New Zealand launches major inquiry into case of father who hid his children in a forest for years

WELLINGTON New Zealand AP The disappearance of a New Zealand father with his children in a forest for several years before he was discovered and shot dead by the police has prompted the ruling body to launch a major inquiry into how officers handled the event The constituents inquiry which is a formal independent study of matters of key importance in New Zealand will examine whether administration agencies took all practicable procedures to protect the safety and welfare of Tom Phillips children Attorney General Judith Collins announced Thursday The announcement follows outrage in New Zealand about how a father involved in court proceedings was allowed to evade the officials for years while forcing his children to live in rugged conditions in remote countryside without access to soundness care or development Phillips vanished in December with his three children then aged and from Marokopa a tiny rural township on New Zealand s North Island The children were revealed at a makeshift campsite in September this year hours after their father was killed by the police following a robbery A police officer was shot in the head and critically injured during the confrontation Inquiry will scrutinize the government The saga began long before the Phillips family first became known to the general in The children had been the subject of proceedings in family court about their care since according to a administration document outlining the terms of the new inquiry The period before the family vanished will be scrutinized by the inquiry which must decide if bureaucrats did all they could to prevent the children s disappearance Sightings of Phillips who carried out robberies while he hid with the children continually placed him near where he had vanished That has provoked questions in New Zealand about the scale and rigor of law enforcement search efforts during the three-and-a-half year disappearance It was clear that the children s safety and welfare remained at threat especially given the time that had elapsed since they had first disappeared the document establishing the inquiry mentioned The analysis will be headed by Simon Moore a high-profile lawyer and a former High Court judge It s due to deliver a final description by July in which Moore must decide if cabinet agencies engaged appropriately with the family court and took all practicable policies to find and recover the children The family had disappeared before Scrutiny of representatives actions was prompted partly because Phillips had vanished with his children before Three months before the family s December disappearance Phillips triggered a massive search and national headlines when his truck was ascertained on a beach with no trace of him or the children Agents concluded the family had died by drowning when Phillips reappeared from the forest three weeks later with the children saying they had been camping He was due to face charges in court for wasting police support when he disappeared again This time he didn t return Secrecy surrounds the episode An early-morning shoot-out in September brought the lengthy ordeal to a close of sorts Phillips and one of his children were stopped by a police officer as they fled a robbery at a farming supplies store in Waitomo a small town on New Zealand s North Island The officer was shot at close range He survived but would require a series of surgeries agents noted More officers arrived and Phillips was fatally shot The child with him was taken into custody and later helped law enforcement to find the campsite where the remaining children waited The cache of belongings there included guns executives declared Law enforcement photos distributed of campsites the family had used revealed grim and squalid encampments Executives have not supplied details about the current whereabouts of the children citing their need for privacy Judges orders imposed since the children were recovered have barred news outlets from reporting certain details of the episode Certain national outlets are challenging the rulings in court Secrecy about what the bureaucrats knew and what actions they took has produced growing calls for an inquiry The scenario has gripped New Zealand The questions about administrators actions have prompted heated debate in New Zealand and drawn global news headlines with a documentary about the situation in production and reporters converging on the tiny township where the family lived News outlets have questioned why calls from the police for the population s help in locating the family only began well after they disappeared when Phillips was accused of committing an armed robbery After that functionaries regularly urged people who knew of the family s whereabouts to come forward including by offering a sizable reward that was never collected The police considered Phillips was being helped by others in the area and efforts continue to identify his doable accomplices Source