Sacked Victorian police squad lawless

The black suits, white shirts and team-issue black ties worn by the armed offenders squad imitated the violent criminals in the film Reservoir Dogs, the OPI report says.

THE police corruption watchdog claims some members of the former armed offenders squad took the law into their own hands.

Office of Police Integrity director Michael Strong said too many squad members believed assaulting criminals was a community service.

In a report tabled yesterday in State Parliament, Mr Strong also said some squad members believed they were a "force within the force" and above the law.

"Undoubtedly some police have been prepared to decide guilt without recourse to courts, mete out punishment to those they consider deserve it and lie on oath or turn a blind eye to protect themselves or their colleagues," he said.

Mr Strong said members of the scrapped squad had a disproportionate number of complaints compared with other Victoria Police squads.

"The armed offenders squad should be regarded as a cultural relic within Victoria Police," he said.

"Too many of its members believed that 'the end justified the means', and that bashing a 'crook', was a community service.

"The squad, through a lack of appropriate monitoring and accountability within Victoria Police, was allowed to develop its own culture, out of step with the organisation's direction."

The OPI secretly bugged an armed offenders squad interview room in 2006 and filmed members committing assaults.

Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon scrapped the elite squad within weeks of a July 2007 OPI raid on it.

Disgraced ex-squad members Robert Dabb, Mark Butterfield and Matthew Franc initially denied it was them who were caught on camera bashing a suspect.

But each of the former detectives this year pleaded guilty to assault and misleading the OPI director.

They were sentenced to intensive corrections orders involving community work, education and training of between 17 and 22 weeks.

Mr Strong said he was concerned the violence revealed on the secret tape was not an isolated or unusual occurrence, but was symptomatic of broader problems in the squad's structure and ethos.

"Lack of a stable and strong middle management clearly contributed to the fact that an unhealthy squad culture was able to continue unchecked," he said.

Victoria Police deputy commissioner Kieran Walshe said yesterday that the OPI's identification of the unhealthy culture in the armed offenders squad vindicated Ms Nixon's decision to scrap it.

"That culture does not, in my view, exist anywhere else in the organisation," he said.

But Police Association secretary designate Greg Davies said scrapping the 35-strong squad was an over-reaction.

He said only three members were dealt with in court, but disbanding the squad created the impression all the others also did something wrong.

"Those people were hard-working, honest, solid performers and were all tarred with the one brush," he said.

Mr Strong praised Victoria Police for acting swiftly to disband the squad.

"Not only has there been a significant reduction in complaints against detectives working in the area, but arrest and conviction rates have also improved," he said.

The OPI report reveals the old armed offenders squad solved only 47 per cent of cases between July 2003 and September 2006 whereas the new armed crime taskforce has a clean-up rate of 80 per cent.

There were 31 complaints lodged against armed offenders squad detectives in that 39-month period.

Camera in police cars 'to deter bashings

POLICE should install video cameras in police cars and throughout stations to deter officers from bashing suspects, the Office Of Police Integrity has recommended.

In a report tabled in Parliament yesterday into the now defunct armed offenders squad, OPI director Michael Strong said video surveillance would deter police from assaulting suspects and would protect them from false allegations of assault.

The investigation into the armed offenders squad found that the unit behaved as a force within a force, believing "that bashing a crook was a community service".

It found the squad deliberately branded itself as a separate unit within the police force that lived and worked by its own rules.

"Squad members became renowned for wearing black suits, white shirts, dark sunglasses and a team-issue black tie." The report said it was part of the image of "an unyielding clique or band, united together, separate and apart from the broader Victoria Police organisation. The outfits imitate the costumes worn by a network of violent criminals in the film Reservoir Dogs."

The OPI found the squad was poorly supervised, refused to alter its illegal behaviour and resisted any attempts at reform. It also found members were prepared to lie to cover-up assaults.

"The absence of a stable leadership and lack of diligent supervisors gave squad members free reign to use whatever police methods they liked.

"Throughout the OPI investigation into the armed offenders squad, police regularly invoked the code of silence in an attempt to frustrate the investigation," the report found.

"The investigation exposed the flagrant disregard by some members of the squad for suspects' rights."

In February 2006, the OPI began an investigation into allegations that suspects were being mistreated by detectives from the armed offenders squad. Three months later, an OPI secret camera hidden in one of the squad's interview rooms captured a suspect being bashed.

