Can Victoria police do anything right?
They apologise for failing to protect children from known pedophiles. Once again it needs a newspaper to budge them into doing the right thing
VICTORIA Police has apologised over its failure to protect nearly 700 children who have been knowingly exposed to convicted sex offenders. This follows revelations in The Australian today that police failed to notify child protection authorities that children were coming into regular contact or living with hundreds of registered sex offenders.
Victoria Police says an audit has revealed that 667 children have been exposed to 376 offenders since 2005. In most of the cases, sex offenders had told police they were in contact with children, but police didn't notify child protection authorities, which is a mandatory obligation under state laws.
Assistant Commissioner Jeff Pope has admitted Victoria Police did not meet its basic child protection responsibilities. "Unfortunately what it means in this case is that on these occasions we haven't properly notified DHS and properly discharged our obligations to mandatorily report that children are at risk,"Mr Pope said today. "It won't happen again, and it's a very unfortunate oversight, and we're very sorry that it's occurred."
The offenders included a parent or a parent's new partner or spouse, housemate or close friend.
The state Ombudsman's office announced it is investigating Victoria Police management of the sex registry and the Department of Human Services has formed a taskforce to review all of the cases.
Previous Ombudsman reports have criticised the government's management of child protection, which has been under fire following revelations DHS had placed children in the care of convicted sex offenders and failed to conduct criminal checks on prospective carers.
The police have confirmed three offences involved the same family, but no charges were laid because the offender had died.
Opposition community services spokeswoman Mary Wooldrige said the government must overhaul the child protection system. "The Ombudsman's already revealed children have been placed with sex offenders by John Brumby's government," she said. "Now we find hundreds more children have been placed in harm's way by the most basic failures in the government's responsibilities. "We believe these situations need to be exposed in a comprehensive review of the system."
SOURCE
Note that I have a special blog on Queensland cops, there is so much misbehaviour among them. And there's been plenty of posts lately. Two today.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
The charming Victoria police again
And note that these are top cops
POLICE up to the rank of superintendent are being investigated over racist, homophobic and pornographic emails circulated through the Victoria Police email system.
In March, police announced more than 100 officers were being investigated over the emails.
A police statement today said those under investigation included a "small number of senior officers up to the rank of Superintendent".
The statement says a number of police members have been interviewed and charged with disgraceful conduct, or failing to comply with an instruction of the Chief Commissioner of Police, a breach of section 69 of the Police Regulation Act.
Ten are scheduled to appear at internal police hearings over the next two days, which will determine what, if any, sanctions will be handed down. These determinations may be appealed.
Two other members have resigned rather than face the hearings this week. In March, Healesville Sergeant Tony Vangorp resigned and took his own life after being caught up in the investigation.
Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland has previously described the racist, homophobic and pornographic emails as too "offensive" and "shocking" to ever be publicly released.
The police statement described the emails as "material of the most extreme nature".
SOURCE
Note that I have a special blog on Queensland cops, there is so much misbehaviour among them.
And note that these are top cops
POLICE up to the rank of superintendent are being investigated over racist, homophobic and pornographic emails circulated through the Victoria Police email system.
In March, police announced more than 100 officers were being investigated over the emails.
A police statement today said those under investigation included a "small number of senior officers up to the rank of Superintendent".
The statement says a number of police members have been interviewed and charged with disgraceful conduct, or failing to comply with an instruction of the Chief Commissioner of Police, a breach of section 69 of the Police Regulation Act.
Ten are scheduled to appear at internal police hearings over the next two days, which will determine what, if any, sanctions will be handed down. These determinations may be appealed.
Two other members have resigned rather than face the hearings this week. In March, Healesville Sergeant Tony Vangorp resigned and took his own life after being caught up in the investigation.
Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland has previously described the racist, homophobic and pornographic emails as too "offensive" and "shocking" to ever be publicly released.
The police statement described the emails as "material of the most extreme nature".
SOURCE
Note that I have a special blog on Queensland cops, there is so much misbehaviour among them.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
A lying cop gets fired!
A SENIOR South Australian police officer has been sacked for helping to set up a fake internet dating profile that offered his ex-girlfriend for sex.
