EndemicEarthlingFeb 13

NSW Premier #ChrisMinns continues to undermine norms that uphold the #RuleOfLaw by seeking to influence a putatively independent watchdog.

After the widespread and gratuitous police violence towards peaceful anti-genocide protesters in the middle of #Sydney on Monday night, at a scale and severity unmatched in my lifetime, it would be obvious that an independent investigation ought to occur, indeed several (not just into the shocking police behaviour, but also into the degree to which the Premier and/or Police Minister might have constrained the Police Commission's operational discretion; there are many in public statements that police may well have been directed towards precisely this outcome).

To be credible, an investigation must be (and be seen to be) genuinely independent of influence by either police or government. Yet Premier Minns and Police Minister Catley have repeatedly and firmly rejected the need for any investigation, declaring immediately that police did nothing wrong.

Now that the (chronically underfunded) police watchdog #LECC has announced it will launch an investigation, the Premier has undermined confidence in any exculpatory findings, since people will wonder the degree to which he put his finger on the scales and improperly influenced LECC's deliberation.

Trumpian.

Show threadEndemicEarthlingOct 17, 2024

In May 2023, LECC described a pattern of consistent, systemic noncooperation from NSW Police, effectively thwarting or delaying many of LECC's attempts at investigation. As a result, LECC described some of its own powers as merely 'illusory': “In every critical incident investigation to date, involved police officers have refused to consent to the commission investigator being present or to remotely observe their interviews.”

In New South Wales, the number of official complaints each year of police misconduct have more than tripled since 2015–16.

https://web.archive.org/web/20231023104458/https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/oct/23/nsw-police-watchdog-routinely-denied-access-to-internal-officer-interviews-report-finds

#NSWpolice #LECC #NSWpol #corruption #transparency #PoliceWatchdog #PoliceAbuse #ACAB

NSW police watchdog routinely denied access to internal officer interviews, report finds

Law Enforcement Conduct Commission says it has been refused access during ‘every critical incident investigation to date’

The Guardian
Show threadEndemicEarthlingOct 17, 2024

Examples of LECC's failure to address serious matters abound.

For instance, #LECC knew for at least a year that a group of very senior officers (including the then NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller and three of his Assistant Commissioners) co-owned a bunch of racehorse with business figures in the gambling and gaming industries, some of them under criminal investigation. The senior police figures had not disclosed this obvious conflict of interest as required (connections between police and the gambling and gaming industries having been specifically labelled high risk by the Woods Royal Commission). And yet LECC did nothing.

Then, in 2022 after Commissioner Fuller had resigned and was about to be appointed as head of Racing NSW (peak horse racing body), investigation by #ABC journalists revealed these undisclosed links and LECC was forced to address them. However, LECC's initial response completely cleared Fuller and rubbished the ABC reporting. Months later, a subsequent LECC examination of its own earlier response resulted in a complete 180º-turn: a ban on such business arrangements and an exoneration of the #InvestigativeJournalism that had revealed them.

#NSWPoliceCommissioner #NSWpolice #transparency #corruption #GamblingIndustry #HorseRacing #EndHorseRacing #WoodsRoyalCommission

Show threadEndemicEarthlingOct 17, 2024

The police watchdog is called the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission, or #LECC. LECC ought never be mentioned without also mentioning that the former #Coalition government established it in 2017 with such insufficient funding that it only has the resources to investigate 1-2% of the thousands of complaints made against NSW Police each year. Enormous numbers of complaints, including those involving serious #corruption, are either completely unaddressed or handed over for police to investigate themselves.

The Coalition founded LECC in 2017 as a replacement for multiple prior police accountability organisations, including the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) that was set up after the Woods Royal Commission confirmed longstanding allegations of serious and non-isolated police corruption in NSW. As it was being set up, the Police Union and relevant government minister sought to prevent anyone who worked at PIC from being hired for LECC, according to testimony under oath in 2018 from the newly appointed LECC head to parliamentary committee (claims denied by the then police minister).

#WoodsRoyalCommission #PoliceCorruption #PoliceAbuse #transparency #PoliceWatchdog #NSWpol #NSWpolice

EndemicEarthlingSep 19, 2024

@Global_Repercussions @tofugolem

Speaking of history, I wonder whether historians are taking note of the fact that the Woods Royal Commission (into NSW police corruption) resulted in the establishment of the NSW Police Integrity Commission (a police watchdog that removed at least a few egregiously corrupt individuals), which was later folded (along with other anti-corruption instruments) into the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC), which was then de-funded by the (ICAC-confirmed) corrupt former #Coalition premier #GladysBerejiklian to a fraction of the former PIC budget, to the point where it only has the resources to investigate a mere ~2% of complaints it receives? The same premier also slashed the funding for #ICAC, to the point where it didn't have the resources to complete the investigation into her own corrupt behaviour in a timely manner (that delay ironically becoming one of bases for her failed attempt to appeal the findings made against her).

#NSWpol #NSWpolice #LECC #ICAC #PoliceWatchdog

Show threadEndemicEarthlingOct 29, 2023

@sister_ratched Oh yes, that's been clear for a while.

The #LECC (police 'watchdog') is still massively underfunded (to the point of being able to investigate a whopping 1.4% of all the complaints made), the NSW Police Commissioner is still paid more than the PM, and none of the Coalition's anti-protest laws that contribute to the #CriminalisationOfDissent have been repealed, so no roses for #NSWLabor government there.

EndemicEarthlingAug 4, 2023

Remember #MickFuller?

• formerly the NSW Police Commissioner
• neighbour to #ScottMorrison (who gave him a quick call when a cabinet member was credibly accused of committing fraud)
• co-owner of a racehorse in the #corruption-plagued racing industry along with other senior police figures and some shady businessmen (two of whom were suspects in criminal cases; one of whom also had lucrative contracts with police) in a massive #ConflictOfInterest for which Fuller was (eventually) heavily criticised by the police watchdog (the critically underfunded #LECC).

Where has Fuller ended up? As a partner at scandal-ridden #PwC, a major consulting firm recently revealed as selling government secrets to plutocrats & corporations to facilitate massive #TaxAvoidance.

And now today's story is that Fuller has been in frequent contact with his old mate Reece Kershaw, the Australian Federal Police (#AFP) Commissioner. Kershaw didn't declare this as a #ConflictOfInterest despite the AFP now investigating PwC. Maybe Fuller might know a thing or two about what ought to be included on such declarations...

Today: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-04/sms-messages-afp-commissioner-kershaw-pwc-fuller-revealed/102683338

And the racehorse story last year: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-13/lecc-withdraws-findings-on-former-nsw-police-commissioner-fuller/101763338

And the PwC tax scandal: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/02/the-mysterious-case-of-pwc-and-the-misuse-of-confidential-government-tax-information

#NSWpol #Auspol

SMS exchanges between AFP commissioner and PwC 'mate' revealed, as top cop faces questions over conflict of interest

A senator challenges why AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw did not disclose his friendship with a senior PwC partner while designing a contract with the firm, as SMS exchanges show plans to catch up over a beer, jokes and references to leaks.

ABC News