A new police recruit got more than expected when he was betrayed by his own fingerprint at police college.
Taking part in a standard fingerprinting exercise at Porirua's Royal New Zealand Police College three weeks ago, the recruit's print matched him to an outstanding warrant for a serious assault. He was arrested late last week.
Training commander Superintendent Alistair Beckett said screening processes were demanding and extensive but never foolproof.
"And so if somebody like that is intent on coming on in, it's got to be somebody who's able to defeat quite an extraordinary process.
"It's extremely rare, to be honest. By and large, the people we get are top of the line, top drawer. They normally don't have things from the past they want to hide."
Starting from the October intake, all recruit applicants would be fingerprinted before training.
The recruit will appear in Christchurch District Court later this week.
