Copping it

The WA police officer who shot his glock twice at a car full of Aboriginal women and children, Niko Westergerling, pleaded guilty to discharging a firearm in public and got a $5000 fine today. Westergerling was also fined in March this year in the Magistrates Court, for kicking and punching a woman, but was allowed to remain in the police service.

According to police policy in WA, when an officer commits a criminal offence and that offence is considered to affect their performance or presents a risk, the WA Police attempt to identify the causal factors. Once the assessment takes place, and any risk has been assessed, managed and mitigated, an officer may be returned to frontline duties.
Where the catalyst for the criminal offence relates to knowledge or skills, the officer may be sent for re-training.
Where the cause of a criminal offence is 'behavioural' and stems from factors like stress or an officer's inability to control themselves and make sound decisions, they are then referred for a 'Fitness for Duty' assessment by qualified medical persons. The assessment may include behavioural and therapeutic treatment or programs designed to prevent a repetition of the conduct.

The victim of the assault was Westergerling's wife.

In WA, another police officer was found guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice. The offence occurred during a 2009 investigation into neo-nazi and white supremacist groups in Perth. Robert David Critchley had been working with the elite intel unit doing telephone interceptions, when he tipped off the friend of one neo-nazi who was affiliated with a Perth branch of UK hate group Combat 18. Three offenders from the group later pleaded guilty to shooting at the roof of the Cannington Mosque when they were drunk. Two of the offenders were former Australian Defence Force employees.
Apparently, random drug testing was introduced for WA police officers on December 3.

Two VicPol officers have copped it for assaulting two 'hoons' doing burn-outs near their station.

The day before the Melbourne Cup?

The  Federal Attorney General presented the Surveillance Devices Act Report the day before the Melbourne Cup, detailing reported surveillance costs and figures for the last year, and this analysis highlights some unusual upward trends. 
In NT - the number of devices used 2010-2011 has rocketed to about 6.5 times that of the year before, and perhaps this may have been what the NT Police Minister had in mind when John McRoberts was appointed the Commissioner for NT Police, with his background in surveillance.  As NT media are a bit isolated from the trends of the Australian mainstream, it is hard to tell if the hike is an indication that the surveillance was long overdue, or if the surveillance is simply to establish if there is actually crime up there in the Territory to detect.
However, one interesting facet of the reported information from police is the cost per unit of an intercept (and use), which in WA, Victoria and NT is over four times that of NSW. Outsourcing, anyone?  Also, in NSW, reported warrant figures are dropping, as are applications.

Total intercept related arrests were 2441 for 3155 prosecutions and that resulted in 2022 convictions.  1531 were supposed to be for serious drug offences, and then 1046 resulted in convictions for serious drug offences and  so, about a third(485 according to the Surveillance Devices Act Report) of those intercept-related drug prosecutions failed.

Of the 91 arrests that stemmed from retreived stored email and phone communications about a third resulted in convictions.
There seems to be some problems in the annual report with the continuity of the figures relating to the total of failed convictions compared to prosecutions. The Federal AG reported as a 22% increase in prosecutions.  The over-all drug prosecution to drug conviction rate, seems to suffer an attrition of about 30%.

The AG also reported that most warrants last for two months, no warrant applications by police were refused, and total warrant use has doubled, and, in some states - like WA and NT, the frequency or use of surveillance is disproportionate, as is the expense.

Rex Bellotti Junior

This is a clip circulated by the BSG by way of a thank you to all those who played a role in their campaign, and who may have made the plight of the permanently injured young Noongar footballer, Rex Bellotti Jnr, known to the public.

Authorities have failed to be accountable over inadequacies in the original investigation into how the young man became permanently injured after going under a police 4WD in a notorious country town.  All the investigations since then have failed to yield any type of closure for the family, due to no forensic evidence having been gathered at the scene by police officers in the investigation of other police officers. No officers were dismissed in the making of this story...

Girls' Guide

Yearly stats from the AIC verify women are more at risk from homicide in their home at the hand of someone they have been, or are in, a relationship with, than any of the vague notions in the mainstream media about independence creating risk, by going out, catching a cab, or the way women and girl's dress, etc etc ad nauseum.

The AHRC has brought out a guide to help women's complain ts be heard, when none of the authorites can or will do anything to help redress a wrong doing or prevent any more.  I know there will be some readers who will be interested in how these independent protection mechanisms can be utilized to better empower women, who typically aren't well cared for under the British Common Law system we have in Australian states.

The human rights violations the Discrimmination Commissioner mentions are of course much broader than solely issues stemming from the inept legislation and practices applied to the management of domestic violence, but that would be a common unaddressed issue for a lot of women and girls.

Australian Human Rights Commission Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick, launched a guide to assist women who have experienced human rights violations, and been failed by processes in Australia, to use international complaint mechanisms to seek redress.

“Mechanisms for advancing women’s human rights: A guide to using the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and other international complaint mechanisms, aims to help and encourage advocates, lawyers and women to use international complaint mechanisms when they are left with no other option,” said Commissioner Broderick.

Where domestic remedies have been exhausted, the Optional Protocol enables women in Australia to make a complaint to the United Nations committee responsible for monitoring Australia's compliance with its obligations under CEDAW.

The Commissioner pointed out one case in which a female assault victim in the Philipines complained that her case was dismissed in court due to gender and cultural stereotyping by a judge, and the discrimmination had been subsequently dealt with.'

“Women around the world have used the communication and inquiry procedures under the Optional Protocol to CEDAW to obtain redress for violations of their human rights, but so far no-one in Australia has done so.” 

Commissioner Broderick said, following adverse decisions by the CEDAW Committee, several countries had introduced laws regulating gender-based violence against women or had committed to effectively enforcing existing laws.

“Effects can be very significant - one country responded to a negative decision of the CEDAW Committee by introducing a national strategy on violence against women, building domestic violence shelters and establishing a telephone counselling service."

However for such international complaints mechanisms to be effective tools, women and those advocating on their behalf need to know they exist and understand how to use them, she said.
“It is important that women know how to seek redress for violations of their rights and can challenge gaps in our laws and policies."

The guide features a list of over 70 cases where other international mechanisms have been used by people in Australia to advance human rights.  It  builds on the CEDAW Toolkit, published by the AHRC and the Office for Women. Both can be downloaded from the Commission website at www.humanrights.gov.au/sex_discrimination/publications.html.  If you want a copy you can email publications@humanrights.gov.au.