Call for QPS powers change

THE Queensland Council for Civil Liberties will seek changes to police procedures that in the situation where a child is interviewed by police for any reason an adult known to the child must be present.

The call for change comes as a result of a police interview with 2011 flood victim Blake Rice who lost his mother Donna and brother Jordan who were washed away from the family car at the corner of James and Kitchener Sts when a wall of water struck during the January deluge.

Blake was saved by a chain of bystanders.

The 11-year-old’s mother and brother drowned.

Not long after the tragedy, Blake was interviewed by Toowoomba police, a video of which surfaced earlier this year and raised concerns that no adult was in the room supporting Blake during the questioning.

According to a Weekend Australian report in April, it was a report of that interview with Blake that formed the basis for police findings that Donna Rice had recklessly driven into the flooded intersection.

However, a coroner found Ms Rice had not been reckless and had in fact stopped the car before the intersection “in what was then very shallow water and had waited to see whether it was safe to proceed”.

The Queensland’s Council for Civil Liberties asked the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission (QCCC) to investigate the conduct of the interview.

This week the QCCC cleared the Queensland Police Service of any wrong doing.

Council vice-president Terry O’Gorman told The Chronicle the police operational procedures manual instructed that an adult must be present when a child “suspect” was interviewed by police but that was not necessarily the case when the child was not a suspect as was the case with Blake Rice.

“Clearly the manual needs to be changed,” Mr O’Gorman said.

“For the same reason, when police interview a child (for any reason), an adult known to the child should be present.”

Mr O’Gorman said it was of further concern that not only was an 11-year-old boy being interviewed by police without an adult known to him present but that Blake had just experienced a traumatic event about which he was being questioned.

“We will be writing to the police commissioner saying the operational procedures manual needs to be changed so that in all circumstances where a child is spoken to by police, an adult known to the child should be present,” Mr O’Gorman said.