Thug W.A. cops finally under scrutiny

THE Corruption and Crime Commission has taken over investigations by Police and the Department of Corrective Services into the repeated use of Tasers on Watch House inmate Kevin Spratt.

Commissioner Len Roberts-Smith QC said the Commission had issued a direction for the Police and the Department of Corrective Services to stop any active investigations they may be undertaking.

However, Police will continue to assist the DPP in his consideration of whether to charge the police officers involved in the use of Taser weapons in the watch-house on August 31, 2008.

Mr Roberts-Smith said the Commission’s investigation will focus initially on determining the circumstances surrounding five separate incidents involving Mr Spratt and the use of Taser weapons. These incidents are:

* Police threatening Mr Spratt with Taser weapons on the day before the watchhouse incident (30 August 2008);

* The police use of Taser weapons against Mr Spratt in the watch-house (31 August 2008);

* Police use of Taser weapons when arresting Mr Spratt (6 September 2008);

* Police use of Taser weapons on Mr Spratt in the watch-house (6 September 2008), and

* Department of Corrective Services staff use of Taser weapons to remove Mr Spratt from a watch-house cell (6 September 2008).

Mr Roberts-Smith said the Commission’s investigation will also look at the conduct of any internal investigations. “There is a high level of public interest in the circumstances surrounding these incidents and the investigations into them,'' Mr Roberts-Smith said. “It is in everyone’s interest that these matters are investigated thoroughly and that the outcome be placed on the public record. “At this stage it has not been determined how the result of the Commission’s investigation will be made public,” he said. [Coverup coming?]

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