There were 386 allegations laid against 326 police staff in the Southern region from 271 incidents in 2021.
Of those, allegations were upheld in relation to 13 incidents, the lowest of any police district.
Police released summaries of the 13 incidents to the Otago Daily Times.
While some were investigated by the Independent Police Conduct Authority investigation (IPCA), none was classed as category A, the most serious incident type.
The IPCA investigated after a Taser was used three times after a fight during an arrest attempt in Otago. The first use was found to be justified, but not the subsequent ones.
The IPCA also oversaw two separate police investigations into allegations "a small group" of officers used MDMA at an out-of-town concert.
In the first instance, police found an officer had used, and another had obtained MDMA.
In the second instance, based on an anonymous complaint, officers denied everything.
Police took "appropriate actions", reiterated employment expectations and provided welfare support for staff.
The IPCA also investigated a complaint of excessive force and inappropriate touching during the arrest of a woman, but found no evidence.
Police acknowledged that the officer failed to complete a use of force report, but no action was taken.
The IPCA declined to investigate a complaint about a trespass matter and an officer failing to wear a mask when speaking to a member of the public at a police station.
The authority found the police explanation around the trespass incident was justified, but accepted the officer should have been wearing a mask when they asked the complainant to leave "due to their demeanour".
Another incident ended in police reactivating a theft complaint after and apologising to the complainant for allowing property which was the subject of a civil dispute to be taken.
In another incident involving missing property the correct policy regarding found property was not followed.
A district-wide review "identified areas of improvement", which were acted on.
Other matters were dealt with by police without the IPCA’s involvement.
One constable received further training after receiving two driving complaints after taking a "short cut" by driving on the wrong side of the road en-route to a firearms incident and speeding in wet conditions.
An "appropriate employment outcome" was initiated after an officer acting as a support person in a matter relating to an external agency was found to have accessed information in a breach of conflict of interest rules.
Another officer breached conflict of interest rules in a personal relationship where conflict had arisen.
The officer breached the privacy of a person by disclosing that they were aware of the person’s criminal record.
While the breaches seemed unintentional, they were acknowledged by the officer and another "appropriate employment outcome" was undertaken.
Another breach of privacy, where an officer called a person’s employer over a driving incident, was concluded with an explanation to the complainant and a "learning opportunity" for the officer involved.
Another officer was stung for looking at information on a terror attack suspect when they were not part of the investigation during a routine audit of the police intelligence database, but no consequences were noted.
Nationally, there has been an 55% increase in the annual number of complaints received by police over the past five years, from 2634 in 2017 to 4084 last year.
