CMC Palm Island report available here: http://www.cmc.qld.gov.au/asp/index.asp
By Chris O'Brien
Queensland's Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) has demanded police be disciplined for their handling of Cameron Doomadgee's death in custody on Palm Island six years ago.
Mr Doomadgee, 36, died in the Palm Island watch-house, off Townsville in north Queensland in 2004, leading to several inquiries.
The CMC has been reviewing the police handling of the case.
It says the initial police investigation and an internal review were seriously flawed and has directed Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson to report back within a fortnight about what action he intends to take against six officers.
If the CMC is not satisfied with the Commissioner's intended course of action, it will assume responsibility and apply to the Civil and Administrative Tribunal to commence disciplinary proceedings.
John Paul Janke
Director
Executive and Communications
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
GPO Box 553
CANBERRA ACT 2601
T 02 6246 1123 I M 0408 600 867 I F 02 6261 4286 I E johnpaul.janke@aiatsis.gov.au
Comments
Jeff Waters: "Light disciplining most likely"
"If the Commissioner doesn't act within that fortnight timeframe, Mr Moynihan is threatening to take the issue to Queensland's new Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
"That gives Mr Atkinson a choice: he can either reject the CMC's criticism as he has in the past, or he can avoid another court hearing into this case (and all of its embarrassing details about police conduct) by "disciplining" some of the officers involved.
"That obviously makes some form of discipline - however light - to be the most likely option.
"But the question remains why, since so very many public officials have criticised the conduct of police during this investigation, are none of these officers being charged with a criminal offence?"
From an article by the ABC's Jeff Waters, author of Gone for a Song, A Death in Custody on Palm Island, published by ABC books.
The article is at http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/17/2929761.htm?site=thedrum
Sam Watson: Heads must roll in Qld police
Green Left Weekly, 18 June 2010
By Sam Watson, Brisbane
Brisbane, June 18, 2010 - “The only way to find out the truth about the behavior of the Queensland police hierarchy in the cover-ups that followed the November 2004 killing of Mulrunji on Palm Island is to institute an independent commission of inquiry run by a respected interstate figure,” Sam Watson, well-known Murri rights activist and Socialist Alliance lead Senate candidate for Queensland said today.
“In the meantime the Queensland Police Service (QPS) hierarchy, beginning with commissioner Robert Atkinson, must be sacked.”
“The best person to conduct the inquiry would be Tony Fitzgerald, who headed the Commission of Inquiry into Official Corruption in Queensland between 1987 and 1989. It is clear from the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC)’s ‘Review of the QPS’s Palm Island Review - released today - that nothing has changed inside the police culture since the days of Bjelke-Peterson and Russ Hinze.”
Watson stressed: “Aboriginal people in this state cannot trust any Queensland institution to get to the bottom of the stinking swamp of racism and complicity that is the Queensland police system. Nearly six years after a black man dies of shocking internal injuries supposedly due to a heavily built policeman ‘falling’ on him, not one Queensland cop has been found guilty of anything.
“Even the CMC review - which comes after three coronial inquiries, the original police investigation and the internal police review of that investigation - can’t bring itself to identify possible criminal charges against those involved in the chain of cover-up.
“CMC chairperson Martin Moynihan has given Queensland Police Commissioner Robert Atkinson 14 days to report back to the CMC on what action he will take against six officers over Mulrunji’s death, but claims that there is insufficient evidence to support criminal charges. If Atkinson’s reply is unsatisfactory, the CMC will ‘apply to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal to commence disciplinary proceedings’.”
Watson commented: “This in an open invitation to Atkinson to make the six police responsible for the initial inquiry and the subsequent review into sacrificial lambs for the QPS hierarchy. But those who oversaw and defended the behavior of the QPS, from Atkinson down, will get off scot-free.
“What’s more, premier Anna Bligh recently reappointed Atkinson to the job of commissioner - without any reference to the CMC, as she was required to do - and police minister Neil Roberts has said he has full confidence in Atkinson.”
Watson concluded: “The CMC report brings a day of reckoning for the whole corrupt shambles that is policing in Queensland. It would never have happened without the ongoing movement for justice for Mulrunji and his family. It will continue until the blue wall of silence that is the QPS is smashed for ever.”
Contact: Sam Watson 0401 227 443 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 0401 227 443 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/44441
Criminal charges possible over Doomadgee death: Commissioner
From ABC online:
Queensland Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson says it is possible some of the officers who investigated the death in custody of Cameron Doomadgee on Palm Island in 2004 might face criminal charges.
Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) chairman Martin Moynihan released a scathing report yesterday, finding the initial police investigation and its review were flawed, unprofessional, and full of double standards.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/18/2930236.htm?section=justin
Email Bligh and CMC
I've sent separate emails to Premier Bligh and Qld CMC requesting such an inquiry.
If anyone else wants to do the same, their email addresses are: thepremier@premiers.qld.gov.au and media_unit@cmc.qld.gov.au