‘Toxic culture’: Senior cop questions review into police probe in wake of pedophilia scandal
A senior police officer who slammed Tasmania Police’s “hypocrisy” in dealing with a pedophilia scandal has now also criticised an independent review into the matter.
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A furious senior police officer who recently slammed Tasmania Police’s “hypocrisy” in managing a pedophilia scandal has now also slammed an independent review as a “political ploy”.
Now, the same officer has come forward to reveal a number of their Tasmania Police colleagues are dubious whether an independent probe, announced late last week by Commissioner Donna Adams, will address the force’s “toxic culture”.
They said while the independent reviewer, Regina Weiss, was eminently qualified for the role, they raised the alarm on the mechanics of the probe itself.
They said they believed Ms Weiss hadn’t been given enough powers to conduct her work, with no power to compel the now-retired police officers involved in the initial 2008 Reynolds allegations.
The officer raised concerns they thought the review terms of reference were “very narrow” and didn’t properly allow for a thorough probe into leadership decisions.
They also said their colleagues were dubious as to why Tasmania Police had called for the review at all.
“I’ve spoken to quite a few people and a number of them think that the inquiry was so rapidly announced that it’s actually a political ploy to take control of the narrative back,” they said.
“They think that these inquiries generally take a while and get nowhere. They are concerned that it doesn’t have the powers, and in essence it really isn’t going to get to the heart of the failings.”
They said the review would be a “missed opportunity”.
“At the very heart of this was the culture. The terms of reference don’t examine what was clearly a toxic culture that in 2008 led to some senior officers saying it was more appropriate to maintain harmony between workers than examine a very serious allegation of a police officer involved in child abuse,” the officer said.
“We’re in law enforcement, for God’s sake, we’re supposed to be holding people to account, and we weren’t holding ourselves to account.”
‘I’m passionate about getting it right’: Tas Police boss promises review will be independent
October 12, 5:30pm
The woman at the helm of Tasmania Police has given her firm assurance that a review into the Paul Reynolds scandal will be vigorous, transparent and independent.
Commissioner Donna Adams’ words came after concerns were raised that the inquiry, which will ultimately hand its final report handed back to Tasmania Police, would not be fully independent.
Speaking to journalists on Thursday, Commissioner Adams said the review would not have a “protecting the institution” approach.
“There will be no protecting the institution. We need to do this review right,” she said.
“I want people to have the confidence that they can come forward. There have been suggestions by victim-survivors that there may have been a police cover-up. I’d urge those victim-survivors to come forward and have their say. I will listen to them and I want them to be heard.”
She also directly tackled questions about whether it was appropriate Tasmania Police would have control over an inquiry into potential wrongdoing within its own organisation.
Commissioner Adams said she personally wrote the review’s terms of reference, consulting outside Tasmania Police to do so, “because I’m passionate about getting it right”.
“If there are any allegations of criminal misconduct, they will be subject to mandatory reporting and the Integrity Commission has oversight of those investigations,” she said.
“I’m confident that we have the right oversight in place to ensure that the community should have confidence in this review.”
Commissioner Adams said she had powers to compel any serving police office to give evidence, and would not give immunity to anyone who had knowledge of child sexual abuse allegations.
The Tasmania Police boss doesn’t have powers to compel retired police officers, such as those who first raised allegations about Reynolds in 2008 – or those who made the decision to afford him a full police funeral in 2018.
However, she said the independent reviewer – barrister Regina Weiss – could consider whether she required evidence from those people.
In a statement, Commissioner Adams said the review was a vital step in Tasmania Police rebuilding the trust of the Tasmanian people.
“I want to assure the community that this process will be confidential, trauma-informed and managed at arm’s length from Tasmania Police by the independent reviewer,” she said.
She also said she had taken a number of steps to implement changes within the force since the child sexual abuse commission of inquiry handed down its final report last month.
These included a requirement for the Commissioner of the day to consider any outstanding investigations before affording a deceased officer a police funeral.
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