The CCP selection mechanism.

by CAA | Jan 23, 2020 | Library, Uncategorized

23rd January 2020

How many fails before the mechanism for the selection of Victoria Police Chief Commissioners is replaced with one that works.

Over the last twenty years, there have been five appointments of Chief Commissioners of the Victoria Police.  It is fair to say that the process of selection has been fatally flawed in the overwhelming majority of appointments.

How were the appointments of Chief Commissioners to the Victoria Police made?  What was the process that failed so dramatically and regularly?

The fiasco around the Ash Wednesday Bush Fires, the injustice done to Sir Ken Jones when he tried to highlight issues adversely affecting the Victoria Police, the highest ever crime rates, unacceptable street violence, drugs rampant, an unacceptable road toll and the current Royal Commission into the police use of informants is stark evidence that the appointment process has been utterly inadequate.  Why was this so?

Clearly, whoever was responsible, Victoria has suffered and is still suffering from a lack of effective leadership.  The members on the ground deserve leaders that they have confidence in and can trust.  The community also deserve to have the Police led by people who understand community policing and who put service to the public, particularly through crime prevention, first and foremost.

Just as clearly, the process of appointments must be overhauled so that the next appointment is not beset by past problems.  If the Victoria Police is to regain the trust of members and the public, the next appointment is of critical importance.

Victoria does not just need a leader who can manage a Police Service, but one who can repair the damage wrought and then lead the Force. It is essential that person be found. A fail in this process will ensure the Government of the day will subsequently rue that failure, and pay a very high price.

Please get the process right.

DRUGS AND ALCOHOL ABUSE – A MANAGEMENT SOLUTION

by CAA | Jan 12, 2020 | Library, Uncategorized

Having exposed the flaws in the current approach to Drugs and public intoxication https://caainc.org.au/how-could-we-be-so-wrong/, the CAA has applied its depth of experience to develop workable and practical solutions.

The proposed solutions aim to strike a pragmatic balance between compassion for those entrapped by addiction to drugs or alcohol and those who lack the moral fortitude to control their addiction and the danger to themselves and the whole community.

As a society, our social obligation transcends the current narrow obligations to addicts and users. Current strategies substantially favour addicts, and that must be adjusted as this strategy is manfestly a failure.

The focus in managing the drug and alcohol addiction problems must balance the community’s rights against the need to look after addicts, either addicted to drugs, alcohol or both.

Central to achieving this is transparent reporting to build integrity and the confidence of the community.

The Medically Supervised Injecting Room (MSIR)

The highest profile resource, seen by many as compassionate and caring, is the antithesis of what caring should be about. The MSIR provides services that promote and further the abuse of illicit drugs or addiction, not manage or reduce dependence. Additionally, the MSIR creates a substantial risk to other citizens by its location and function.

The MSIR is underperforming for drug addicts, has an adverse impact on the local community and  must be closed or repurposed.

Staff from the room collect huge quantities of used needles in the immediate surroundings and then claim needles are a reducing problem. https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/north-richmond-community-health-new-mums-request-transfer-away-from-injecting-room/news-story/

This tells another story. The MSIR is not being used by a large percentage of the addicts/users frequenting the area. Therefore, its purpose is questionable. The community is instead exposed to needle use and all the negative behaviours associated with drugs.

The impact on community amenity and the long-term impact on children growing up in a locality where drug abuse is normalised is unacceptable, particularly in a Housing Commission Estate next door to a Primary School and as part of a Community Health Centre complex.

Unfortunately, the Government has just announced the location of the new Drunk Tank, near a Primary School and in the middle of another housing precinct.

https://youtu.be/_RaWzJUeT0o

The Canada is Dying Documentary is essential viewing to understand appropriate responses to the issue.

The MSIR is a drug facilitator, and its function promote drug use (claiming the use of drugs in the facility is safe) and has created a hub for dealers to ply their trade, increasing the drug scourge, not reducing it. It is the equivalent of the Chadstone in our world, attracting customers.

Ethics of the MSIR

Primum non-nocere is the Latin phrase that means “first, do no harm.” This is a commonly taught principle in healthcare, the Hippocratic Oath.

We fail to see how medical professionals, at any level, can assist/facilitate/supervise addicts in the ingestion of illicit drugs, knowing the harm their actions inflict on the addict is contrary to the ethics of the medical profession.

