The Parliamentary enquiry into the bugging of over a hundred police officers grinds on. Next week the two combatant deputy commissioners return for further grilling and a statement from the Commissioner seems to be tilting the balance towards the enquiry reaching a conclusion.
The fact that there is tension at the pinnacle of policing draws attention away from other problems the public is having with law enforcement. When police clearly break the law and give false evidence they seem to do it with impunity. Every complaint results in an "enquiry "- but these never seem to reach a conclusion. A case in point.
On March 13, 2011 several young people got off a train at Cronulla rail station. Transit officers accused them of fare evasion. A scuffle resulted in the police being called. The police were led by an acting sergeant and a young woman claims that her feet were kicked out from under her and she fell to the platform, badly injuring her knee. A Transit officer was ordered to sit on her and she was placed under arrest and put in a paddy wagon.
She asked the police to call an ambulance and this request was denied. She was driven past a local hospital and taken to Sutherland rail station - ten kilometres away - and released, despite the handicap of a broken knee. Her complaint to the police brought a denial. The police claimed that she had assaulted them and she had been subdued by a "leg sweep "which they claim to be a permissible police procedure. The matter went to court.
This young woman obtained video evidence of the confrontation with police on the platform of Cronulla station. It showed the sergeant run towards her, speak while she remained motionless for seven seconds, and then kicking her legs out from under her and throwing her to the ground. Lawyers for the police then sought to amend their evidence. Other police present claimed to have no memory of the events depicted in the video.
Clearly, the police lied and were prepared to have her punished by a court for assaulting police. She would no doubt have been convicted - and have a criminal record. The fact that she had sustained an injury and been refused treatment should be a matter of concern to the public. This fate was only averted because she managed to obtain crucial evidence - and as a result she was later awarded $ 243,000 and a similar amount for costs.
The fact remains that next month four years will have elapsed and this police "enquiry "is nowhere near resolved. The Sergeant involved remains on active duty and it is unclear whether perjury and assault charges will be laid.
Cases of this nature erode our confidence in the police. They do a tough job and they are often falsely accused by criminal types trying to evade justice, but the fact remains that a police officer deliberately lied about an event in which a member of the public sustained a serious injury - and was prepared to give false evidence to obtain a conviction. He has escaped penalty for four years and it is doubtful if charges will ever be laid.
It seems strange that a case of alleged corruption at the very top of the police hierarchy is making banner headlines and has cost several million dollars so far - and yet day to day police excesses, and blatant false evidence convictions go unpunished - even when such falsification is exposed in court and costs the state damage awards to the victims.
The police will lie and pervert justice as a matter of course if they know they will get away with it. It seems that the state is frightened of the power of the police union. We will not get a squeaky clean police force until the wheels of retribution make getting caught unthinkable.
The job of the police is to keep the public awed and frightened to commit crimes. That same fear needs to apply to the very people tasked with upholding the law !
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