Auckland police officer suspended after charges of cocaine trafficking and ecstasy possession

“These crimes are said to have taken place outside the workplace in February of this year.

“The employee, an authorized officer, was suspended at the start of the criminal investigation. A termination process is ongoing.”

An authorized officer is a non-sworn civilian police employee authorized to perform specific police duties, often in a custody capacity.

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

According to court documents, the crime is said to have occurred in Auckland.

His next appearance is planned for November.

The Herald asked the police what quantity of drugs the officer was supposed to have delivered and possessed.

However, police said they could not comment further while the case was before the court.

Police union president Chris Cahill said it was “very rare” for such serious allegations to be made against a police officer.

He stressed that the man was an authorized officer and not a sworn police officer.

In cases of crimes of this kind, there is no entitlement to legal aid from the association, said Cahill.

However, “If the person were a member of the association, he or she would be entitled to support in the hiring process.”

Cocaine is a stimulant and is classified as a Class A drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act due to 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 showed that three New Zealanders die from a drug overdose 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 accounted for the largest proportion of these deaths: 516 people had taken at least one opioid before their death, and alcohol was involved in 35.4 percent of fatal overdoses – regardless of whether it was the cause of death or not.

The findings of the report are heartbreaking, said the foundation's executive director, Sarah Helm.

“Each of these numbers represents a person whose whānau, friends and community have been torn apart.

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

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

Lane Nichols is deputy news director and senior journalist at the New Zealand Herald with over 20 years of industry experience.