The NSW Police Farce !

This week the Police Integrity Commission ( PIC ) issued a finding that cleared Commissioner Andrew Scipione and Deputy Commissioner Nick Kaldos of allegations that they had leaked information to a former police officer.   This lengthy investigation by the PIC had dragged on for over twelve months and was considered unnecessary by most people - because it had already been investigated by the Ombudsman with a similar finding.

The elephant in the room is clearly the issue that awaits resolution.   Over a decade earlier a tactical battle took place within the upper echelons of the police establishment to manoeuvre for selection to be the next police commissioner.   False papers were put before a judge who signed off on search warrants which were clandestinely applied to over a hundred active police officers and resulted in their homes and offices being bugged with recording devices.

It was pure character assassination.  Every minor decision made in field work was under question and the pressure on each individual officer was enormous.  It led to nervous breakdowns and at least one suicide.  This search for evidence that did not exist included having a "dirty cop  " wear a wire at a social event  to try and extract evidence.

Obviously, this witch hunt had an originator and that person deserves to be both named and punished.  So far, that has not happened.  There has been an enquiry which revealed most of the actions that took place, but strangely there was no action forthcoming.  The whole matter was flick passed to a further enquiry by the Ombudsman and now that officer is going to retire without completing his enquiry and bringing down a finding.  It will simply pass to his successor - who may decide to start again from scratch !

Now it has been decided that the retirement of the present Police Commissioner will be delayed and he will stay in the job indefinitely, because the very people who reasonably should succeed him are deeply involved in this police bugging scandal.  It seems that the tactic in place is to hold endless enquiries that never actually reach a conclusion and then try and cover up attributing blame by the sheer passage of time.

It would be hilarious - if it wasn't tearing apart the logical function of our police service  !  How can we expect the men and women who serve on our police force to respect a service which can not bring itself to clear up an act of criminality at the very top of the command structure ?    The only possible conclusion is that our police force is split into opposing factions - and that deciding this matter will bring those factions into open warfare.

Strangely, both sides of politics seem to be tippy toeing through a potential minefield.  Nobody seems to be too keen to drag this to a conclusion and perhaps there is a fear that the losing side will spill the beans on a lot of dirty little secrets that the police have helped to cover up when both sides of politics have held office.

It seems that the inner sanctum of the police hierarchy is not available for public scrutiny !