Detective Sergeant Darren James Clohesy was fired yesterday after he failed to attend a disciplinary hearing with Police Commissioner Mal Hyde. He received an 18-month suspended sentence and orders to perform 320 hours of community service last week after he pleaded guilty to offensive behaviour, breaching his bail conditions and improperly accessing the police computer system.
Clohesy, 41, helped to set up a fake profile on an adult internet dating site after his girlfriend, Tania Milsom, also a police officer, ended their relationship last year. The profile, dubbed "SexyMillie888", provided Ms Milsom's phone number and address, asking men to contact her for sex. A number of men went to Ms Milsom's home with plans of her house, with at least one knocking on her bedroom window.
"The commissioner determined Mr Clohesy's offending was of a serious nature and his behaviour unacceptable and incompatible with the service expected of a police officer," a police spokesman said yesterday. "Mr Clohesy did not attend today's hearing, nor was he represented."
Chief Magistrate Elizabeth Bolton said in sentencing Clohesy that he had provided personal information about Ms Milsom for a nasty, hurtful and malicious scheme. Ms Bolton said the plan had been designed to embarrass, frighten and degrade the woman who had rejected Clohesy.
SOURCE
A SENIOR South Australian police officer has been sacked for helping to set up a fake internet dating profile that offered his ex-girlfriend for sex.
Detective Sergeant Darren James Clohesy was fired yesterday after he failed to attend a disciplinary hearing with Police Commissioner Mal Hyde. He received an 18-month suspended sentence and orders to perform 320 hours of community service last week after he pleaded guilty to offensive behaviour, breaching his bail conditions and improperly accessing the police computer system.
Clohesy, 41, helped to set up a fake profile on an adult internet dating site after his girlfriend, Tania Milsom, also a police officer, ended their relationship last year. The profile, dubbed "SexyMillie888", provided Ms Milsom's phone number and address, asking men to contact her for sex. A number of men went to Ms Milsom's home with plans of her house, with at least one knocking on her bedroom window.
"The commissioner determined Mr Clohesy's offending was of a serious nature and his behaviour unacceptable and incompatible with the service expected of a police officer," a police spokesman said yesterday. "Mr Clohesy did not attend today's hearing, nor was he represented."
Chief Magistrate Elizabeth Bolton said in sentencing Clohesy that he had provided personal information about Ms Milsom for a nasty, hurtful and malicious scheme. Ms Bolton said the plan had been designed to embarrass, frighten and degrade the woman who had rejected Clohesy.
SOURCE
Friday, August 6, 2010
A lying cop gets fired!
A SENIOR South Australian police officer has been sacked for helping to set up a fake internet dating profile that offered his ex-girlfriend for sex.
Detective Sergeant Darren James Clohesy was fired yesterday after he failed to attend a disciplinary hearing with Police Commissioner Mal Hyde. He received an 18-month suspended sentence and orders to perform 320 hours of community service last week after he pleaded guilty to offensive behaviour, breaching his bail conditions and improperly accessing the police computer system.
Clohesy, 41, helped to set up a fake profile on an adult internet dating site after his girlfriend, Tania Milsom, also a police officer, ended their relationship last year. The profile, dubbed "SexyMillie888", provided Ms Milsom's phone number and address, asking men to contact her for sex. A number of men went to Ms Milsom's home with plans of her house, with at least one knocking on her bedroom window.
"The commissioner determined Mr Clohesy's offending was of a serious nature and his behaviour unacceptable and incompatible with the service expected of a police officer," a police spokesman said yesterday. "Mr Clohesy did not attend today's hearing, nor was he represented."
Chief Magistrate Elizabeth Bolton said in sentencing Clohesy that he had provided personal information about Ms Milsom for a nasty, hurtful and malicious scheme. Ms Bolton said the plan had been designed to embarrass, frighten and degrade the woman who had rejected Clohesy.
SOURCE
A SENIOR South Australian police officer has been sacked for helping to set up a fake internet dating profile that offered his ex-girlfriend for sex.
Detective Sergeant Darren James Clohesy was fired yesterday after he failed to attend a disciplinary hearing with Police Commissioner Mal Hyde. He received an 18-month suspended sentence and orders to perform 320 hours of community service last week after he pleaded guilty to offensive behaviour, breaching his bail conditions and improperly accessing the police computer system.
