Judge calls for ban on cops investigating cops
24.07.2009
By: Tony Koch, Michael McKenna
FORMER Queensland corruption commissioner Bill Carter QC yesterday demanded an end to the practice of ``cops investigating cops'' for misconduct, saying this must be done by investigators independent of the police.
The retired Supreme Court judge, who headed two investigations into police corruption in the 1990s, spoke out as Queensland's embattled Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson rejected calls for the service to be stripped of powers to investigate allegations of misconduct and corruption against its own.
Wednesday's scathing report by the state's Crime and Misconduct Commission into the so-called Dangerous Liaisons affair, in which police are alleged to have offered cash, confidential information, outings from prison and sexual encounters to prison informants to boost crime clearance rates, has unleashed criticism that the Queensland Police Service has turned its back on the hard-earned lessons of the Fitzgerald corruption inquiry of 20 years ago.
Mr Carter said that police
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corruption would not be arrested until all such misconduct allegations were handled by an external agency such as the CMC, not the police service's own Ethical Standards Command.
This was the case in Queensland under the CMC's forerunner, the Criminal Justice Commission, which was established in the wake of the Fitzgerald inquiry to combat corruption in the police and government sector.
In an interview with The Australian, Mr Carter said he made recommendations about the need for a strong police watchdog in reports from two commissions of inquiry he headed into police corruption -- one dealing with police involvement in drugs, and the other where police were stealing and selling cars.
In both cases police depended on information from criminal contacts -- a practice Mr Carter condemned. ``The current CMC operates on the basis that it responds to complaints,'' Mr Carter said. ``It doesn't have any proactive strategy where there is an ongoing investigation and analysis of intelligence, and so forth.
``It is designed to avoid having another Fitzgerald inquiry, which assumes the watchdog will be continually vigilant and working on it. They have to build up an intelligence base and ongoing strategies to identify where there might be a problem before it gets out of hand.''
But CMC chair Robert Needham, who will retire from the body at the end of the year, yesterday told The Australian that it was ``not physically possible or desirable'' for the watchdog to handle all complaints of police misconduct.
``I am of the firm belief that the less serious police misconduct should be handled relatively close to the officer against whom the allegation has been made,'' he said. ``It's only through the supervisor taking responsibility for dealing with allegations of misconduct among his officers that high ethical standards and appropriate supervision will be embedded.
``If a supervisor is able to send a complaint against an officer to an external body, like the CMC, then they will have the attitude that it's not a matter they have to worry about.''
The CMC's Dangerous Liaison's report detailed how the initial two complaints about improper police dealings with prisoners were initially dismissed by the Ethical Standards Command.
It was only when the Australian Federal Police later intercepted prison telephone calls of double murderer Lee Owen Henderson -- who is at the centre of the scandal -- that a full investigation was launched.
Of the 25 officers -- some ranked as high as inspector -- implicated in the CMC report, three have been charged with perjury, one has been sacked, seven have resigned and there are 11 still serving, mostly as detectives.
Mr Atkinson yesterday defended the retention of the 11 police, saying it was ``appropriate'' because the offences were at the lower end of the misconduct spectrum.
Mr Atkinson also confirmed that all 25 officers, including those facing criminal charges, would retain lucrative superannuation benefits.
Only officers charged with ``official misconduct'' or criminally charged with ``official corruption'' can lose the government's contribution to their benefits.
Mr Atkinson echoed Mr Needham's comments, saying all of ``the serious matters'' handled by police were referred back to the CMC for review. ``I think most people accept that we can't go back 20 years and rely on the CMC to investigate every complaint against a member of the police service,'' he said.
``I do support the concept that we should be doing most of it.''
Mr Atkinson yesterday also backed two retired assistant commissioners, who initially oversaw the dispensing of funds to informants, mostly prisoners, by the now-disgraced and disbanded Armed Robbery Unit.
``You are not talking about people who, in my view, have any cloud or suspicion about them,'' he said.
Mr Atkinson also attacked Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers, who described the CMC's report as being full of ``wild'' allegations that relied on the word of convicted criminals.
He said the union was ``out of step'' with the rest of the community and should cut loose some of the officers implicated in the CMC report. ``Where a police officer has clearly done something criminal or it's misconduct and serious inappropriate behaviour, they have to disown that person,'' he said.
``I'm not talking about situations which are arguable. I'm talking about situations where it is quite clear that the officer has acted wrongly, inappropriately and unlawfully.''
However, Mr Leavers stood by his comments, saying everyone had the right to a presumption of innocence until proven guilty.
``I believe the only reason the CMC was in such a hurry to publish the allegations is so they could grandstand at an anti-corruption conference next week,'' he said.
``The right to a fair trial is vital for any accused person. It is for the courts to decide someone's guilt or innocence, not the CMC, not the media and not the police commissioner.''
Banks have asked the Queensland Police Service to return $10,000 given a decade ago to reward informants in robbery investigations.
The Australian Bankers Association in 2000 provided $10,000 to Queensland police to set up a fund to assist in investigations into bank robberies.
Tabled in state parliament on Wednesday, the Dangerous Liaisons report invokes a return to the pre-Fitzgerald days, with police taking illegal payments, confecting charges and passing on confidential information to informants.
It also details police organising court-approved excursions out of jail for prisoners, who later dined at restaurants or had sex with their partners in exchange for confessions.
Henderson, a double murderer and former NSW underworld figure, was allowed out on unsupervised trips and organised a drug heist using his unmonitored telephone from inside a maximum-security jail.
The report said some mid-ranking officers had turned a blind eye or encouraged such behaviour.
