Victoria Police consider external oversight of sources after Lawyer X fiasco

Victoria Police is considering employing external oversight of its human sources with professional privilege obligations to prevent a repeat of the Lawyer X fiasco, according to a submission.

Former high-profile criminal defence barrister Nicola Gobbo

Victoria Police is considering employing external oversight of its human sources with professional privilege obligations to prevent a repeat of the Lawyer X fiasco, according to a submission.

As well, disclosure officers could be embedded in investigative units and a training video on the importance of disclosure obligations to be screened on the Victoria Police internal video portal “Bluetube” is in its final stages of development.

The suggestions are contained in a response to a consultation paper produced by the royal commission into the management of police informants, which is examining Victoria Police’s relationship with gangland lawyer-turned snitch Nicola Gobbo.

“Victoria Police is also considering options to enable external oversight of registration of human sources with legal obligation of professional privilege,” the submission said.

Ms Gobbo was a high-profile criminal defence barrister who represented underworld heavies at the height of Melbourne’s gangland wars in the mid-2000s.

At the same time, she was informing on her clientele to Victoria Police detectives in the clandestine source development unit.

The royal commission has already identified almost 1300 cases that her information may have tainted.

In the submission, Victoria Police said a series of policy reforms have been introduced following reviews by former chief commissioner of police Neil Comrie and former Victorian Court of Appeal judge Murray Kellam.

“The issues which have arisen as a consequence of Nicola Gobbo as a human source are unique,” it said.

“With the current human source management framework in place they simply could not be repeated.”

The submission also floated allowing Victoria’s Office of Public Prosecution to have greater involvement in disclosures and a mechanism that allows Victoria Police to bring public immunity claims before the courts for faster determinations.

“Furthermore, Victoria Police is also reforming its training models to ensure that members understand their disclosure obligations,” it said.

The submission also suggests implementing an electronic document management system that can handle sensitive information as Victoria Police do not have a “single repository for all information that may form part of an investigation”.

Victoria Police paid out Ms Gobbo millions of dollars in a civil settlement after a bungled attempt to transition her from informant to witness against former drug squad detective Paul Dale.

Faruk Orman, who was released in July last year after spending 12 years in prison for a conviction secured by Ms Gobbo’s double dealings, is preparing to sue the state of Victoria for wrongful imprisonment.

The royal commission will examine policy issues surrounding Victoria Police’s management of police informants with Commissioner Margaret McMurdo due to hand down a report on July 1.