It seems that the New South Wales police force is turning itself in knots doing everything possible to avoid solving a crime. There was rivalry in the deputy commissioner echelon of the police as several contenders jostled to get the top job when Commissioner Andrew Scipione retired.
Somehow false affidavits were put before a judge - who signed off on them - and as a result bugs were placed on the phones and in the offices of over a hundred senior policemen. Clearly - this was a crime and it resulted in deputy commissioner Nick Kaldos being accused of malpractice and various enquiries have gone absolutely nowhere in well over a decade. In fact a long running enquiry by the Ombudsman is incomplete - and the Ombudsman is leaving office with no intention of handing down a finding.
Now we are told that the police are bringing in a retired Admiral to conduct full day seminars to "improve communication and leadership skills ", a thinly veiled plot to try and get Nick Kaldos and Catherine Burns to even speak to each other. Once more the facts are being hidden behind a smokescreen and there seems no intention of ever doing exactly what the police force is supposed to do when a crime is committed - investigate and solve it !
While this imbroglio is hanging in the air the replacement of a retiring Commissioner has been put on hold and he has been asked to stay in the job indefinitely. Relationships between the top brass at police headquarters remain unworkable and this must surely leach down to the rank and file police doing a difficult policing job on the streets and roads of this state.
It is also obvious that politicians on both sides of the political divide are walking on egg shells and have no wish to horn in on what could lead to a split in the police force resulting in divided factions - and the chaos that could cause.
We are now talking about something that happened about fourteen years ago and which still haunts the corridors of police headquarters. It seems to be the intention to simply hold endless ongoing enquiries that reach no solution and hope that eventually everyone will tire of it - and it will be safely tucked away in the bottom drawer of a filing cabinet marked for " Unsolved cases " !
Even a basic police rookie fresh out of the Police Academy would be capable of bringing this to closure. Someone of very senior status devised a plan to incriminate rivals and broke the law in putting it into action. The judge who signed off on false affidavits knows who that was and a whole variety of technicians were needed to install bugs and carry out surveillance. These actions could not happen without clear orders being given - and bloodhounds are not needed to follow the trail.
The police in New South Wales are fast becoming a laughing stock. It is time to bite the bullet and stop pretending this is an insolvable crime - or even that it is just some sort of regrettable misunderstanding and that no crime at all is involved.
It is time that the culprit is unmasked and dealt with - and the innocent party validated. Anything less is a mockery of justice !
No comments:
Post a Comment