A dozen complaints of police misconduct were upheld in the South during the first half of this year.
Information released by police under the Official Information Act showed 12 allegations of misconduct involving 12 different officers in the Southern district were upheld from January to June this year.
The incidents ranged from interactions with the public, such as inappropriate language used by an officer, to inappropriate use of police resources, such as poor driving in a patrol car and using the National Intelligence Application to look up a family member.
Police statistics show 89 incidents involving 131 allegations made against 111 staff were made during the period.
Acting Southern district commander Superintendent Lane Todd said the numbers showed police took complaints against their officers seriously.
He would not comment on individual cases of misconduct because of employee confidentiality, but information released to the Otago Daily Times said 11 of the officers involved in the incidents remained employed by police.
Supt Todd said that in the remaining case the former employee was not dismissed.
``Any complaint is a concern,'' he said.
Police were held to higher standards than general members of the public when on duty and off duty and, ``to be fair, that should be the case''.
``Even though we aren't working 24/7, our community expects us as police to be held to a higher standard,'' Supt Todd said.
``Our people have to recognise that we are held in a high regard and act accordingly.''
Some of the cases of misconduct had arisen while the officers involved were off duty, he said.
``In police, we have got our core values. We set high professional standards for all of our teams. The vast majority of people act in accordance with those values, but unfortunately from time-to-time a small amount of people step outside that.
``When those are reported, we take it seriously and those allegations are investigated.''
Each district had its own police professional conduct manager who was charged with maintaining professional standards.
Police looked into the history of the officer involved to see if an incident was part of a pattern, Supt Todd said.
The allegation could result in an employment warning being made or, in the most serious cases, criminal charges being laid.
No charges were laid in the cases in the Southern district, he said.
Additionally, other actions could be taken, such as further training or outside help being sought for the officer involved.
