Hansard - POLICE CORRUPTION

Full Day Hansard Transcript 

(Legislative Assembly, 17 October 2001, Corrected Copy)

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY 

Wednesday 17 October 2001

Page: 17507

 Mr BARR (Manly) [6.06 p.m.]: I raise one of the most serious and confronting issues I have had to face as the member for Manly. I refer to the Police Integrity Commission [PIC] inquiry currently exposing the corruption of northern beaches police. The corrupt conduct of Manly's Detective Senior Constables David Patison and Matthew Jasper, the evidence of shonky dealings by their boss Ray Peattie, and the conduct of northern beaches Detective Sergeant Mark Messenger provoke anger and disappointment. We entrust these people with the safety of our streets and homes. Many Manly residents share with me the sense of betrayal that such a well-developed network of corruption could exist for so long right under our noses.

The evidence presented to the commission only emphasises this by showing the routine matter-of-fact way they went about their sordid business. They placed their own greed ahead of any moral scruples they might have had or any commitment to the community they served and belonged to. Detective Sergeant Mark Messenger stood as a candidate for Warringah Council, promoting himself as a civic-minded and honest citizen involved in the local surf and football clubs. In his brochure he highlighted his involvement on a police committee dealing with the recommendations of the Drug Summit, and stated:

As a police officer I have been actively involved in the fight against illegal drugs in our community. I also realise that this issue encompasses law enforcement and the health and wellbeing of our young.

In light of the revelations of the PIC, that brochure reads as a sinister, ironic joke. I hope that the PIC footage of crooked cops dealing with dull-witted criminals like Vinnie Caccamo is just the beginning. Although Caccamo and his cohorts are small beer, the money that has been changing hands is not. This is a cause for great concern. There is no reason to believe that sums of this nature were simply distributed amongst a few bottom feeders. I believe that the tentacles of this culture of corruption spread much wider. The PIC inquiry has revealed the petty criminals, but now I hope that it moves on to bigger game. The inquiry cannot be regarded as a vindication of Commissioner Peter Ryan's strategies but, rather, as a graphic demonstration of the fact that the same issues are still with us. They are the very same issues that Commissioner Ryan was brought in to fix. There is still systemic police corruption, but the commissioner has not yet shown how he will systematically clean up the act. The March 2000 report of the quality and strategic audit of the reform process concluded that police reform had been diverted from the directions set out in the royal commission.

In the auditor's view, Commissioner Ryan's emphasis on "ethical, cost-effective crime reduction" must go along with a concurrent emphasis on the reform process building a "corruption-resistant Service". The report notes that "good ideas and intentions have frequently stalled or faltered in being fully implemented and sustained" and that "staff themselves report confusion and a lack of clarity on the status of reform and the expectations of them in implementing reform locally." I emphasise "locally" because it is on the ground that the talk about reform is tested. The Manly experience shows how different the rhetoric and a reality can be.

The inquiry has brought the Commissioner of Police a temporary reprieve from the level of pressure and criticism to which he was subjected just a few weeks ago. Commissioner Ryan has only limited time to convince the public that he is truly turning around the police force. Apart from some new faces telling the same old corruption story, what has changed? Systemic change in the police force is still the highest priority. The command and control culture of the police force needs to be changed. The behavioural change program needs to be reinstated. The commissioner needs to reach out to his force rather than cut himself off. If he wants to build teamwork and trust across the ranks, he must lead by example. This is what he has to do and he has to do it quickly. If he cannot do so, then the Government should appoint someone who can.

However, that kind of change cannot rely upon one man. It must be systemic change. Commissioner Ryan has been too much of a focus and his position has become politicised. He has to have a strategy, an implementation plan and methodology for bringing about a cultural change in the police force in a direction that is away from the command and control model. If that does not happen, all prosecutions that will be undertaken will be treating the symptoms, but not the disease. New corrupt police officers will rise to fill the places of those who have been removed. I conclude by stating that the drug problem is not just a police problem. It is a problem for all of us. We have to improve our education programs and our health and support programs and recognise drug addicts as ill people who need to be weaned away from their addiction. It is in the interests of all of us to focus on a preventive and rehabilitative approach. The police cannot solve this problem by themselves. If it is not solved, police corruption is not likely to disappear.

Private members' statements noted.

[Mr Deputy-Speaker left the chair at 6.11 p.m. The House resumed at 7.30 p.m.]