The Watchdog
Like most people, I believed in this fairy-tale kind of idea that an independent and powerful department existed, one where people went to when they had cold hard evidence of corrupt conduct against police officer’s in Queensland and they would seek some sort of resolve there.
The Crime and Justice Commission (CJC) was established after the Fitzgerald enquiry in 1989 for that exact reason, following widespread corruption amongst high-level Queensland politicians and Police, however the Commission only had oversight of police. It was for that reason that in 2001 the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) took its place so as to include all areas of Queensland public service.
Following various reviews and legislative changes the apparent ultimate watchdog was born in 2014 and thus rebranded the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC).
I’ve got to say, no matter what they call themselves, over the last few years it has dawned on me that well, Santa isn’t actually real.
With an annual budget of 57 million dollars you would think they would bring the gift of justice to at least few people, yet that has not once been my personal experience, or that of those I speak to, and I speak to ALOT of people.
Looking at the annual report that was handed down this week, I am not sure who is on the receiving end of any gift from this sack. The best gift I could find was a colourful report with lots of pie charts and nice pictures. The first thing your eye is drawn to, is the light bulb in the middle of the page where they say the latest findings from Transparency Internationals Global Corruption Barometer series shows 96% of Queenslanders believe it’s important to have an independent anti-corruption agency. Seriously, that’s the lightbulb moment?
With independence being the emphasis, how is it the case that someone who has had a life long career in the QPS wind up at the so-called Watchdog? Your guess is as good as mine, but unfortunately it’s not just one that ended up there.
21% of staff at the CCC are police.
Lately I have seen a string of letters to various people from the CCC where there is no author, they just sign off “integrity services”. So much integrity their name is missing.
The report says 62% of the Queensland public surveyed said the CCC is doing “Very well” or “Fairly Well” at fighting corruption. Who did they survey, and were they the only two options? That’s a real question because I know of dozens of people that have lodged corruption complaints, and they were certainly not part of the survey.
In fact, on that note, I took the liberty of running my own survey online last month, asking “Do you believe there needs to be an independent enquiry into how complaints about police are managed”? Yes or No?
1148 people voted in my little survey. 98.5% voted yes there needs to be an independent enquiry into how complaints about police are managed.
Maybe we are at different pubs, but there seems to be quite some distance between our data?
Then of course there is the hot topic of privacy, and the misuse of information. The CCC apparently nabbed a grand total of 3 people from the 492 complaints that were made. My condolences to the 489 others, I feel your pain. As in REALLY …I do.
They made sure to highlight an officer in bright orange that was found guilty of computer hacking and fined, adding that he hadn’t actually disclosed the information to anyone. Phew, not like the DV victim who had her details disclosed by a police officer to the perpetrator and who they then referred back to police to investigate.
If you thought excessive use of force had been forgotten this year, please don’t fret, they are reassuring us that is very much still their focus. In fact, there were 580 complaints, so the CCC ramped it up a notch and investigated 14 of them (which is 11 more than last year) however still resulting in not a single charge. To the 580 complainants left scratching your head I hear you.
Another ‘focus area’ is police discipline. There is now a new committee, the JAMC. I assume filled with more police that are assigned by… well … police. Like police don’t have enough to navigate internally with the favouritism, bullying and funky promotions that go on, there is a committee now deciding who goes to the naughty corner and who doesn’t?
And just because corruption complaints are up by 28% there is no reason to get your knickers in a knot worrying about how they are going to stretch their 57 million and fund all this. The CCC is going to utilise an additional 7.4 million dollars, because of the importance around the public having confidence in them.
They finish the report off with the announcement of some staff awards which a lovely touch for making them seem not so anonymous I guess, since they forget to sign some of their letters and all. The people award, accountability award, integrity award, courage and excellence award, and the piece de la resistance – the all rounder award.
Who knows where this is all going to go. I know for sure there is some diabolical things going on in the QPS, and I know for sure that the CCC should be doing more about it.
Are they the Corruption Watchdog, the Toothless Tiger, or the Club of Cousins?
Only time will tell…
