A former ASIO specialist who was wrestled to the ground and handcuffed after filming officers says he has "no confidence whatsoever" in Queensland police oversight, after Police Ethical Standards Command (ESC) took 18 months to investigate his complaint of violent treatment.

It comes as Queensland's Crime and Corruption Commission embarks on sweeping reforms to fix a "broken down" police complaints system and bolster public confidence.

Paul Gibbons' neck following the incident with police in which he said he was put in a chokehold. ( Supplied: Paul Gibbons )

Paul Gibbons, whose background as a counter-terrorism investigator the ABC can reveal for the first time, said he was assaulted and put in a chokehold after police confronted him when he took several seconds to let officers into the lobby of a Gold Coast hotel where he was on his honeymoon in June 2016.

The ESC dismissed allegations including assault through excessive force, but told Mr Gibbons in December 2017 that "managerial guidance" was given to an officer who swore at him and two other officers "in relation to some minor procedural issues".

Those issues were the officers' choice to delete video of the incident from Mr Gibbons' phone.

CCC chair Alan MacSporran said ESC wanted to dismiss Mr Gibbons complaint over the phone video, but the CCC persuaded them it was "misbehaviour".

The case also prompted the CCC to intervene to force new ground rules for officers using body-worn cameras.

A young Paul Gibbons (right) in the New South Wales Police. ( Supplied: Paul Gibbons )

Mr Gibbons told the ABC from his home in Europe that the ESC interviewed the accused officers before him and the investigation was flawed "from the beginning to the end".

"I had contacted the CCC to inform them of the misconduct investigation by [the ESC officer], only to discover that [he] was now serving at the CCC," Mr Gibbons said.

Mr Gibbons said he was shocked because in New South Wales "you cannot be a former police officer to be employed with the Police Integrity Commission".

Mr MacSporran said he understood this concern "at first blush", but said the officer had no "material part to play" in the outcome of Mr Gibbons' CCC complaint.

He said there was no evidence to back Mr Gibbons' other serious complaints.

'Broken' police complaints system

It is one of a spate of high-profile cases which have prompted the CCC to step in and drive sweeping reforms to the police complaints process.

Mr MacSporran said the CCC would intervene earlier in internal police probes, set a 12-month deadline to start disciplinary action, and stop police bosses giving sacked officers a reprieve.

Sorry, this video has expired Leaked CCTV footage of handcuffed Noa Begic being punched by Queensland police while handcuffed

He said the fact an officer who bashed a handcuffed man six times in the head could stay in his job on a so-called "suspended dismissal" was "a nonsense".

"If someone's behaved so badly that they deserve dismissal, it's illogical to suspend that and it fundamentally undermines public confidence in the system," Mr MacSporran said.

Mr MacSporran said he was "extremely optimistic" the public would see improvements within months.

But he said the CCC would keep employing police to investigate police, despite conceding outside investigators were the ideal.

"In an ideal world, where funds were not an issue that would be the gold standard model, but it does the police who investigate police a gross disservice to suggest that they don't do a good job," Mr MacSporran said.

Mr MacSporran says the CCC is now intervening earlier in internal police probes. ( ABC News: Josh Robertson )

Mr MacSporran said the urgent need for reform followed years of controversial cases mired in "delay, often the outcomes failed to meet public expectations, the procedures weren't transparent".

"It gave all the indications of being a completely broken system that no-one was happy with."

Details about mother leaked to partner despite DVO

Even amid the CCC's drive for reform, similar problems have flared in some cases on Mr MacSporran's watch.

These include a Gold Coast mother who complained to police in June 2016 about an officer who accessed the police database to leak confidential details about her to her former partner, who was bound by a domestic violence order.

Police substantiated her complaint but their response in April 2017 told her only that there was a "disciplinary hearing with the subject officer and the matter has been addressed".

The woman, whose family relocated out of fear for their safety, later found out the officer was "docked a pay point".

The officer remains on the job.

Asked if the original police explanation was good enough, Mr MacSporran said: "Look, I don't think so, frankly".

"People are entitled to know what the true facts are on the evidence and what the reasons are for not taking action as much as why we did take action."

Mr MacSporran said he did not know all the facts of the case but "my view generally speaking is if there is any pattern of behaviour like that, that should be potentially career threatening and career ending".

Former youth justice worker repeatedly punched

Another person bitterly disappointed in the police complaints system is Ray Currier, a former youth justice worker who was punched in the face by a police officer in 2015.

In June 2016, Mr MacSporran visited Mr Currier, to explain why the officer who punched him would not be charged with assault.

Sorry, this video has expired Ray Currier being punched by an officer while being arrested

Angered by the decision Mr Currier ordered the CCC boss to leave his house.

The officer claimed the force was justified because Mr Currier placed his hand on his gun holster as he wrestled the grandfather to the ground outside a Surfers Paradise nightclub in September 2015.

Mr MacSporran told the ABC he was initially "sceptical" about the officer's account, but "that's what the video actually showed".

"I don't suggest for a moment that Mr Currier was actually intending to take and or use the gun," he said.

A bitterly disappointed Ray Currier says he is suing police. ( ABC TV News - file image )

"But what was clear is that if that officer was charged with assault by excessive use of force, the prosecution would necessarily have to exclude the claim by the police officer that he believed honestly that he was in danger if his gun was removed from his holster by this fellow he was arresting.

"No reasonable prospect of ever prosecuting that police officer — as sceptical as you might be about the claim, there was evidence supporting it."

Mr Currier is suing police.

The public are 'hard markers': Police Commissioner

Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said "the public at times are hard markers" but the police had worked with the CCC and "should always be working" to improve its handling of complaints.

Mr Stewart acknowledged "longstanding concerns" about drawn-out disciplinary or criminal investigations of officers or former officers.

The police would "try and always meet the public expectation" and "do our best to explain" the results "but there will always be those who are still dissatisfied no matter what happens", Mr Stewart said.

He said while police took the leaking of personal information "very, very seriously", the handling of the Gold Coast mother's complaint was a "balancing act" between "the hurt that's occurred, the impact on that family ... and the processes that we have to go through in the discipline process".

Mr Stewart said he was "certainly happy to talk to that lady personally again if that would help her".

Rogue police to be 'weeded out'

Former ASIO officer Paul Gibbons said he was also preparing to sue police.

"If I was someone who didn't have my experience, who was easily intimidated, say for example I was a foreign tourist, I would have just dropped the matter," Mr Gibbons said.

Mr Gibbons said Queensland police uniforms and "the whole policing ethos up there is becoming more militaristic" and officers appeared to be "brought out as shock troops".

Mr MacSporran said excessive force remained a "significant problem" among a small minority.

But the new system, including the use of complaint statistics to rate officers, meant rogue police who could not act with restraint and discretion would be "weeded out" more quickly.