One of the hunters who laid a complaint about his treatment at the hands of two Otago police officers feels ''justice has been done''.
Glen Finch and Jacob Jenkins were accused of poaching on a forestry block near Berwick in August 2013.
The charges were subsequently quashed in the Dunedin District Court and the conduct of the two officers who laid the charges was investigated by the Independent Police Conduct Authority.
The authority cleared the officers - who were themselves ''keen pig hunters'' - of corruption, but found one of the officers, then-Constable Dave Bullot, had an unacceptable conflict of interest.
Const Bullot, who was off-duty at the time, and Detective Constable Wayne O'Connell, who was on-duty, issued Mr Finch and Mr Jenkins with ''blanket trespass notices'' on August 2, 2013, banning them from 147 blocks in Otago and Southland, as part of Operation Poacher.
This was after the officers discovered the pair parked in a layby in the forestry block with a dog cage on their utility vehicle, firearms and a quad bike.
Mr Bullot and Det Const O'Connell were in the forestry block in Mr Bullot's private vehicle, installing CCTV on behalf of the block's owner.
The hunters said they were looking for signs of wild pigs, as they had a permit to hunt there the next day.
The authority found the blanket trespass notice should not have been issued because of a lack of evidence to justify it and that a body search of Mr Finch and Mr Jenkins performed by the officers was unlawful.
It also found that the officers should not have installed the cameras and that the pair had illegally used radio dog-tracking equipment.
Mr Finch's lawyer, Anne Stevens, told the Otago Daily Times that Mr Finch and his father, who also laid a complaint, were ''very pleased'' with the outcome of the investigation.
''The matters of most importance to us were the conflict of interest ... and the other matter of major concern was the issue of those blanket trespass notices, which we saw as an abuse and unlawful,'' she said.
Mrs Stevens felt the conduct of Mr Bullot and Det Const O'Connell was ''pretty outrageous behaviour'', but her client's faith in justice had been restored by the findings of the authority.
The authority received three complaints from local pig hunters in late 2013 and early 2014 about the conduct of officers involved with Operation Poacher.
The complaints related to blanket trespass notices, which banned hunters from accessing 147 forestry blocks, owned by 10 forestry companies, in Otago and Southland.
Mr Finch and Mr Jenkins also raised concerns about the treatment by the officers and alleged that the officers were working for the forestry companies, had unlawfully confiscated and sold hunting equipment and had abused their authority as policemen to protect their preferred hunting grounds.
Authority chairman Judge Sir David Carruthers said there was no evidence of corruption and many of the facts of the incident between the hunters and the policemen remained disputed.
''The authority also accepted that Operation Poacher, which was run by one of the officers investigated, was set up for genuine police purposes,'' he said.
''However, the fact that both officers were also hunters clearly did not sit well with some local hunters and it did raise questions about, firstly, whether they had a conflict of interest; and secondly, if so, whether it was being appropriately managed.''
Southern district commander Superintendent Andrew Coster said police accepted the findings.
Shortly after the complaints were received police launched an investigation into the allegations and Operation Poacher was discontinued.
Mr Bullot resigned from the police soon after the operation was finished.
Southern district police stopped issuing blanket trespass notices.
Police were also reviewing the processes by which forestry companies reported illegal activity on their land to ensure a consistent and effective district-wide approach, he said.
IPCA findings
• Police did not have sufficient evidence to justify issuing a blanket trespass notice.
• No evidence police acted in a corrupt manner.
• Both police officers illegally used radio dog-tracking equipment, albeit unknowingly.
• Hunting on forestry land while also policing that land put then-Constable Dave Bullot in a strong position of conflict and created the potential for abuse of authority.
• The officers should not have installed CCTV cameras on behalf of a forestry company as it created a perception the officers were working for the company and at risk of abusing their authority.
• It is unclear whether police searched the hunters by patting down their clothed bodies or just the outside of their pockets, however, it was not legally justified either way.
• It is unclear whether then-Constable Dave Bullot took Glen Finch's phone from him forcefully, but the officer's subsequent search of the phone was unlawful.
• It is unclear whether the officers were rude, dismissive and threatening to Glen Finch and Jacob Jenkins before and during the search of the utility vehicle.
• Then-Constable Dave Bullot used inappropriate language towards Glen Finch and Jacob Jenkins, which they reasonably interpreted as threatening.