The size of the problem

The City of Yarra says it collects 90,000 improperly disposed of used syringes a year, excluding those disposed of in local sharps containers and those collected twice a day by MSIR staff near the MSIR. The MSIR is feeding the growth of the problem, not reducing it, which surely must be its primary aim.

MSIR, an alternative

The current MSIR must be closed as a priority, and alternate facilities established to manage and look after addicts.

Drunk Tanks could be integrated with the Drug rooms and serve a dual purpose in caring for people under the influence of either substance.

The Proposal

A person under the influence of drugs or alcohol is moved to a facility, a Medically Supervised Recovery Centre (MSRC), for assessment by the authority of an Interim Health Order.

A doctor then determines an immediate management plan, and any health issues addressed. The Health Order is to remain in effect until a medical practitioner is satisfied that the person no longer poses a threat to themselves or others and has regained cognitive acuity.

Essentially, before discharge, the patient must be assessed and exposed to a pathway out of their demise.

Interim Health Orders are, as the name implies, a temporary authority to allow Authorised Officers to secure and transport illicit drug-affected persons to the MSRC.

Similarly, an Interim Heath Order would be an appropriate method to protect a drunk taken to the Drunk Tank facilities.

Authorised Officers would be a member of the Police Force, Ambulance personnel and other officers employed by the Health Department.

Most addicts or over-imbibers are incapable of rational thought. Moreover, it can be difficult to determine whether a person is inebriated on drugs or excessive alcohol, with many using both.

Because the new facilities would have a more holistic health solution orientation, the attraction for drug dealers to hover around such a  facility would be minimised.

A person who has been subject to an IHO or a HO when discharged from the MSRC should be transported to a mutually agreed location. This is critical to disperse dealers from hovering near an exit waiting for customers.

Rehabilitation

A joint report released in November 2022 between KPMG and Rethink Addiction has revealed:

‘The cost of addiction in Australia was an estimated $80.3 billion in 2021. In addition to this, the value of lost life was reported at a staggering $173.8 billion.’

Prescription and illicit drugs recorded 16% or $12.9 billion of that amount.

(We believe this figure may be a gross underestimation given the number of addicts.)

The National Framework for Drug and Alcohol Treatment Services says.

“It is well recognised that alcohol and other drugs (AOD) treatment is a good investment for governments and other funders with direct savings in future health costs, reduced demands on the criminal justice system and productivity gains. More importantly, evidence-informed treatment contributes to individual, social and economic goals by reducing the harms from alcohol or drug use and improving the well-being of individuals and families.”

https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/national-quality-framework-for-drug-and-alcohol-treatment-services?

The Salvation Army in San Francisco has developed a system of care, ‘The Way Out’, and this concept could well be integrated into the MSRC and applies equally to the homeless and addicts.

Community cooperation

It is essential that for this new approach to succeed, nearly as much emphasis needs to be placed on taking the community along on the journey as creating the project.

It is imperative that well-thought-out and targeted marketing strategies aimed directly in a coordinated way at reducing the social acceptance of drug use and alcohol abuse are as essential as the other components.

    Conclusion

The CAA recommends that a Working Party be established with the purpose of recommending to the Government how this initiative can be costed and implemented.

We know that where governments have given up on drug and alcohol abuse, crime is rampant, and the amenity of many a city and community is lost.

This proposal is a world first and will satisfy the ‘wolves and the lambs’, of Aesop’s fable.

The Gobbo Show rolls on……………

by CAA | Jan 4, 2020 | Library, Uncategorized

4th January 2020

This article is the first in a series of commentaries on the issues facing Victoria exposed by the Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants.

Many Victorians were sceptical of the Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants. As the process started most public sentiment towards the Royal Commission was, it is a waste of time because even if the Police tactics were not kosher with lawyers, the end justified the means.

After all, we are not talking about the pillars of society, but murders and drug lords being locked up, and that is a good thing, isn’t it?

As many Victorians have watched the evolution of this Commission, attitudes are changing.

The realisation that if Police use those tactics, breaching the principles of our legal system trying to bring criminals to account, breaking the very laws and principles they are sworn to uphold, they may also use them on us.

Who draws the line, the Police, the State; the next sequential step in creating a police state which leads us inevitably to totalitarianism.

The community is fast coming to the realisation that the old adage, ‘whether you are a prince or pauper, saint or sinner’, we are, and should all be, equal before the Law.

