Call for new police complaints body in Victoria to replace existing system
VICTORIA needs a new police complaints system, with the current oversight of police corruption and misconduct failing to meet key principles, a law firm has told a parliamentary inquiry.
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A NEW police complaints system is needed in Victoria with the current oversight of police corruption and misconduct failing to meet key principles, a law firm says.
Jeremy King, principal at Robinson Gill Lawyers, appeared before the Victorian Parliament’s IBAC committee’s inquiry into the external oversight of police corruption and misconduct in Victoria on Monday and highlighted a number of failings with the current system.
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Mr King told the committee that five principles set out by the European Court of Human Rights for the investigation of police misconduct — independence, adequacy of investigation, promptness, public scrutiny and victim involvement — are not being met in Victoria.
A key problem is more than 90 per cent of complaints get referred back to Victoria Police to investigate from the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC).
“A police accountability system is not capable of complying with these principles where investigations are conducted by Victoria Police,” Mr King said.
“We call for Parliament to establish a new body for the investigation of police misconduct complaints which is independent of Victoria Police and complies with the principles developed by the European Court of Human Rights”.
The IBAC inquiry was launched last year to examine the current police oversight system.
Mr King, whose firm has represented people affected by police misconduct since the 1990s, argued for the introduction of a new body with powers to investigate police.
But he said an alternative could be for IBAC to be split into two separate entities with different governing provisions.
“Consideration should also be given as to whether IBAC should be renamed to reflect its power to investigate police misconduct,” Mr King said.
The Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, the Law Enforcement Review Agency (Manitoba, Canada) and the Office of Police Complaints (Washington DC, USA) were all examples of what a new Victorian police oversight body might be modelled on.
A major problem with the current system, according to Mr King, is lack of information available to a complainant through the investigation process and lack of transparency.
Mr King said: “In our experience many complaints fail to be properly investigated by Victoria Police.
“The process is protracted and the complainant is largely ignored ... The investigation is determined without the opportunity for the complainant to respond to information gathered by the investigating officer.”
An IBAC audit of police misconduct complaints investigated by Victoria Police showed 16 per cent of complainants were not contacted by an investigating officer, 34 per cent of witnesses were not contacted by the investigating officer, relevant evidence, such as CCTV footage, was not considered in 17 per cent of files and in 14 per cent of files the determination reached was inappropriate.