‘Did she shut her legs on you?’: Inquiry hears of damning police talk at conference

A superintendent who yelled “did she shut her legs on you?” at a conference with some of the top brass of the Queensland police was later promoted to chief superintendent, an inquiry has heard.

The comment was aired as part of Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll’s testimony to the Independent Commission of Inquiry into the Queensland Police Service Response to Domestic and Family Violence, where she conceded some officers were misogynistic, racist or sexist.

Counsel assisting the inquiry Ruth O’Gorman asked Carroll if she was aware of an incident at a conference earlier this year attended by about 100 QPS staff, where the master of ceremonies referenced an injury on his face, joking it had “been a rough promotional process”.

O’Gorman said a superintendent in the audience then called out: “Did she shut her legs on you?”

Carroll confirmed this had happened, and the superintendent underwent a “local managerial resolution”, but was later promoted to chief superintendent.

Due to QPS policies around local managerial resolutions, the officer was never asked in his interview about the incident.

“Objectively speaking, the premise of that joke must have been, mustn’t it, that the male master of ceremonies was going through a promotional process, during the course of which, a more senior female police officer either encouraged or required him to perform cunnilingus on her, during the course of which he sustained a cut requiring stitches to his face?” O’Gorman asked.

Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll gives evidence at the Independent Commission of Inquiry into QPS Responses to Domestic and Family Violence.

Carroll answered: “That’s definitely what it implies...it’s deeply disrespectful and it is misogynistic.”

O’Gorman said some members of the conference got up and left following the comment.

A deputy commissioner also made a speech at another conference in April, where he referred to his friend as a “vagina whisperer”, the inquiry heard.

Carroll said she wanted to give context to that comment, adding the deputy commissioner’s friend “was a gynaecologist, an obstetrician and a world expert in dealing with these issues, particularly in Africa”.

“I don’t know how it was mentioned in the speech, but the person is a friend of the deputy, and he himself, and I believe the circles he operates in, call him that. That’s the context of what the conversation was.”

In her statement to the inquiry, Carroll conceded evidence and witness testimonies suggested there was a culture of misogyny, sexism and racism in the QPS, but did not accept it was “widespread”.

Inquiry commissioner Deborah Richards asked Carroll whether officers who breach domestic violence orders should remain within the QPS.

Carroll said the “black and white answer” would be no, but those cases were extraordinarily complex matters.

When pushed further, Carroll said officers should be abiding by the law.

The inquiry has so far heard from Assistant Commissioner Brian Codd, the head of the domestic violence command, and a range of constables and senior constables, who have detailed systemic cultural issues.

O’Gorman said the commission had concerns after Codd’s evidence, which included his not being aware of a “disturbing” report into police responses to domestic violence.

Carroll told the inquiry she had initially declined to give evidence at the commission, which has been running for five weeks.

She was then informed by the commission days after she declined that she was “required” to give evidence, and was asked whether she needed a “summons issued”.

She was grilled over whether she had asked for further resources for the domestic violence unit that was set up after the death of Doreen Langham in February 2021.

O’Gorman suggested not much had changed in the unit since it was established. Carroll said the QPS had requested further resources from Queensland Treasury.

When O’Gorman suggested some police districts were “crying out for resources”, Carroll said she would “have to agree with that”.

O’Gorman told the inquiry the QPS media and public relations team had 38 employees, 11 more people than what had been allocated to the strategy team working on the service’s response to domestic and family violence.

The inquiry also heard a report about members of motorcycle gangs perpetrating domestic violence had not made it to Codd’s domestic violence command.

Towards the end of her testimony, Carroll admitted there were issues within the QPS, and said she would make further enquiries regarding the evidence raised in the inquiry.

She welcomed an independent inquiry to come back in a couple of years time to assess the QPS again, saying reforms were about 18 months behind where she wanted them to be.

“I’m committed to reform. I’ve done it before,” she said.

Outside court, Carroll said she was “sick, disappointed, and upset” about the evidence in the inquiry.