Former Justice McMurdo, the Royal Commissioner and her team, are conducting an outstanding forensic examination of witnesses which is a long way from being finished. Confidence is however, building in the community, that she shall expose the truth and ensure those responsible are held to account.

The transparency of the Commission must be commended because this of itself is a major influencer of positive public opinion, a lesson that should be learned in other areas of jurisprudence.

There have been a number of serving and former Police who have been examined, and that will end many a career, and the potential for many to ultimately be investigated and face criminal charges cannot be discounted. As the Commission progresses that option is becoming more likely,

The New Year will herald further bombshells, as one by one serving and former Senior Police decide to clear their conscience and mitigate their demise. There are a whole host of former Senior Executives so far not publicly examined that were either temporarily or were appointed to fill Senior Executive positions over this period, some for extended periods.

They were all potentially in a position where they did or should have known what was going on with Gobbo. Gobbos activities were far from isolated interventions covering many years and a broad range of criminal activities of substantial variation.

By Gobbos estimates the number and frequency of informing was prolific, how could the most senior executives of that era not know what was going on, denials are either farcical or the incumbents were grossly inept.

Culpability must also extend to those executives that conspired to cover up the actions of this artifice whether by use of the legal system or otherwise that only served to extend and exacerbate the original reprehensible behaviour. In many ways, their behaviour is more reprehensible than the original architects.

They all must have known what was going on. It is fanciful to suggest that authorising or orchestrating a cover-up without knowing what you are covering up beggars belief.

It is alarming to consider that the replacement for Ashton later this year may be drawn from this group of potentially corrupt. That would be a bad day for policing in Victoria.

It is also bordering on fanciful that lawyers, particularly those that conspired with Victoria Police to hide the Gobbo matters using the Courts, didn’t know what was going on. Remembering that lawyers are Officers of the Court and with that goes obligations which some may well have breached.

Number 11 Exhibition Street, Melbourne might just have the busiest foyer in the city when the Commission resumes. We predict that the door for deals is not far from being slammed shut by the Royal Commission, so the traffic in and out will be frenetic.

Sir Ken Jones is the only Executive Officer who so far has demonstrated any attempt to stop the Gobbo artifice, and for that, he paid an enormous personal price, and his career was ruined by the architects of the Gobbo show.

A man of integrity that Victoria owes a debt of gratitude.

CULTURE – THE HEART OF EVERY SUCCESSFUL ENTERPRISE

by CAA | Dec 26, 2019 | Library, Uncategorized

The Discipline Notice

At the heart of every healthy and resilient organisation is its culture. A culture can wax and wane, but it is the culture that creates the environment for a successful, productive and dynamic enterprise. At its cultural peak an organisation can be unassailable in its quest for success, at its worst it will destroy that very same organisation making it circumscribed,  insipid, racked with problems producing lacklustre results.

Many of the influences on the culture dynamic are very subtle, and others not so, however, to re-energise a negative culture takes a particular management skill.

One of the things we do know from our experience is that a culturally sound and dynamic organisation is not plagued by embarrassing leaks to the media because there are no embarrassments to leak.

Media leaks are symptomatic of a culturally weak organisation, and the problem is exasperated by ‘Witch Hunts’, focusing on the source of the leak, rather than energy directed at solving the issue leaked.’ Witch Hunts’ are damaging to the culture and used by management to divert focus from their ineptitude.

We recommend the Force adopt a Discipline Penalty Notice (DPN) approach to discipline within the organisation capable of dealing with eighty per cent of the discipline matters of the organisation.

The focus of this system is to correct behaviours, and if that fails, to provide empirical evidence to terminate the police member.

The advantages of discipline notice are:

1. The application of discipline can be closely monitored in both its application and impact, by location and individual managers and will remove or readily identify examples of harassment.
2. Managers will not need to negotiate to avoid rationalisation debates and conflict.
3. The system will be cost-effective by removing convoluted disciplinary procedures.
4. To free up resources dedicated to disciplinary matters to further bolster frontline policing.
5. To provide essential information for selection boards. Selection boards having access to notices issued against an applicant or where rank appropriate the number of notices issued by the applicant are both valuable inputs, to assess any applicant.
6. Provide empirical data for any consideration of a member’s ability to remain in the organisation.

