It appears that police commissioner Mike Bush knew all along of Wally Haumaha's connection to disgraced officers at the centre of rape allegations.

Sources have revealed to the NZ Herald that the commissioner's right-hand man warned him but that didn't stop him from being on the panel which recommended Haumaha for the role of deputy commissioner.

Former police officer and negotiator, Lance Burdett, says he has much respect for commissioner Bush and Haumaha’s comments may have been taken out of context.

He also said the police have done a lot of work on changing their culture for the better over the last couple of decades.

"There was a massive change in the 1990's with the police, we had the Human Bill of Rights came in, the IPCA..started, video interviewing came in, there was the merger with the Ministry of Transport, we started to close police bars, there was just lots of investigations."

LISTEN ABOVE AS LANCE BURDETT SPEAKS TO MIKE HOSKING