Gold Coast cops claim victims of ‘witch hunt’ after complaining about female colleague

Gold Coast police officers claim they were the victims of a “witch hunt” when their complaints about a female colleague were allegedly turned against them.

Gold Coast police officers have made claims that they were bullied.

A NUMBER of Gold Coast police officers claim they were bullied and became victims of a “witch-hunt” after their complaints against a fellow officer were allegedly turned against them.

They claim the colleague was given preferential treatment by an Ethical Standards Command (ESC) investigator, due to her husband being a friend of a then-senior officer.

The fed-up cops accused the ESC investigator of nepotism, carrying out reprisals, “going on a witch hunt” and bullying.

The Gold Coast officers have also claimed some ESC cops have been submitting and investigating their own complaints, or each other, in double standards they said had not been seen since the pre-Fitzgerald inquiry era.

“The whole time I’ve been in, I’ve seen nothing pre-Fitzgerald, until now,” one officer said.

“There’s maladministration.

“They can do whatever they like as they’re investigating themselves.”

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The ESC officer was assigned to investigate multiple internal issues at a Gold Coast police station from mid-2016 onwards following multiple, separate workplace bullying and counter-bullying complaints among a number of staff members.

The Sunday Mail has chosen not to identify the investigator or the specific police station.

The ESC investigator was assigned not long after one of the senior officers lodged a complaint, on behalf of a number of officers, about a colleague’s alleged inappropriate behaviour in early 2016.

One cop said as his concerns about the workmate fell under the parameters of the Public Interest Disclosure Act, also known as the Whistle Blower’s Act, he should have been afforded immunity from prosecution or disciplinary action.

The officers told the Sunday Mail the colleague at the focus of that complaint was allegedly given preferential treatment by the ESC investigator due to her husband being mates with a then-senior officer.

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The officer said the investigator eventually dismissed the original complaint against the woman in November 2017, and instead charged the complainant with misconduct.

He said he was told the misconduct charge was because he allegedly withheld relevant information about the woman, including that he knew she had a medical condition.

“But the ESC officer not only lodged his own complaint against me, he then interviewed me, twice, for it, for his own complaint,” he said.

“I made a formal complaint against the ESC officer as what he was doing was a reprisal under the PID Act.”

The veteran police officer said an assistant commissioner dismissed the misconduct charge earlier this year.

The ESC investigator declined to comment on the allegations, except to deny there had been any nepotism.

“That allegation is absolutely ridiculous,” he told the Sunday Mail.

“I’m quite insulted when my integrity gets questioned.”

Some Gold Coast police officers have alleged an investigator has gone on a witch-hunt after they complained about a colleague’s behaviour. Picture: Queensland Police Service

Another Gold Coast officer claimed other co-workers who had raised similar concerns about the colleague’s behaviour had also become targets.

Some were then accused, by the woman, of workplace bullying.

“(The ESC investigator) starts writing off the files against her and pursuing the officers who made disclosures against this one person, including those who were pursuing a public interest disclosure,” the officer said.

“That officer and her friend then started putting in complaints against everyone else, including myself.”

At least two of the police officers also alleged the ESC investigator contacted multiple former work colleagues as part of his investigation, and in one case, reopened an unrelated grievance case that had been dismissed and closed by a superintendent a year earlier.

“You can’t just go on a massive fishing trip to try and hopefully find anything at all,” one officer said.

In 2018, two of the Gold Coast officers lodged a complaint with the Crime and Corruption Commission against the ESC investigator.

The CCC referred the complaints back to the ESC, to be investigated internally.

The ESC officer denies all allegations. Picture: Richard Walker/AAP

Former police sergeant turned workplace advocate, Kate Rasmussen of Justice4Workers, said witnesses named in one of the officer’s official statements were never interviewed by ESC investigators.

Ms Rasmussen, who also provided a witness statement to the CCC and the ESC in conjunction with one of the officer’s complaints, said she was also not interviewed.

Some of Ms Rasmussen’s multiple allegations include that the ESC investigator failed to remove himself from investigations where a conflict of interest was present, and misconduct in relation to public office.

A Queensland police spokeswoman said internal matters, which meet a misconduct threshold, were referred to the Crime and Corruption Commission for oversight.

“In instances where a matter requires full investigation and the subject member is from ESC, that full investigation will be referred to an area outside of the Command,” she said.

“In some instances, a matter assessed as a breach of discipline but does not amount to misconduct, may be addressed and finalised by a senior officer within the work group.”