What might a Discipline Notice system look like?

The main components of the system should be:

• To recognise natural justice principles of fairness.
• To not be cumbersome.
• To ensure a single notice does not result in the imposition of a fine. However, the second notice in a predetermined period should activate both penalties.
• A period of six months without further breaches should see the expiration of the original notice and the original notice expunged from the records.
• The penalties must be scaled. However, the temptation for high penalties must be avoided as the application of this process has broader implications than the monetary penalty.
• A right of appeal within a predetermined period, for example, seven days, must be provided to either a nominated Panel and or the Police Discipline Board.
• Fines set ranging from $20 – $200 to discourage frivolous appeals.
• Penalties, when applied, must be recovered at the following pay period.
• Line managers must be given real-time data on the use of this process within their span of command to enable action to be taken against misuse.
• Notices must generally be issued at the time of the infringement, delaying the issuing minimises the effect.
• Once a Notice is issued, the onus will shift to the member to justify the breach on appeal.

The kinds of discipline offences that might be included are:

Not being available to start work at the rostered time.

Ceasing duty before the allotted shift expiration.

Presenting for duty with a hairstyle that does not comply with the policy.

Unkempt Uniform.

Failing to maintain footwear in a serviceable and clean condition.

Failing to wear headwear outside the precincts of a police building.

Failing to properly brief fellow officers on matters likely to affect their performance of duty or adversely affect the public.

Unauthorised access to material on the Police Intranet.

Use of police IT resources for other than Police work.

Abusive or belligerent behaviour in the workplace.

Making racial or sexist slurs or gestures.

Failing to report to superiors incidents of harassment, bullying or sexually inappropriate behaviour of others.

Failing to comply with a supervisor’s reasonable and lawful instruction.

Failing to complete required correspondence in a timely manner.

Failing to properly deal with a member of the Public.

Failing to follow up on a report by a member of the public.

Failing to be courteous or compassionate to a member of the public.

Failing to maintain Police equipment in a serviceable condition.

The unauthorised release of information to the media.

Insubordination.

Asleep on duty.

Failing to perform the allocated rostered duty.

These are but a few matters that can be dealt with under this process. There is no doubt there are many more that can be added to the list — the more added, the less need for specialist investigators.

This process will be a huge step in moving decision making from a centralised system closer to where the action causing the beach is played out and empowers line managers to take greater control of their area of responsibility.

With this proposal outline, we are confident that a small committed team could have this system operational in a reasonably short period. The success of the program will be the implementation with the deliberate acceptance that once it is operational, there will be a need for adjustments until the best process evolves. This is a principle used widely and effectively in the private sector.

Trying to make it perfect before implementation will assign this initiative to a premature grave.

Police Hostile Vehicle Policy – a snowflake

by CAA | Dec 2, 2019 | Library, Uncategorized

2nd December 2019

The new Hostile Vehicle policy recently announced by Victoria Police allegedly clarifies the difficulty police face in trying to make accurate assessments of when to escalate a Police response.

This, however, is a snowflake policy

– it will turn to sludge when the heat is applied.

The major flaw is that it is, “Police Policy,” not legislation, so a police member could follow this policy or instruction, and still be charged with serious crimes by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC), even if VicPol finds that action complied with this policy.

Additionally, this policy does nothing to protect the police member from civil litigation. It may be the State that is sued, but the emotional damage to the member cannot be underrated.

The Hostile Vehicle Policy describes the circumstances that might see a vehicle subject to this policy, but the descriptors are so broad and underdefined the onus again falls to the police member confronted with the incident, nothing changes.

Instilling ambiguity discourages members from acting decisively, the opposite of what we want from them.

A police member cannot definitively hope to determine what the threat is of a driver/perpetrator by location and driving, usually until it is too late. Therefore, a definitive set of rules must be developed so police can act with the confidence that their decision will not be second-guessed.

To give police, and us (the public), half a chance, legislation as an amendment to the Police Act should at the very least determine a Hostile Vehicle as; ‘A vehicle that is driven in a manner to avoid interception or fail to respond to the overt demands by police to stop. As the perpetrator escalates avoidance, so should the application of force.’

The perpetrator may or may not have intentions of mass murder, but avoiding interception can be just as dangerous to the public, whatever the motivation. Decisive actions will be an outstanding deterrent leading to fewer incidents.

