New entity needs to be set up to investigate police

Police should no longer investigate police and a new entity should be set up to probe misconduct, an academic has told an inquiry.

Police should no longer investigate police and a new entity should be set up to probe misconduct, or the Crime and Corruption Commission should be split and have its crime portfolio moved, an academic has told an inquiry.

University of the Sunshine Coast criminology professor Tim Prenzler said the CCC had “largely abandoned all responsibility for complaints against police and management of police integrity”.

He told the commission of inquiry into the Queensland Police Service’s responses to domestic and family violence that the CCC had changed since its predecessors were set up as a result of the watershed Fitzgerald inquiry.

Prof Prenzler said with the current Crime and Corruption Act there had been a “much greater departure from the original Fitzgerald vision” and the majority of complaints against police were referred back to the police service as part of the “devolution” process.

The inquiry was told that when its predecessor Crime and Misconduct Commission was operating the devolution figures relating to complaints against police were about two per cent of investigations but now the CCC investigated less than 1 per cent of complaints.

He said Queensland should set up a “civilian control model”, which didn’t use serving police officers and had the authority to investigate and determine the outcomes of complaints.
Under the model, all complaints and allegations about police would be made to the independent authority.

Professor Tim Prenzler

Prof Prenzler said agency should also be able to direct the commissioner of police to take disciplinary action against officers.

Queensland should either set up a stand-alone integrity body to investigate police or set up a separate police unit within the existing CCC, he said, but added the authority would need to be split with the crime portfolio no longer attached to the integrity portfolio.
“There is a high risk of corruption ironically, obviously in fighting organised crime,” he said of the current setup of the CCC.

“It seems very odd to combine an integrity commission with an organised crime fighting organisation.”

Prof Prenzler said NSW had the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission, which didn’t allow serving or former NSW police officers on staff, which was a stand-alone authority that dealt with serious matters but made recommendations and didn’t have any disciplinary authority.

Prof Prenzler said the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland (PONI) was the “gold standard” of investigating complaints against police.

He said complainants generally felt betrayed when their complaints were sent back to police. A new authority should also consult complainants about their allegations.

He said a review of internal affairs models around the world had shown an inherent conflict of interest, where investigations gave a tendency to cover-up and protect colleagues.

Former Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Michael Maguire, who was in the role between 2012-19, told the inquiry an independent authority in the form on the “civilian control model” should be set up in Queensland.

He said all complaints relating to police were sent to PONI and investigated, and the authority also conducted criminal investigations, with files sent to the director of public prosecutions. They also took over crime scenes involving a death in police custody.

PONI also made misconduct recommendations which was sent back to the police service, with the vast majority accepted, but it also had the power to direct the chief constable to conduct disciplinary hearings.