|
|
|
| NEWS > 08 November 2007 |
Other related articles:
Iemma briefed on gang-rape pro
NSW PREMIER Morris Iemma today called for an official explanation of a report that police bungled an investigation into a series of gang rapes of a teenage girl in Sydney.
The 13-year-old Enfield girl told police she was gang-raped in 2003, and was raped again in February and March 2004, with at least one man involved in two of the three attacks, The Daily Telegraph reported today.
No arrests have been made over the rapes and a review of the case by Taskforce Textile criticises police for failing to apply "basic investigative techniques".
Police reprotdely hav... Read more
|
 Article sourced from
|
|
The Age - Melbourne,Victoria,A
08 November 2007
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
|
|
Careers on the line as police
NO ONE has yet been explicitly accused, but it is clear the reputations and careers of some of the most powerful figures in Victorian policing are on the line.
The Office of Police Integrity hearing takes in two extraordinarily serious stories of alleged police corruption and abuse of public office. The first set of allegations — which is not the direct concern of the OPI inquiry — involves a secret taskforce that since early this year has been investigating alleged links between police and an underworld murder.
The second set of allegations involves the leaking of the work of this highly sensitive taskforce by somebody from Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon's inner circle.
According to allegations aired yesterday, that leak may have made its way to senior union officials and then to the very policeman under investigation for his alleged links to an underworld hitman.
That policeman is the now suspended detective sergeant Peter Lalor, as revealed in The Age in September. Mr Lalor was, until recently, a senior delegate in the police union and is close to police union boss Paul Mullett.
Nothing untoward about Mr Mullett was aired on day one of the OPI inquiry, but he has been called to give evidence on Monday. Also to be called is Assistant Commissioner Noel Ashby, whose links to Mr Mullett go back to the pair's days in the old armed robbery squad and, more recently and significantly, when Mr Ashby was the senior policeman chosen to negotiate the police pay deal with Mr Mullett.
Mr Ashby, an ambitious operator recognised by some senior Government figures as a potential chief commissioner, was selected to nut out the enterprise bargaining agreement partly because he was one of the few figures in force command able to work well with Mr Mullett. Once again, nothing adverse has yet been said about Mr Ashby.
But it is clear that the purpose of the OPI's hearing goes well beyond the serious allegation that the work of the corruption taskforce investigating Mr Lalor may have been derailed by deliberate leaks from a person of high position.
The OPI's inquiry also alleges that other sensitive information was regularly traded by figures in the "senior echelons of police management and of the union" to advance careers, undermine force command and inform pre-emptive attacks on Government decisions.
The implications that arise from day one of the hearing are twofold. First, alleged abuse of public office has been found lurking in force command and the highest levels of the union. And second, this misconduct not only allegedly included the leak of an investigation, but improperly empowered some individuals to affect policing policy in Victoria.
Given the union's industrial might and influence on the Government, its ability to get prior knowledge of what the counsel for the OPI described as "senior decisions of Government" could have boosted its already powerful standing. As the OPI's lawyer reminded the hearing, corruption is not limited to handing over the proverbial brown paper bag. What the OPI is alleging is no less serious but involves gaining power by improper means.
By whom and for what purpose is yet to be aired. When it is, it is likely that strident defences will be offered. To make its case, the OPI will need to have resounding proof, possibly in the form of secretly recorded communications. The OPI's reputation is also at stake.
The Age's revelation in September of ties between corruption and underworld killings prompted force command to concede for the first time that such alleged links did exist and were considered credible.
Whatever the outcome of these public hearings, the state's policing landscape will be irrevocably changed.
|
| |
 EiP Comments:
|
|---|
|
| |
* We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper or periodical. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and we will remove the article. The articles republished on this site are provided for the purposes of research , private study, criticism , review, and the reporting of current events' We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper , periodical or other works. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and where necessary we will remove the work concerned.
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
 |
Ethics in Policing, based in the UK, provide information and advice about the following:
Policing Research | Police News articles | Police Corruption | International Policing | Police Web Sites | Police Forum | Policing Ethics | Police Journals | Police Publications |
|
| |
|
