Dodgy data order probe
THE order for Gold Coast police to manipulate crime data would have been a directive from high up in management, State Parliament has been told.
Currumbin MP Jann Stuckey said two reports by the Auditor-General “paint a very frightening truth about poor data collection that is putting society at risk”.
“Police are getting victims to withdraw complaints and are altering crime data statistics. Who ordered this?,” Ms Stuckey told Parliament.
“The Premier, the minister or the commissioner? Did they order our police to do this in order to try and deceive the general public?”
Ms Stuckey said she felt it necessary to place on public record that police on the beat from the Coolangatta and Palm Beach stations in her electorate were not responsible for the misreporting.
“My officers have told me that there is no way, no matter what pressure was put on them, that they would participate in anything like this,” she said.
Debate on the data scandal surfaced after Opposition police spokesman Tim Mander moved a motion that the Parliament condemned the Labor Government for being soft on crime and putting the safety of Queensland families at risk.
The Bulletin has revealed how senior Coast police were under pressure from the Gov- ernment to provide positive news stories after the region recorded a 66 per cent increase in assaults and witnessed shocking domestic violence murders.
The Crime and Corruption Commission has begun interviewing police after it was revealed crime managers were shafted and sent to various police stations after alerting the Auditor-General that data had been manipulated.
“To me, the question is who has been directing them,” Ms Stuckey told the Bulletin. “This is a directive to make crime figures that lie. It’s an extremely dangerous practice.
“It must be ordered somewhere. Don’t tell me police – individual stations – cooked them up. There seems to have been a directive from above.”
The Bulletin understands the CCC inquiry will focus on two key areas – whether an “abuse of power” occurred where a senior officer directed police to change the figures and if an industrial issue has been sparked relating to “intentional bullying”.
Several police sources suggest senior ranked officers were involved in disputes about direction of police data gathering.
“Crime had been down by 30 per cent. The one thing the police department is not short of is ego. It all started to fall apart,” the source said.
“The crime stats were all going bad. The ego of the officer was on the line. All the wheels fell off.”
In the Parliament, Police Minister Mark Ryan told Mr Mander “what a ridiculous motion that this House has to consider today” before a vote saw it ultimately defeated by the overwhelming government numbers.