Clohesy, 41, helped to set up a fake profile on an adult internet dating site after his girlfriend, Tania Milsom, also a police officer, ended their relationship last year. The profile, dubbed "SexyMillie888", provided Ms Milsom's phone number and address, asking men to contact her for sex. A number of men went to Ms Milsom's home with plans of her house, with at least one knocking on her bedroom window.
"The commissioner determined Mr Clohesy's offending was of a serious nature and his behaviour unacceptable and incompatible with the service expected of a police officer," a police spokesman said yesterday. "Mr Clohesy did not attend today's hearing, nor was he represented."
Chief Magistrate Elizabeth Bolton said in sentencing Clohesy that he had provided personal information about Ms Milsom for a nasty, hurtful and malicious scheme. Ms Bolton said the plan had been designed to embarrass, frighten and degrade the woman who had rejected Clohesy.
SOURCE
Monday, August 2, 2010
Victorian police goons kill man
Several Victorian police are likely to face criminal charges over the treatment and subsequent death of a man after he was released from Dandenong police station this year. The 53-year-old Chinese man died at Dandenong Hospital about 11.40am on May 13, some 15 hours after being discharged from the police station.
The Age understands homicide squad investigators have seized video footage from outside the station that shows about five police dumping the visibly ill man in a puddle upon his release while the temperature was about 12 degrees and raining.
It shows the officers standing over the man laughing and gloating about the state he was in and some policewomen can also be seen holding their noses because of the stench caused by the man soiling himself while in custody.
One of the officers is believed to have brought a police divvy van from the back of the station so she could sit inside with the heater on and continue watching the man lying on the ground. He died of what is believed to have been hypothermia.
His death was made public two weeks later by an interpreter who had been called to the station after the man was locked up for drunkenness about 3.20pm. She said when she arrived about 7.45pm and looked into his cell, he had soiled himself and she saw "blood everywhere". She said he had begged police to take him to hospital or get medical help, but they repeatedly ignored him.
The interpreter, known only as Jay Jay, said police told her "he was dying anyway".
Police have confirmed they have CCTV footage from inside the station that shows the man crawling from his cell bleeding and in agony. When paramedics arrived about 9pm, they found the man conscious, bleeding and breathing rapidly.
Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius said at the time there was no evidence the man had suffered any physical trauma due to mishandling or use of force by police. He added that it appeared the man had died because of "a long-standing and pre-existing medical condition", believed to be cirrhosis.
Mr Cornelius said the officer "ultimately accountable" for custody at Dandenong station had been switched to other duties, and further disciplinary action would be decided by the head of the Ethical Standards Department, who is overseeing the investigation, pending the outcome of the investigation.
The Age has been told that criminal charges are being considered for those involved, with manslaughter yet to be ruled out. Some police could also be sacked for their involvement.
SOURCE
Several Victorian police are likely to face criminal charges over the treatment and subsequent death of a man after he was released from Dandenong police station this year. The 53-year-old Chinese man died at Dandenong Hospital about 11.40am on May 13, some 15 hours after being discharged from the police station.
The Age understands homicide squad investigators have seized video footage from outside the station that shows about five police dumping the visibly ill man in a puddle upon his release while the temperature was about 12 degrees and raining.
It shows the officers standing over the man laughing and gloating about the state he was in and some policewomen can also be seen holding their noses because of the stench caused by the man soiling himself while in custody.
One of the officers is believed to have brought a police divvy van from the back of the station so she could sit inside with the heater on and continue watching the man lying on the ground. He died of what is believed to have been hypothermia.
His death was made public two weeks later by an interpreter who had been called to the station after the man was locked up for drunkenness about 3.20pm. She said when she arrived about 7.45pm and looked into his cell, he had soiled himself and she saw "blood everywhere". She said he had begged police to take him to hospital or get medical help, but they repeatedly ignored him.
The interpreter, known only as Jay Jay, said police told her "he was dying anyway".
Police have confirmed they have CCTV footage from inside the station that shows the man crawling from his cell bleeding and in agony. When paramedics arrived about 9pm, they found the man conscious, bleeding and breathing rapidly.
Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius said at the time there was no evidence the man had suffered any physical trauma due to mishandling or use of force by police. He added that it appeared the man had died because of "a long-standing and pre-existing medical condition", believed to be cirrhosis.