This policy, however, may help the police executive, seen to be doing something, but the risks to the police members on the street does not diminish one little bit.

This policy leaves it to a police executive to make a subjective call after the event as to whether the policy was complied with, the problem that already exists.

We are astonished that the Police Association has not opposed this policy, seeking legislative protection for its members.

Currently, the Association is focused on an Enterprise Bargaining Agreement seeking amongst other things a four percent pay rise. We would argue that reducing the likelihood of members losing their job is a higher priority. While this nominal rise is well justified, we suspect many members would like to know that their employment is protected by legislation to perform their duties first and their pay increase second. A matter of economics.

At this time, the question that must be put; had these guidelines been in place earlier, would the outcome of the Bourke Street massacre have been different?

We would argue, probably not. It was not the pursuit policy or lack thereof; it was a culture that has been infused into the organisation where the spectre of ever-present repercussions and poor leadership negatively influences front line police actions.

This new policy offers no additional protection for members than existed at the time of the massacre; therefore, it is unlikely to encourage police to expose themselves to more danger, to protect us.

It is time for decisive legislative action.

The success of the Nuremberg defence,” I was just following (the hostile vehicle policy) orders”, was problematic for many Nazi war criminals executed after the Nuremberg Trials.

Although the execution of police members may be metaphoric, the reality exists, and to expect our police to protect us without protecting them against sanctions is a travesty.

The Community Advocacy Alliance (CAA) has long advocated for the use of technology that if it had been implemented, would have avoided the Bourke Street massacre, and removed the danger of many other incidents involving vehicles but the Government and Victoria Police ignore the advice.

The CAA initiative would increase the police capability, dramatically reduce demands on resources and increase the ability to save lives substantially, beyond criminality and save the Government millions in settlements.

An interesting conundrum now appears. Should this policy be retrospective?

We only have access to media reports, but it would appear, there are cases where police members disciplined or are before the courts, that had this Policy applied to their situation, their actions would have complied?

In the interests of justice, the Chief Commissioner must immediately implement an audit of all matters currently before the courts and or subject to disciplinary procedures and where, in any case, a member under this new policy would not be proceeded against, withdraw the matter immediately.

If the Chief Commissioner does not undertake the audit, the Police Association must, to protect its members.

Hoisting the white flag on drugs

by CAA | Nov 26, 2019 | Library, Uncategorized

26th November 2019

Now a fifteen-year-old has died of a suspected heroin overdose in the vicinity of the ‘Safe Injecting Room’.

And already a chorus of “drop the age to let kids in’, ‘let friends (read dealers) come in and help inject their friends (read clients)’, ‘let the pregnant woman in to inject’ – bring their kids to learn -, open up more safe injecting rooms it saves thousands of lives’.

The messages – drugs are safe – drugs are not bad – injecting rooms do not create a marketing mega-site for dealers – injecting rooms do not provide a hub for the drug class – you won’t die from drugs if you do it at our place.

And here is the million dollar question, that no apologist will ask let alone answer

1. Where do the drug addicts get their money to feed their addiction and use these nice clean facilities?
2. CRIME, yes, you and I pay for it, and that crime is not restricted to property crime but crime against the person.

A society that promotes an activity that supports crime – how dumb are we?

Add to this, a leading list of luminaries, including a former Police Commissioner turned academic, have capitulated recently and called for the decriminalisation of certain drugs.

Decriminalisation is no more than an admission that they do not know how to deal with the problem recycling decriminalisation every couple of years and thankfully ignored as regularly visit https://hoobastank.de/.

Our view differs from these defeatists and apologists for the illicit drug trade, believing that there are plenty of smart people in this country, and with a genuine commitment, we can find a solution. If not a solution, we can dramatically reduce the harm. The current strategies are a dismal failure, and the problem continues to grow unabated.

National legal drug usage, tobacco and alcohol, are in decline at about the same rate as illicit drugs are on the ascendancy (ABS), but the defeatists choose to ignore those successes and give up.

One of the key traps they have fallen for is the arguments of the illicit drug apologists focusing on the poor addicts portrayed as innocent victims of this whole affair. They are the players, we the public, who do not indulge in illicit drugs, and are the victims.

The significant difference between these poor drug addicts that need special considerations is that addicts of alcohol or tobacco are unlikely to commit a crime to feed their addiction or use their addiction to mitigate their unlawful behaviour and most importantly pressure our young people to indulge.

