Tasmania Police Assistant Commissioner Richard Cowling says public safety is police’s main priority
A drip-feed of information about an ongoing escape-from-custody incident has been defended as appropriate because of “operational reasons”.
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TASMANIA’S Deputy Police Commissioner has defended the force’s handling of an escape-from-custody drama, however the ongoing incident will be subject to an internal review.
Jake Mark Pearce, 21, of Maydena, escaped from custody on Saturday afternoon — although it took police until the next day to reveal that fact.
Pearce had been arrested for breach of bail on Saturday morning and was at the Royal Hobart Hospital for a blood test when he escaped from accompanying police officers.
As of Monday night, Pearce remained on the loose and police were checking addresses in their search.
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On Saturday, Tasmania Police initially told the public via social media that the Westpac Rescue Helicopter was being used for “a search” and that there was “no need for concern and no risk to the community”.
That post has since been deleted.
At 5.47pm Saturday, police released a statement saying only Pearce’s location was being sought. It did not reveal he had escaped from police custody.
“The police investigation is ongoing to locate 21-year-old Maydena man Jake Mark Pearce,” it said.
“Around 3.15pm today police conducted a search of the Hobart area, including the use of the Westpac Rescue Helicopter, after Jake was sighted in the CBD area.”
At 11.43am on Sunday, police issued a media release that mentioned “whilst completing procedures associated with the police investigation” Pearce “managed to flee from accompanying police”.
Late on Sunday, Inspector Damien George told the Mercury that the information made available to the public was “accurate and consistent with the timely provision of information to the public”.
He did not explain the paucity of information in the initial advice and did not respond directly to questions about whether members of the public should be wary of approaching Pearce.
It follows an incident in August where police initially advised the public the police helicopter was hovering over Hobart looking for a “suspicious person” but who was actually an offender on the run after an aggravated burglary.
In a statement issued in response to a list of questions from the Mercury about the weekend’s escape incident and the way information was released, Assistant Commissioner Richard Cowling said public safety was Tasmania Police’s first priority.
“In an evolving situation such as the escape of Jake Pearce, we release information that assists our police activity and informs the community. These are operational decisions for operational policing reasons,” Assistant Commissioner Cowling said.
“Because use of the Westpac Rescue Helicopter in an urban area search is unusual we first put a brief statement on Facebook reassuring the community that there was no reason to be concerned.
“About two hours later we released a photo of Pearce asking for public assistance to locate him. For operational reasons we did not state that he had escaped police custody.
“By the next day these reasons no longer applied and we released this detail. Two earlier Facebook posts were removed when the more comprehensive information was posted for no reason other than clarity.”
Assistant Commissioner Cowling said Pearce had been arrested for breach of bail on Saturday morning.
“He was taken to the hospital for a blood test. He was not handcuffed as he was co-operative and compliant up until the point he escaped.
“At the time of escaping police custody he was living in the community on court bail and posed no threat to the wider community. Had he posed a threat when he escaped custody we would have said that clearly at the time.
“The escape will be subject to an internal police review.”
In March this year, the editors of the state’s three main media groups wrote to Police Commissioner Darren Hine complaining about “a breakdown in recent times in the working relationship between the Tasmanian Police Service and the media”.
They complained that the police did not share timely and accurate information.
The letter was accompanied by a log citing multiple instances of Tasmania Police either failing to reveal incidents in a timely fashion — or failing to release information at all.
Unlike other police services interstate, Tasmania Police do not have a written media policy.
Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance regional director Adam Portelli questioned Tasmania Police’s approach to releasing public information.
“Transparency by the police is essential in maintaining the public’s trust. This has been undermined by Tasmania Police’s failure to reliably share information, as events of the last few days have shown,” Mr Portelli said.
“For the public to be properly informed, journalists must be able to do their jobs, and that means Tasmania Police need to share information with the media and respond to queries in a timely fashion. From our members’ perspective, this simply hasn’t been happening.”
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