“Find other police to harass in relation to your petty DV matter”
I remember meeting up with the victim and her husband whose private details were given out by a Queensland police officer to her ex partner. They wanted an email address or phone number where they could lodge a complaint about the officer that had done this to them, believing he would be dismissed from the service immediately and criminally charged over the incident.
They had heard that the Crime and Corruption Commission were the ‘police watchdog’ so to speak, and asked if I had a number to contact them. I passed the number across the table but cautioned them not to get their hopes up.I personally had never seen a single person satisfied with the response they had received after making complaints about police, so I knew the odds were not in their favour. Still, they were optimistic.
Well where do you go they asked? This is not right the husband said, Police cannot do this echoed the victim. They are going to have to do something about this, there is no getting around what’s happened here.
I sat quietly for a moment and looked at them, I felt like someone breaking the news that Santa isn’t actually real. These were two well educated beautifully spoken, highly respected members of the community, that genuinely thought police were there to protect us from the bad guys.
No, it’s not right I agreed, but the reality right now, is that some can abuse their power if they choose, and do so in the most unimaginable ways. The oversight is appalling, and I am so sorry this is happening to you both. No one deserves this.
But this has got to be the worst example you’ve have seen right? said the victim. Well, that’s a difficult question for me I explained.
In my view, there is a pattern whereby the hierarchy only going after the ones that they have some other gripe with, there is no consistency in who they hold to account.
For example, there was a youth justice worker and Grandfather who was bashed by police and suffered a brain injury, he was studying law at the time and has had to leave his job and quit his law degree. The officer involved in the assault had 28 assault complaints against him at the time.
Ok, so he’s obviously in jail now they added, well no he’s actually not, I replied. So, is he awaiting sentencing? Actually, he’s still working at the QPS and he is not getting charged for anything. Their jaws hit the floor.
And there is this other guy who complained that almost $200,000 was stolen from his business by a policeman’s wife, that was a bad one too really, shaking my head as I started to recall the details of what happened to his complaints, even shocking myself a little at the details as they all came back to me.
And…oh yes, this other guy I know, he is ex NSW police, ex ASIO, ex AFP… highly experienced, he was assaulted by police really badly in the foyer of his hotel when he was visiting QLD. After the assault they went through his phone, deleted the footage he had just taken of their threats towards him, now that one was really bad I recalled. Oh god so the evidence was gone? Well yes, off his phone, but the really amazing part about that case was that the entire incident was captured on CCTV from the hotel.
Wow so at least one person has found justice added the husband. No, definitely not, that was the amazing part I said, they all still work at the QPS, and in fact one of them has even been promoted.
Shaking their heads in disbelief, they insisted surely there has to be good people in that job who will speak out about this being so wrong and could do something, surely?
Well, did you hear the story of Rick Flori, the officer who leaked the video of the young innocent father being bashed by police? Yes, we did hear of that story actually, it was horrific!
Ok, good, so let me just package this up for you in a way that I think you are going to understand.
The officer that charged Rick Flori, the honest cop who leaked the video, he is the same one that also investigated the assault on the AFP/ ASIO guy, and who made the decision to not charge any of the officer’s involved in that incident.
Well he needs to be reported to the Crime and Corruption Commission too for his response over these serious complaints, it is completely unacceptable, his decision making is outrageous.
No, his decision making has proven he has what it takes to make it places, I told them.
Seriously where is someone like that headed they questioned?
You know the number you asked for when we first sat down? The Crime and Corruption Commission? That is exactly where you will find him.
This week when she phoned police to ask why they had not obtained footage for the second time after a DVO breach, she was told “find other police to constantly harass in relation to your petty DV matter” and “if you want to run this in the media you can go right ahead”.
That sense of apparent immunity is the issue here.
This all started when an officer gave out the victim’s address, saying that “she was going to sh**t herself”, and that he could give her ex a “get out of jail free card if he mentioned his name if police were called”.
It has ended in an attitude of complete and utter arrogance, only because the people that are in a position to do the right thing have not.
It has sent the message out this behaviour is ok, and that the word Domestic Violence and Petty dare be used in the same sentence.
We can only hope for a “Petty little Fitzgerald Enquiry”, where those that have aided and enabled such behaviour will be removed from their positions and no longer able to cause harm to people like the ones in this story, who still want nothing more than their faith to be restored and for things to be cleaned up, not only their predicament, but for anyone else that walks the same path.
