It seems like centuries ago now, but back between 1994 and ’97 police in NSW, Australia, were subjected to a long overdue inquiry of Royal Commission. Commissioner Woods left few rotting logs unturned, as he rooted out a deep culture of corruption.
A supercop, Peter Ryan, was bought in from Britain as a fresh face, only to have his police career destroyed in the clean-up process.
The end result was an acknowledgement of just how rotten the force was, but a certain powerlessness to fix things quickly.
As the Police Minister of the time suggested, ‘If we sack them all how do we replace them? And is their any guarantee that a new force wouldn’t revert to old habits?
About the only logical remedy was tougher training and a higher standard for new recruits. I guess they were looking to develop a new breed of cop who could and would say no to the corruption happening around them.
Last years intake was supposed to be the cream, selection of the very best possible candidates. This week we have the result of that effort.
A trainee has been arrested and stood down after he paraded his personal collection of illegal replica firearms at the Goulburn Police Academy.
He brought a replica MP5 submachine-gun and other weaponry into the grounds of the academy, then provided a demonstration to classmates.
When stunned onlookers reported his actions to academy hierarchy a raid was conducted at the man's private residence, where a stockpile of other military-style equipment was uncovered.
So it took most of his training period, then a show and tell session, to reveal a cop who has a passion for military assault weapons.
That is bad enough, but the news does get more sordid.
A stricter code of conduct has been implemented at the Goulburn Police College in light of allegations of sexual harassment and gross negligence.
The report says the documents reveal one case alleging a lecturer requested sex from a student for help in passing a course.
The report quoted a police spokeswoman saying 18 cases were closed with no action taken but three cases had sensitive information blacked out by FOI gatekeepers.
It is tempting to think that the problems with NSW police stem right back to the convict beginnings of the settlement.
I should also note that I’ve personally known some excellent NSW cops, although the system does tend to take its toll on them.
The weight of traditional behavior and inbuilt corruption and cover-up is not something easily taken on a beaten. It only takes a couple of bad cops to outweigh the good efforts of many.
2 comments:
Quality of the police has been erroding away here as well. What you are is what you get, I guess. After all, they come from "our lines".
I personally know the subject in question regarding the replica weapons and I can assure you this is only half the story. This has been blown up way out of question. I can assure you that he is of the highest standards professionally.
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