Law Enforcement Conduct Commission says more than 50 complaints in seven months were not followed up

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The New South Wales police watchdog has been forced to make “brutal” and “arbitrary” decisions about whether to investigate allegations of misconduct by police because of an “insufficient budget”, the agency has revealed.

In a damning assessment of the NSW government’s overhaul of police oversight, the new Law Enforcement Conduct Commission said a severe funding shortage had forced the agency to ignore more than 50 integrity complaints that “warranted investigation” in the past seven months.

In a submission to a parliamentary oversight committee published this week, Michael Adams, the LECC’s chief commissioner, said a “continued increasing workload” combined with “reduced funding” meant the agency was struggling to “exercise its functions to the standards I ... would insist on for such an important agency”.

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He also revealed the LECC was investigating five incidents of alleged unlawful conduct by officers in relation to a blacklist used by police to target children as young as nine, and allegations of sexual harassment and bullying by a senior NSW police officer.

The LECC was created last year to replace the Police Integrity Commission, the ombudsman and the NSW Crime Commission. It has responsibility for investigating serious police misconduct and corruption, and overseeing complaints handling.

But, in a blunt appraisal of its own activities, the agency revealed that despite taking on a “far broader” jurisdiction than its predecessors, it was operating with a smaller budget and many fewer staff.

It had opted to not begin monitoring more than 50 already-active critical incident investigations because of a lack of funding. Another 51 integrity complaints that “warranted investigation” were instead given to police to investigate with LECC oversight “due to insufficient staffing”.

A critical incident investigation occurs when a person suffers serious injury or dies as a result of an interaction with police.



“With more staff the commission would have commenced monitoring more of the pre-existing critical incidents,” the submission said.

The Redfern Legal Centre’s police powers solicitor, Sophie Parker, said the submission raised “alarming” concerns about the resourcing of the agency.

“Of particular concern is that the LECC identified 51 matters – potentially involving serious misconduct – that required further investigation but that the LECC did not have the resources to do so,” she said.

But the state government dismissed the agency’s concerns.

In a statement to the Guardian the NSW police minister, Troy Grant, said the government “expects all its agencies to operate efficiently and within their allocated budgets”.

Blacklist investigation

The report also revealed the watchdog was investigating whether officers had misused the controversial blacklist that targets children even if they have never committed a crime.



The Suspect Target Management Plan is used by police to “identify, assess and target people” suspected of being likely to commit repeat offences, or who are seen as “responsible for emerging crime problems”.

Police say those subject to the STMP are treated with “respect and tolerance” and that a risk management framework is used to make sure the right people are being targeted. But last year a University of NSW report found the STMP “disproportionately targets” young and Indigenous people, and resulted in “oppressive policing” practices.

With more staff the commission would have commenced monitoring more of the pre-existing critical incidents. Law Enforcement Crime Commission

In its submission the watchdog said it had decided to “explore concerns” relating to the blacklist following the release of the UNSW report.



The LECC said it was investigating five instances “where a young person who was the subject of an STMP was allegedly subject to unlawful police conduct”. It said it expected to initiate further investigations into allegations of misconduct relating to the plan.

Following the release of the UNSW report, the Guardian revealed that Adams, the chief commissioner of the LECC, had described the STMP as potentially “problematic”.



The NSW Labor shadow attorney general, Paul Lynch, said “serious issues” had been raised about the STMP and he was pleased the police watchdog was investigating.

“LECC’s resources will enable it to get a view of how STMP is used across the whole state and see whether it’s actually being used to deal with persons who are at a high risk of committing serious crimes,” he said.

“Among other things they may find out why STMP is applied to children not old enough for the law to hold them criminally responsible.”



The submission also revealed that the LECC is considering a statewide investigation into sexual discrimination in the police force after identifying “systematic issues” in one local command.

“The commission is currently conducting an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination by several male and female complainants against a senior officer of the NSWPF,” the submission stated.

It said a “preliminary analysis” of the allegations had identified “a range of systematic issues”, including allegations of bullying, derogatory and sexually explicit terms by male officers when referring to female officers, a failure to maintain the confidentiality of the complainant and “complainants being ostracised and bullied”.

