Up to $4m worth of funding pulled from Victoria Police after breath test con
VICTORIA’s anti-corruption watchdog has raised concerns police officers failed to dob in their wrongdoing colleagues, as $4m in TAC funding to help tackle road trauma has been pulled in the wake of the fake breath-testing scandal.
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VICTORIA’s anti-corruption watchdog has raised concerns that no police officers dobbed in their colleagues over the breath-testing scandal.
It comes as up to $4 million of funding meant to help tackle road trauma has been pulled from Victoria Police in the wake of the scandal.
The TAC suspended its financial support of the force amid revelations more than 258,000 breath tests had been falsified by officers.
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The commissioner of Victoria’s Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission, said the falsification of the PBTs was “deeply concerning” to the community.
“As Victoria’s independent police oversight body, IBAC is in ongoing discussions with Victoria Police about the scope of their investigation into the falsification of PBTs,” the honourable Robert Redlich QC said.
“Police have significant powers and the community rightly expects them to use these powers honestly, responsibly and to perform their duties fairly, impartially and always in accordance with the law.
“The evidence that Victoria Police officers have falsified tests is deeply concerning, as is the evidence of a culture that has enabled this to occur and not be detected or immediately dealt with.”
Commissioner Redlich confirmed IBAC was advised, as per the normal notification process between Victoria Police and IBAC, of a complaint made to Victoria Police about falsified PBT in September last year.
In late February this year IBAC was advised of the results of the initial Victoria Police data analysis regarding the falsified PBT.
“The Victoria Police investigation must be robust, thorough and far reaching to address the clear opportunities to examine issues of culture, determine if there has been any criminality or serious breaches of discipline, and importantly, to ensure this sort of behaviour does not occur again,” Mr Redlich said.
Commissioner Redlich also expressed concern that no police officers reported this clearly concerning conduct to Victoria Police command, or to IBAC.
“Victoria Police officers have a clear obligation not to turn a blind eye to any police misconduct, and to report it to Victoria Police or to IBAC so it can be thoroughly dealt with,” Commissioner Redlich said.
Professional Standards Command Assistant Commissioner Russell Barrett said it was clear the force’s reputation had been “tarnished”.
“Last night we issued a directive to all members of Victoria Police that this practice will stop and stop immediately,” Mr Barrett said.
“From today on, this practice will not be tolerated. We’ve let the community down.”
He confirmed the funding had been suspended and whether it would continue in the future remained to be seen.
Victoria Police said yesterday 258,463 alcohol breath tests were falsified over five years, with officers blowing into breath test units themselves or tampering with the devices.
The shocking figure represents 1.5 per cent of 17.7 million tests carried out over the period.
Internal memos have emerged today showing police were being directed to meet breath testing targets.
Officers told the Herald Sun they had been directed to perform 50 breath tests per shift.
That has been backed up by the Police Association which has released internal memos showing officers were directed to increase the number of tests they performed.
One memo, sent ahead of the Australia Day long weekend, said: “A minimum of 50 PBTs per unit per shift are to be conducted, operational commitments permitting”.
Professional Standards Command Assistant Commissioner Russell Barrett had previously said police had “let the community down”.
A probe into the behaviour will be conducted by former Chief Commissioner Neil Comrie and a team from Professional Standards Command which is overseen by IBAC.
Mr Barrett said he was confident in the system of police investigating their own.
“I’m extremely confident that he’s the right person to investigate,” he said today.
Every officer in the state will also be schooled on their behaviour under what Mr Barrett said was police’s largest ever workplace guidance exercise.
Officers have raised concerns about quotas and the union pointed to pressure on police to meet targets as being a reason behind the falsifications.
Mr Barrett admitted police bosses at a local level did give their staff targets.
That will form part of the investigation.
“We’re going to ask why this has occurred so we can learn from that and prevent repetitions of this,” Mr Barrett said.
He said the behaviour had been “widespread” and it was not yet clear which individual police officers had been responsible.
“I had not heard of our members engaging in such a practise, we let ourselves down, we’ve let the community down. It stops now,” Mr Barrett said.
He said he believed officers were faking the tests to make themselves look busier.
“The question we all asked was why? There could be a number of reasons but the main rationale I believe is to hide or highlight productivity,” he said.
It is understood officers placed a finger over the straw entry hole on breath testing units or blew into the devices themselves.
The dodgy tests were mostly carried out by general duties and highway patrol officers, rather than officers at booze and drug bus sites.
The TAC has suspended road trauma funding for Victoria Police amid revelations the force has a culture of officers faking breath tests. pic.twitter.com/G8npvPwge0
— Andrea Hamblin (@AndieHamblin) May 30, 2018
It is understood that the Transport Accident Commission raised the alarm late last year after noticing suspicious patterns in breath test data.
An initial investigation was handled by Road Policing and Professional Standards Command.
Statistical specialists were brought in to look at the data trove gathered from the millions of tests.
“This briefing will be acknowledged formally by attending members, with the acknowledgment to be recorded on each police member’s personnel file,” he said.
Mr Barrett stressed that there was no evidence to suggest fraud or criminality had occurred.
“Similarly, there is nothing to suggest that any of this activity has impacted on any prosecutions,” he said.
Deputy Premier James Merlino welcomed a “forensic investigation” into the issue and said no rock will be left unturned.
“This conduct is extremely disappointing and unacceptable and it won’t be tolerated,” he said.
“We are going to make sure, through the external investigation, how it happened, why it happened and we will make sure that it never happens again.”
Despite concerns the issue would impact crime statistics, Mr Merlino said it was unlikely as they were collated by an external agency.
He also said the revelations do not relate to incidences where a positive breath test was returned.
Police Minister Lisa Neville confirmed there were 258,000 fake tests identified which peaked in 2013/14.
However, the behaviour appeared to stop after the two-up policy was brought in as a response to terror threats.
The number of police implicated remains unknown but stations where the practice was rife have been identified with many located in regional areas.
Police have notified the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission and Ms Neville has promised disciplinary action will apply to members caught doing the wrong thing after the review was carried out.
“This is a breach of community trust,” she said. “This is a really serious matter and unacceptable in my view.”
“I have met many police in my time as a Police Minister and this really jars with me.... that we have had people willing to falsify data.
“In terms of a disciplinary position, there will need to be some action taken.”
Ms Neville also revealed police had been hitting breath testing performance targets set by the State Government.
“This conduct is extremely disappointing and unacceptable — it’s wrong, it’s a breach of trust, and it won’t be tolerated,” she said.
“Victoria Police will implement measures to ensure this never happens again, including increased professional development and guidance and regular audits to ensure proper compliance.”
Police carried out an average 5.4 million tests per year over the period, but were required to only carry out 1.1 million.
The revelation will put the question of why officers were falsifying results at the centre of the independent audit.
Ms Neville denied drug testing needed to be included in the audit as it was only carried out by specially trained members in alcohol and drug buses.
A Police Association spokesman blamed under-resourcing and “ever increasing road safety targets” for the problem.
“This is not about police being lazy, it’s about some members employing desperate, quick fix measures to meet overly onerous expectations, in an environment of vastly depleted staffing resources,” they said.