoses in our country continue to rise.”

“As a society, we simply should not tolerate this,” Helm said.

Lane Nichols is deputy head of news and a senior journalist for the New Zealand Herald with more than 20 years’ experience in the industry.