Version : 3.0
Maintaining professional distance policy
Avoiding conflicts of interest by carefully managing our relationships.
Executive summary
The key things to note in this policy are that employees are expected to:
• be aware of the need to maintain a professional distance from those we deal with in
our work
• appropriately manage any personal relationship where a conflict of interest or
imbalance of power arises, by declaring it to their supervisor, and
• avoid any such relationships that are unethical or inappropriate.
If you are unsure of your relationship, you should speak to your supervisor.
Policy statement and principles
This policy document outlines our approach to managing professional distance, and
provides links to procedural guidelines. This policy is in place to provide an overview of
what we mean by professional distance, why it is important, and how we approach this
as an organisation.
What?
We must all be mindful of whether relationships developed through our Police roles may
lead to a conflict of interest or a power imbalance. A Police employee is expected to take
steps to manage any personal relationship where a conflict of interest or imbalance of
power arises, including where necessary, declaring any such relationship, or potential
relationship, to Police.
This policy relates to the formation of consensual personal relationships (sexual or
otherwise) and applies to all Police employees.
A personal relationship may include family members, friends, partners or others where
the relationship contact or conduct is personal or intimate as opposed to professional.
A professional relationship occurs when the relationship has arisen out of the employee’s
work duties. This includes a relationship between two Police employees, a Police
employee and a member of the public, a Police employee and an associate (eg a staff
member of an external agency), a Police employee and a contractor, and others.
Why?
The nature of policing means conflicts of interest and power imbalances may occur in our
relationships with colleagues, victims, offenders and members of the public. As your
employer, we are legitimately interested in relationships you develop through your Police
role where there is a real or perceived conflict of interest or a power imbalance. Such
conflicts of interest or power imbalances may compromise our professional boundaries
and those relationships may therefore be inappropriate.
How?
We are clear about what type of relationships are not ethical or are inappropriate, and
we provide guidance on managing and limiting risks to individuals and to Police when
these relationships may occur. We report any relationship we are unsure of to our
supervisor.
We work together to take all reasonably practicable steps to manage any reported
relationship so that the relationship may continue, however we accept that in some
circumstances it not possible for the risks to be appropriately managed.
This is an uncontrolled document printed for reference only.
The controlled document can be found in the Police Instructions site which is accessible via the New Zealand Police Intranet.
Page 1 of 2
Maintaining professional distance
policy, Continued…
Version : 3.0
We respect and maintain the privacy of our people, and do not interfere unduly in their
relationships.
We use the Professional distance guidelines to help us inform us regarding our approach
to relationships.
Further information
For further information see:
• the Professional distance guidelines
• Managing conflicts of interest
• Our Values
• Our Code
This is an uncontrolled document printed for reference only.
The controlled document can be found in the Police Instructions site which is accessible via the New Zealand Police Intranet.
Page 2 of 2