Three members of the squad, Robert Dabb, Mark Butterfield and Matthew Franc, were called to OPI hearings and denied involvement. They later resigned and earlier this year pleaded guilty to assaulting the suspect and attempting to mislead the OPI. They were sentenced to intensive corrections orders that involve community service work.

The OPI said the case exposed "the alarming willingness of some police to lie on oath or turn a blind eye to protect themselves or their colleagues".

The armed offenders squad was disbanded in 2006 and replaced with the armed crime taskforce. Figures published in the OPI report show that since the change, the solution rate has jumped from 47% to 80% and the complaint rate has dropped.

Mr Strong was critical of the Police Association's vigorous defence of the squad and its opposition to Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon's decision to disband the unit.

Police Association secretary Greg Davies rejected the criticism, saying the union believed the OPI had ignored due process during the investigation.

He said the association opposed "criminal conduct by any member of the police force".

Mr Davies said the association had been calling for cameras to be installed in all police cars for the past five years.

Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe said all crime department interview rooms were fitted with new video cameras to monitor questioning. The state's 160 divisional vans, all 24-hour police stations and new 16-hour ones had also been fitted with cameras.

He said police would examine the recommendation of fitting the 2200-vehicle fleet with video cameras. "We think it has merit but we will look at it in the context of costs."

Police Minister Bob Cameron said the report exposed an unhealthy culture that had now been broken.

But Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu said he doubted the force was rid of the problems, and it would be wrong to assume that the culture was confined to police.

Related:

Lives put at risk by corrupt police
LIVES are being put at risk by "festering" cells of corrupt police leaking information on confidential investigations to criminals, a police corruption watchdog has warned.

Charge gangland police suspect: OPI
VICTORIA'S police watchdog has recommended criminal charges against Paul Dale, a former policeman linked to a double underworld murder, along with several other police.

One OPI officer sacked, another suspended
Some people may form the view that it is tit for tat between the OPI and some opposition (political or other like Police Association or affiliates?) down in Victoria (See Links). Perhaps the expense claims are a way to weaken previous statements made by the OPI in relation to allegation against police?

Police-crime links linger
A SMALL number of Victorian police are maintaining improper links with organised crime figures, the state's police corruption watchdog says.

Police watchdog 'leaks like a sieve'
The Victoria Police watchdog leaks like a sieve, according to former assistant commissioner Noel Ashby, who could face criminal charges following an Office of Police Integrity (OPI) inquiry.

Police criticised as OPI hearing wraps up
The head of an Office of Police Integrity (OPI) inquiry is expected to call for stronger ethical guidelines within Victoria Police when he tables his report in Parliament.

Australia: Concerns of a police state

Cameron Murphy NSW Council for Civil Liberties...a massive reduction in police accountability to the community.

NSW police now have special emergency powers to bug or track people for up to four days without a warrant.

Under the biggest shake-up to the state's surveillance laws, police will have up to four days to monitor people before needing to apply retrospectively for an emergency warrant from a Supreme Court judge.

NSW Attorney-General John Hatzistergos said the new police powers flowed from an inter-governmental Australian terrorism summit in 2002.

"I don't believe the threat of terrorism has disappeared," Mr Hatzistergos said. "The law says the emergency powers may be used if there is an imminent threat of serious violence or substantial damage to property, or if a serious narcotics offence could be committed.

"To adequately track and prosecute terrorists, we need to be able to monitor computers, as well as be able to watch and listen with whatever means available."

Mr Hatzistergos said police would come under the full scrutiny of the issuing judge and be audited by the Ombudsman. Reports would also be made to the Attorney-General and State Parliament.

Only material relevant to a possible prosecution could be kept and it must be stored in a secure place. If a judge refuses to grant a warrant, all records gathered must be destroyed.

Under the Surveillance Devices Act 2008, which came into effect on Friday, NSW Police can now also cross state borders, and the operational time for surveillance warrants has risen from 21 days to 90 days.

NSW Council for Civil Liberties president Cameron Murphy said the new powers were a massive reduction in police accountability to the community.

"We have seen a number of high-profile police in NSW and Victoria in trouble," he said. "It raises the question: 'Can we trust them with these powers where there is an accountability-free zone?' "

Robo cop: The New World Order


DRESSED like a storm trooper in a sci-fi movie, the modern NSW police officer now has access to enough body armour and high-tech gadgetry to [oppress people.]

