please be reminded that isja will be holding a snap rally outside of the nsw dpp's office, 175 liverpool st., sydney at 12 noon on this coming friday, 20 september, 2013. we will be rallying to strongly urge mr. babb and his legal team of officers to fully charge those errant police officers that have been recommended by the police integrity commission, among other legal entities, to answer charges for the killings of adam salter and roberto laudisio curti and the corruption and cover-up involved in their deaths and the subsequent police on police investigations in those death in custody events.
we also added the situation of corey barker who was severely assaulted in ballina some time ago. the magistrate involved found that the police lied, fabricated evidence and attempted to pervert the course of justice. he referred that matter also to the pic, who after investigation, found that the police officers involved at that time did in fact have a legitimate case to answer in a court of law.
we will rally to call upon mr babb to truly uphold the legality of his office and proceed the charges against the police in all three cases to the correct end. a court of law.
today, however, our brief to rally was widened by a statement made by the nsw premier, barry o'farrell, that he has set up a new investigation into police investigations but especially the process of police investigating themselves. this is to occur apparently in a somewhat weak attempt to bring 'public confidence' back into the system. it should have been a call for a full and open royal commission but we will need to wait to see what robert mcclelland, ex-labor federal attorney-general, can come up with. see report below.
it all seems to be fairly straight forward but there are, however, some interesting teasers leading to some curious and tantalising questions to be raised.
the first shot across the investigation bow is that both the nsw government, the nsw police force and the nsw police association all state most emphatically that 'police must continue to investigate police' without giving any substantial reasons why this should be so. other countries have moved away from this collussional input so why should not nsw?
the second strange piece of information is that now the nsw police commissioner must inform the nsw ombudsman's office, in the form of bruce barbour who has held that position for over 12 years, the longest ombudsman to have done so, of each and every 'critical incident' instead of those to which complaints had been made. readers of these posts previously would be well aware that we approached the ombudsman, both physically and by letter setting out some 30 questions relative to his statutory powers over the police. the only real information we were given was that yes, the ombudsman does have the statutory powers to hold his own professional and independent investigations, but, and it's a big government but, they do not have the resources to do so. and seeing barry has already publically favoured police investigating themselves, regardless of any mcclelland recommendations, this just will not happen.
the third obstruction to any seemingly positive result arising from the mcclelland inquiry is to the government instruction as to whether there is 'too much duplication' of bodies overseeing the police themselves. had not that thought already been discussed and worked out, then it would not be there. the first body is icac and i see very little action from that area causing any concern to the police of nsw. the next body mentioned is the ombudsman's office but as the ombudsman himself intimated earlier, they do not have sufficient resources to act independently. their only power is to continue to read the police investigation reports and generally comply with them. so no bother from that area either.
but the police integrity commission has become a whole different ball game. from a somewhat sleepy backwater office it has suddenly commanded the attention of the public centre stage. its actions and recommendations are causing much concern and hubris to the government and the police and such glaring publicity of the absolute thuggishness of the police is bringing a lot of unwanted attention. attention that the government and the police believe as being unwanted and unnecessary in their every day working practices.
is this investigation merely a precursor to the demise of the pic? the government needs icac to publically look at their sins and omissions and the ombudsman's office is needed to show that there is some sense of democracy in the system, but the pic? they only look at the police. beyond that they have no public use or role. so do we the public now need to fight for the continued work existence for the pic?
i say yes. on 3 different occasions they have taken the corrupt police system on and come through with merit. compared to the other two overseeing bodies there is just no comparison. the police internal affairs mob was also given a mention but one wonders why. it should be disbanded.
i wait in shock and awe at the outcome of the mcclelland inquiry. i am very much reminded of the bob menzies dictum that you never hold an enquiry unless you already know the outcome!
why was there no mention of the strange recommendation practices of the dpp office also included in this mcclelland investigation? after all, it is of little use sending police matters for consideration of court proceedings when in the greater majority, if not all, police cases are given the extra-judicial label of 'no case to answer.' i'm not a legally trained person but it was, and still is, my opinion that courts are given the legal right to hear the relevant evidence and then to make decisions on the facts alone. how can that power be held by a few people in an office that seems to have only been set up to protect errant police from facing charges that the public are expected to face. in their very, very cryptic 5 or 6 line reply to our previous hand-delivered correspondence to his office, mr babb stated that he and his office were operating under the relevant legislation. thanks for nothing, mr babb.
perhaps a better point of argument to make is that the function of your office be considered for change, especially as the pic also has legislation but is coming up with results that mirror the requirements of the public.
we will again be presenting a hand-delivered letter for mr. babb at his office calling for positive and legal decisions to be made relevant to the adam salter pic report, the roberto laudisio curti pic report and finally the pic report on the police assault and corruption perpetrated against corey barker at ballina police station some 2 years ago.
we will also continue to urge that you overturn your previous decision to not allow the kings cross shootings and assaults to not go to court. justice must be seen to be done after all.
to discuss these and other matters of import, isja meets this thursday evening, and the one after. we begin at 7pm at the redfern community centre, hugo street at the block, come one come all.
fkj
ray jackson
president
indigenous social justice association
isja01@internode.on.net
(m) 0450 651 063
(p) 02 9318 0947
address 1303/200 pitt street waterloo 2017
we live and work on the stolen lands of the gadigal people.
sovereignty treaty social justice