Complaints over police conduct
Of nearly 4000 allegations faulting behaviour, more than 400 upheld
More than 3700 allegations faulting police conduct were made last year, of which more than 400 became upheld complaints.
A police conduct report has shown service failure and unprofessional attitude/language were the most upheld type of complaint last year.
The report also recorded how many allegations were made relating to suicide attempts occurring while in custody, breaches of confidentiality and misuse of a police database.
Last year’s police professional-conduct statistics tally all allegations made during that time against the organisation and its staff. Those allegations can be recorded in more than one category when considered by type.
Investigations are still ongoing in some cases.
Four hundred and fortythree allegations were made about inadequate service and, after 379 completed investigations, 58 complaints were upheld.
A total of 488 allegations fell into the investigation-failure
category and 38 of those complaints were upheld following the completion of 417 investigations. Police Association president Chris Cahill said that this was a concern but not a surprise.
“What they both point to is the demand for police services outstretched the ability to provide that service,” Cahill said.
There simply had not been enough resources, he said.
“There will always be some complaints that simply will not meet the priority and that will annoy the person who is individually affected by it.”
The Government recognised the insufficient resourcing with 1800 new police and 485 non-sworn police employees and in turn expected an improvement in service, he said.
According to the conduct report, 478 allegations were made externally about unprofessional attitude/language and, of the 404 completed investigations, 56 complaints were upheld.
However, Cahill said this was a low figure considering the thousands of interactions police had with the public daily.
“Police officers are human, they get frustrated and reacted badly sometimes. The people we deal with aren’t always the most friendly and obliging.”
The report also showed that 58 allegations were made regarding attempted suicides occurring in custodial care. Of the 38 completed investigations, 12 of those complaints were upheld.
Cahill said it signalled how many people with mentalhealth issues police dealt with daily and how many ended up in cells. Those cases were notified to the Independent Police Conduct Authority and that was where most of those complaints came from.
Upheld complaints usually were because of a missed step on a checklist, he said.
“It is nearly always simply because of the workload in those custody units. Police stations are not the best place for someone to be kept in custody, certainly not when they have mental-health issues.”
Sometimes there were delays sourcing a causal jailer if one was required for constant supervision and another staffer would be pulled away from other duties, he said.
Working in custody units was an incredibly difficult and risky role: “There is plenty that can go wrong.”