Mr Cornelius said the officer "ultimately accountable" for custody at Dandenong station had been switched to other duties, and further disciplinary action would be decided by the head of the Ethical Standards Department, who is overseeing the investigation, pending the outcome of the investigation.
The Age has been told that criminal charges are being considered for those involved, with manslaughter yet to be ruled out. Some police could also be sacked for their involvement.
SOURCE
Sunday, August 1, 2010
An affirmative action disaster
There was no way Christine Nixon was the most qualified for the top police job. And it eventually showed. When there was a desperate need for a firm co-ordinating hand she didn't have a clue. Had she been a real leader she could have pulled all the other slack b*stards into gear. But there was basically no-one minding the shop -- so people died, many probably needlessly. When it comes to jobs, people should be judged on their competence -- not what they've got between their legs
FORMER police commissioner Christine Nixon apologised unreservedly yesterday for her bungled performance on Black Saturday after the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission lambasted her "hands-off approach".
The commission's final report delivered a damning appraisal of Ms Nixon's willingness to claim responsibility as chief commissioner and co-ordinator of the State Emergency Response Plan on February 7 last year. It described her leadership as "inadequate".
The report was highly critical of Ms Nixon's decision to leave the Emergency Co-ordination Centre at 6pm, return home and go out to dinner with friends rather than stay and lead an offensive against the fiercest fires to strike the state.
"It is not satisfactory that at this time - when she was aware of the potential for disaster and, in fact, while the magnitude of the disaster was becoming apparent with confirmation of fatalities - Ms Nixon was absent," it said. "On a day when conditions were predicted, and then proved, to be worse than Ash Wednesday, something more was required."
The report said Ms Nixon's approach to emergency co-ordination and the manner in which she acted "left much to be desired". It also expressed "dismay" at her approach in giving evidence before the royal commission, describing parts of her testimony as "inaccurate and incomplete", but found that she "did not intentionally mislead it".
Ms Nixon yesterday accepted the findings and was sorry and sympathetic to fire victims still trying to piece their lives back together. "The commission says on that day I should have stayed and I agree," she said. "They say that I should have been more active on that day and I agree."
Ms Nixon said she felt responsibility for what happened on the day. "I think back, was there something I could have done differently that may have saved people and I don't think there was but I've certainly learnt a lot from it," she said.
Asked if she would act differently if she had her time over she said: "I think all of us would do everything differently."
Ms Nixon was not the only leader to receive scathing criticism from the report. It found former CFA chief Russell Rees and DSE chief fire officer Ewan Waller relegated responsibility and did not do enough to warn communities about the firestorm heading their way.
The report said Mr Rees and Mr Waller were not fully across details of the deadly fires, did not personally map or monitor them and failed to seize responsibility.
Alarmingly, the report revealed Mr Rees did not speak to the incident controller of any of the major fires. "He therefore remained operationally removed from the fires and, as a result, was not in a position to appreciate the deficiencies in the staffing and expertise of some incident management teams," it said.
"Mr Rees did not review the warnings being issued for the Kilmore East fire despite the fire's obviously disastrous potential. "He did not review any predictive maps for any of the fires and would therefore not have been in a position - even had he reviewed the warnings being issued - to assess whether it was appropriate to warn the communities in the predicted fire path."
The report found "a disturbing tendency among senior fire agency personnel - including the chief officers - to consistently allocate responsibility further down the chain of command".
"Although the chief officer of the CFA and the chief fire officer of the DSE were undoubtedly in command of the resources in their respective agencies, neither was directly controlling the response to any of the fires," it said.
The report concluded that Mr Rees and Mr Waller should have done more to issue warnings, support incident management teams and institute statewide planning. "To the extent that they relied on their subordinates to perform these tasks, this reliance was ineffective," it said.
CFA chief Mick Bourke refused to comment directly about the criticism levelled at Mr Rees or reveal where he was yesterday, but said the report would be a "catalyst for change".
The commission found Police Minister Bob Cameron "acted properly" before and during the fires, but said he should have raised the option of declaring a state of disaster with Premier John Brumby.
Though she admitted to a lack of leadership on Black Saturday, Ms Nixon hoped her poor performance on that day would not overshadow her previous eights years as chief commissioner. "I hope that the community, when they do get a chance to read this in more detail, takes note of what the commission has had to say," she said.
