COP EMAIL TRIGGER
EXCLUSIVE Flori: I didn’t shoot off warning to club
A POLICE officer previously demoted for an inappropriate relationship is again under scrutiny after his name was on confidential intelligence released to members of the Gold Coast Pistol Club.
Police are looking into an email sent under pistol club president and inspector Steve Flori’s name to 1400 members on November 25.
Insp Flori last night denied sending the email, saying Queensland Police contacted the club manager. Police said it was “unaware” of the matter.
A POLICE officer previously demoted for an inappropriate relationship is again under scrutiny after his name was on confidential intelligence released to members of the Gold Coast Pistol Club.
Police are looking into an email sent under pistol club president and inspector Steve Flori’s name to 1400 members on November 25.
The release of sensitive information without authority is a breach of Queensland Police Service (QPS) code.
Last night, the QPS said it was “unaware of any details in relation to the matter” and it was now “under consideration”.
Insp Flori said he did not send the emails and was not responsible for them.
“The club’s manager Kate Harper was contacted by QPS and emailed that document. I had no contact with QPS whatsoever nor did I send any email to members.
“A lot of emails within the club bear my signature block. On the other questions you all have to ask the QPS as I have had no contact whatsoever with them.”
The police alert sent to the club, marked IN-CONFIDENCE, lists a man’s full name and date of birth and details the make, model and licence plate of the car he is believed to be driving.
The alert says he “threatened to attend the Gold Coast Pistol Club on Edmund Rice Drive, Southport, and blow himself up and anyone else who is there”.
It says the man is “allegedly in possession of a voucher for the pistol club”.
“If *NAME WITHHELD* attends your establishment, please call 000 and take all possible safety precautions,” it says.
The alert appears to be in a draft format, with prompts, including “triple click here to inbeing sert photo” and “any information in relation to the above matter is to be forwarded to Officer name of unit on telephone”.
The email is signed: Steve Flori – President.
In 2013, then Coomera superintendent Flori was demoted to inspector and transferred to South Brisbane over his “inappropriate relationship” with Sonya Leeding, widow of slain cop Damian Leeding following a 14-month investigation.
Insp Flori had been supporting Mrs Leeding, also a police officer, after her husband’s death in 2011 and accompanied her to a number of public fundraisers for the family.
When she returned to work he created a position for her at the Coomera Police Station.
Insp Flori’s brother, Rick Flori, stood as an independent candidate for the seat of Southport at last month’s Queensland Election.
In an unrelated incident Rick Flori is awaiting trial after charged with misconduct in 2014 for allegedly leaking footage of a prisoner being beaten in the basement of Surfers Paradise police station to the media to embarrass the police force over its treatment of brother Steve Flori.
He is fighting the charges. A spokesman for the Police Minister Mark Ryan said the “Palaszczuk Government expects the highest standards to be met and maintained by police officers at all times”.
“The rules surrounding the distribution of BOLO (Be On the Look Out) alerts are a matter for the Queensland Police Service,” the spokesman said.
The BOLO includes a Right To Information disclaimer notice that states: “The information in this document is confidential and privileged against disclosure except for the purposes of the Queensland Police Service. If this document or the information contained therein becomes the subject of any request under disclosure provisions or Right to Information Legislation, the relevant Assistant Commissioner must be consulted prior to the release or dissemination of this document.”
A line has been added to the email below the alert saying: “If you see this person please call 000.”
Police sources told the Bulletin while Mr Flori would have “some discretion” as a commissioned officer, if the alert was an intelligence file, he would usually need to seek permission to share it.
“While Mr Flori might say it was in the best interests of the pistol club to know this person is out there, did he seek permission to release restricted information into the public domain?” the source said.
Another police source said the man profiled in the alert “has rights”.
“It’s a breach of his privacy to put that out,” the source said.
THE CLUB’S MANAGER KATE HARPER WAS CONTACTED BY QPS AND EMAILED THAT DOCUMENT. I HAD NO CONTACT WITH QPS WHATSOEVER INSPECTOR STEVE FLORI