Call for police probe clarity
GOLD Coast police accused of serious offences like domestic violence should be investigated by the state’s corruption watchdog or officers from other regions, a leading lawyer says.
Ex-Queensland Law Society president Bill Potts described domestic violence as a “silent killer” and wants investigations “to be done in an independent and transparent way free from any perceived or actual bias”.
The experienced Southport lawyer’s call for an independent process to manage police complaints follows a Bulletin investigation revealing potential conflicts in an internal Queensland Police Service case.
A female staff member had complained of not being supported when she sought to take out a domestic violence order against her husband, a Gold Coast cop.
The QPS insists there were separations in the investigations but the Bulletin found the senior officer involved in the woman’s initial complaint was later appointed to the Ethical Standards Command review. The woman abandoned court proceedings after experiencing what she believed was a lack of support from colleagues.
The Bulletin did not accuse the senior officer of wrongdoing regarding the domestic violence investigation, rather it was questioning his appointment to the internal police inquiry later.
Mr Potts called for reforms of the policing system. He said the work of police was important and difficult but their “independence transparency and professionalism is undermined when this perception becomes an accepted norm”.
“When police investigate police and when decisions are made by police not to prosecute, there is always going to be a perception of bias,” he said.
“It is for this reason that I’ve long called for when there is an investigation of police that it be done either by the Crime and
Corruption Commission or by officers from another district.
“My view is in all aspects of society, where there is investigation by anybody, any group about any topic, there has to be transparency and integrity in the systems otherwise they fall into disrepute.”
In the Bulletin’s special report this month, the woman sought from police a domestic violence order but was unsuccessful. She later was given a private order at Beenleigh Magistrates Court.
She ultimately withdrew her application and the couple then entered into an agreement with the same contact provisions in the temporary order.
The woman wrote that “one of the factors” in her deciding not to proceed further with the case “was the lack of support I’d received by the police service”.
The documents have since been submitted to the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce undertaking a wide ranging review, including domestic violence.