Queensland police say a review of Gold Coast police culture after a series of bashing and harassment complaints does not mean there are systemic problems with the force.





“We believe our staff do an outstanding job in a very complex and high-pressure working environment, but there is always room for improvement,” acting assistant commissioner Steve Hollands told the Courier-Mail.

“This is the sort of thing that any business might do from time to time. If there are any adverse findings they will be appropriately handled.”

The review, headed by acting Gold Coast Chief Superintendent Craig Hanlon, assisted by independent consultant Mischa Fahl, follows the bashing of a handcuffed man at Surfers Paradise police station in 2012.

Police union representative Phil Notaro has backed the investigation, saying: “It’s not a witch-hunt.”

Gold Coast police sergeant Rick Flori, who blew the whistle on colleagues involved in the 2012 incident, is facing a criminal misconduct charge.

Flori was charged after he allegedly leaked footage of the assault, but the officers caught on camera bashing the man were never charged.

Flori’s case has been taken up by Queensland Council for Civil Liberties (CCC) vice president Terry O’Gorman. He has said the Crime and Corruption Commission has indicated it would investigate his public interest complaint.

But he said the CCC must also better explain why it decided not to prosecute the officers, apparently on the grounds the victim did not want to make a complaint.

Whether the victim, who is understood to have received a payout from police, made a complaint or not was irrelevant, O’Gorman said.