A top policeman has banned officers from accompanying Immigration officials on potentially illegal brothel raids after a man leapt out of a window, suffering fatal injuries, during a raid being filmed for reality television.

The man panicked and jumped seven metres from the window after uniformed police, Immigration officers and television cameras stormed Auckland bordello Salon 33 in what has been described as an "unlawful breaking and entering".

The 38-year-old was believed to have been a customer. He died at his Manukau home from injuries suffered in the fall the day after the November 2007 raid which was being filmed for reality television series Borderline, which documents immigration officers' work.

Since the raid, a top Auckland detective has questioned the legality of the forays, documents obtained by The Dominion Post reveal.

Officers have been banned from taking part in the Immigration-led raids for more than a year because of concerns about their legality.

"[The Immigration Act] doesn't provide lawful authority for a warranted immigration officer to enter and search premises of licensed brothels," Detective Inspector Scott Beard of Auckland wrote last November.

"I have instructed that police staff are not to assist Immigration New Zealand visiting brothels or suspected brothels."

But the Immigration Department disputes the police interpretation, saying that the raids' legality may have to be tested in court.

"The owners of premises which offer commercial sexual services may consent to the entry of Immigration officers to ensure their compliance with relevant legislation," a spokesman said.

Six Auckland brothels were simultaneously searched for foreigners working as prostitutes on November 22, 2007.

Immigration refused yesterday to confirm whether brothel raids still took place, with the spokesman saying that "compliance operations" continued in a "range of environments".

The raids were aimed at ensuring prostitution and immigration regulations were not being broken, he said.

Mr Beard said the main purpose for a police presence in the raids had been in case Immigration officers found people they suspected were human trafficking victims.

Since the raid in which the man jumped from the window, there had been one further request for Auckland police to assist the department in a brothel search, which had been declined, he said.

Former immigration minister Tuariki Delamere said though he supported any action taken to remove people not entitled to be in the country, the department had to follow the law.

The actions of the man who died were triggered by an "unlawful breaking and entering", he said.

 

- The Dominion Post