"They certainly suggest that I should have done things differently and that's certainly part of it, but I think you have to judge a person's behaviour in the context of all of the things they have ever done as a leader."
SOURCE
There was no way Christine Nixon was the most qualified for the top police job. And it eventually showed. When there was a desperate need for a firm co-ordinating hand she didn't have a clue. Had she been a real leader she could have pulled all the other slack b*stards into gear. But there was basically no-one minding the shop -- so people died, many probably needlessly. When it comes to jobs, people should be judged on their competence -- not what they've got between their legs
FORMER police commissioner Christine Nixon apologised unreservedly yesterday for her bungled performance on Black Saturday after the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission lambasted her "hands-off approach".
The commission's final report delivered a damning appraisal of Ms Nixon's willingness to claim responsibility as chief commissioner and co-ordinator of the State Emergency Response Plan on February 7 last year. It described her leadership as "inadequate".
The report was highly critical of Ms Nixon's decision to leave the Emergency Co-ordination Centre at 6pm, return home and go out to dinner with friends rather than stay and lead an offensive against the fiercest fires to strike the state.
"It is not satisfactory that at this time - when she was aware of the potential for disaster and, in fact, while the magnitude of the disaster was becoming apparent with confirmation of fatalities - Ms Nixon was absent," it said. "On a day when conditions were predicted, and then proved, to be worse than Ash Wednesday, something more was required."
The report said Ms Nixon's approach to emergency co-ordination and the manner in which she acted "left much to be desired". It also expressed "dismay" at her approach in giving evidence before the royal commission, describing parts of her testimony as "inaccurate and incomplete", but found that she "did not intentionally mislead it".
Ms Nixon yesterday accepted the findings and was sorry and sympathetic to fire victims still trying to piece their lives back together. "The commission says on that day I should have stayed and I agree," she said. "They say that I should have been more active on that day and I agree."
Ms Nixon said she felt responsibility for what happened on the day. "I think back, was there something I could have done differently that may have saved people and I don't think there was but I've certainly learnt a lot from it," she said.
Asked if she would act differently if she had her time over she said: "I think all of us would do everything differently."
Ms Nixon was not the only leader to receive scathing criticism from the report. It found former CFA chief Russell Rees and DSE chief fire officer Ewan Waller relegated responsibility and did not do enough to warn communities about the firestorm heading their way.
The report said Mr Rees and Mr Waller were not fully across details of the deadly fires, did not personally map or monitor them and failed to seize responsibility.
Alarmingly, the report revealed Mr Rees did not speak to the incident controller of any of the major fires. "He therefore remained operationally removed from the fires and, as a result, was not in a position to appreciate the deficiencies in the staffing and expertise of some incident management teams," it said.
"Mr Rees did not review the warnings being issued for the Kilmore East fire despite the fire's obviously disastrous potential. "He did not review any predictive maps for any of the fires and would therefore not have been in a position - even had he reviewed the warnings being issued - to assess whether it was appropriate to warn the communities in the predicted fire path."
The report found "a disturbing tendency among senior fire agency personnel - including the chief officers - to consistently allocate responsibility further down the chain of command".
"Although the chief officer of the CFA and the chief fire officer of the DSE were undoubtedly in command of the resources in their respective agencies, neither was directly controlling the response to any of the fires," it said.
The report concluded that Mr Rees and Mr Waller should have done more to issue warnings, support incident management teams and institute statewide planning. "To the extent that they relied on their subordinates to perform these tasks, this reliance was ineffective," it said.
CFA chief Mick Bourke refused to comment directly about the criticism levelled at Mr Rees or reveal where he was yesterday, but said the report would be a "catalyst for change".
The commission found Police Minister Bob Cameron "acted properly" before and during the fires, but said he should have raised the option of declaring a state of disaster with Premier John Brumby.
Though she admitted to a lack of leadership on Black Saturday, Ms Nixon hoped her poor performance on that day would not overshadow her previous eights years as chief commissioner. "I hope that the community, when they do get a chance to read this in more detail, takes note of what the commission has had to say," she said.
"They certainly suggest that I should have done things differently and that's certainly part of it, but I think you have to judge a person's behaviour in the context of all of the things they have ever done as a leader."
SOURCE
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