Each member of the public order and riot squad is kitted out with more than $8500 in gear.

The squad's commander, Chief Superintendent Steve Cullen, who has been in the force for 30 years, said there had been extraordinary developments in protection gear in that time. "Back in the '70s and '80s, there was a tactical response group but, of course, they were never kitted out to this extreme," he said.

"There would have been perhaps an improvised army helmet, an old-type ballistic vest and a Remington 870 pump action shotgun. Not much else."

He said the new equipment showed the world had become a "far more dangerous place than it was 20 years ago".

[It also showed the world that states and territories have become more oppressive and violent towards citizenry and their dissent.]

"What we are wearing is a direct reflection of society today. I have seen an escalation in violence towards police and a loss of respect for law enforcement in general."

[What police are wearing is a direct reflection of police today. People have also seen an escalation in violence towards citizenry and loss of respect for people, protests and dissent.]



G20 Protest: The Frontline


Two protestors sit in front of a line of police at the end of a day of demonstrations and violent clashes between protestors and police near the venue of the 2006 G20 Summit, Melbourne, November 18, 2006.


During the 30 August to 1 September the Forbes Global CEO Conference in Sydney. Police outnumbering surrounded protestors. For instance attend some demonstrations or protests (left Wing) to be surrounded by police bridging up.

If a police officer is confronted with a "high risk" situation, the Public Order and Riot Squad is called in.

The unit is able to quickly deploy up to 75 fully equipped officers. That number is planned to increase to 100.

"We get called to public disturbances, brawls, sieges, riots, protests and demonstrations, but we are fully prepared for any other high-risk scenario that could possibly come our way," Superintendent Cullen said.

Protected by a bulletproof vest, ballistic goggles as well as arm and leg guards, each riot squad officer is essentially a "mobile arsenal vehicle".

The officers' chief weapon is a Glock 22 semi-automatic pistol. Strapped to their flameproof overalls, they also carry the much publicised X26 Taser electric stun gun. It fires needle-tipped darts that disable violent suspects with a high-voltage shock.

Officers also carry a bigger version of the traditional capsicum spray bottle, spare rounds of ammunition, a short baton, long baton, utility knife, handcuffs and cable tie flexi-cuffs.

Squad member Sergeant Andrew Grace said fully fitted-out officers needed to drink 1.5 litres of water an hour to combat dehydration.

"If it's a situation like a Redfern or a Macquarie Fields [riot], the last thing you're thinking about is the additional weight. It's never a consideration. You're totally focused," he said.

Superintendent Cullen said today's uniform was all about "protection and having a number of less lethal options" available.

"If they are heading out in the full kit, it's based upon the risk of the threat confronting us at the time." He cited last year's APEC demonstrations in Sydney as an example.

"We had significant intelligence that there were people intent on causing violence and damage."


Riot squad masses in central Sydney


NSW Police unleash their latest weapon against unruly protestors just in time for APEC.

Superintendent Cullen said the first response in any volatile situation was still "the mouth".

"You never stop talking to people. That's what it's always about and that's how you always hope to resolve a situation, regardless of where you are."

[Do what you're told? No protest? Get back? Affirmative Action? Crack Down?]

Quote: Significant literature shows that if people are not treated with respect by governments and authorities by using dialogue to solve problems - then police-using violence against them only drives a wedge and doesn’t provide for any long-term solution to community concerns. Violence does not win so why not lead by some form of example? Violence begets violence. If the military, police and governments use violence against people then how can they expect the community to learn that violence does not win? Isn’t that what they are trying to prevent? Note: that having no access to demonstrate leaves room for people who want to break through baracades. Why not just invite elected democratic representatives for the people to the conference? Why not provide public space close to the venue for people to demonstrate their concerns?

Related:

Tough police powers outlive APEC
CONTROVERSIAL powers granted to NSW police during last year's APEC summit are likely to be made permanent - or at least available to police for any special event - under a proposal to be taken to state cabinet. The powers made it possible to exclude people from certain zones during the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in September. Police were given extraordinary rights to search people.

The QUICKTIME REPORT You Tube 20/11/06 - SEE GLOBALLY!




A review of news, opinion and photography recorded from the Indymedia Newswire. Free to rebroadcast. The world & recorded for the community archive! November 20 2006.