Despite some of the positives, the overall effect of the current strategies, safe injecting rooms, pill testing, free needle exchange and mitigation of penalties for criminal behaviour sends an unambiguous message to our vulnerable youth that drugs are not that bad. These current strategies grow the problem, not reduce it.

The free needles are popular, but the exchange bit doesn’t work too well and explains the hazardous spent syringes polluting our public spaces and waterways, in many suburbs, to plague proportions, and while we attack single-use shopping bags that are a terrible pollutant the single-use syringe appears not to be an issue. In today’s society, you get into more trouble not picking up your dog’s droppings than a Hep C infected drug addict leaving used syringes in parks, playgrounds and public places pokebud, a danger for inquisitive young children.

Make no mistake; this proposition is reinforced by the drug pushers who approach your children, remember their motivation is sales, so they will emphasise positive spin and use the attitude of those wanting to decriminalise drugs to their marketing advantage. No different to a car salesman emphasising the strengths of the car you may be considering. The car salesman is unlikely to let you know the car is a lemon.

There are a number of factors that are regularly ignored by the inadvertent apologists for the drug trade.

• You cannot force a drug addict to rehabilitate.
• Drug addicts are consummate and practised liars.
• Street addicts are the drug pushers that need to feed their addiction and increase their sales, and your children provide the potential market.
• Many drug addicts enjoy living on the edge in the drug scene.
• Drug addicts are generally lazy, avoiding all typical responsibilities.
• Any support beyond rehabilitation for a drug addict extends their addiction.
• They are unlikely to seek genuine help until they hit rock bottom and too often not even then.
• Lack of support is the best driver to encourage addicts to rehabilitation.
• Prevention strategies to reduced illicit drug use are minimal, which is odd given the growth trends.

The most frightening aspect of decimalisation of illicit drugs is, what will be the unintended consequences.

The theft of motor cars did not diminish dramatically in line with the introduction of engine immobilisers to the Australian car fleet. When the crooks found they could not hotwire a car, the home invasion epidemic was spawned. The need to gain access to car keys outweighed the risks of the consequence of a home invasion.

The decriminalisation of drugs is guaranteed to spawn another possibly more egregious evolution of criminal practices that will befall the community. Whatever form that practice takes will not be good for us.

If the proponents of the decriminalisation approach believe the criminals of this country will sacrifice their lifestyle, power and money, then they are truly naive. Extortion and kidnapping may become an epidemic.

The only practical solution to this issue is to use tried and successful marketing strategies of supply and demand. Reduce the demand, and the supply will be more significantly impacted than any efforts to remove drug wholesalers from the market because as soon as you remove one, another takes the place because the demand is still there.

Reducing demand, which we could do if we are committed, will damage the business model of pyramid selling the drug trade relies on.

Essentially the necessary components to this strategy are:

• Police to target street addicts/users.
• Establish a short term facility for addicts secured under the Health Act to break their lifestyle and market share for short periods.
• Invest in advertising the risks of drugs on social media and how to deal with a family addict on mainstream media.
• Direct the Courts to require them to send addicts to a Health Department facility for short periods, on conviction for possession or use for the first offence seven or fourteen days then escalating on subsequent offences.
• Possession of small quantities of any illicit drug qualifies.
• Provide the power to escalate detention on the frequency of recidivism.
• Drive the street trade underground away from our kids.

This process will not have an overnight impact, but as it builds, so will its effectiveness and impact.

It has to be better than what we are doing now, which really amounts to very little, but of course, decriminalisation is doing nothing, and that is the easiest option in dealing with this insidious problem destroying many of our communities.

Ivan W Ray

Police Veteran                                                                                                                         Chief Executive Officer                                                                                                  Community Advoacy Alliance Inc.                                                                                       caainc.org.au

Police Veterans back to School

by CAA | Nov 22, 2019 | Library, Uncategorized

23rd November 2019

Retiring from a career in policing, a dedicated group of Police Veterans who are sick and tired of bureaucrats having talkfests achieving very little to curb the rising juvenile crime rate, the lack of respect for police and teachers, have banded together forfeiting retirement time to do something about it.

And the one person you would think would embrace this initiative, the Chief Commissioner has refused to support the effort.

A bit like giving away a free-kick.

The Chief cited a 2006 internal police review of the then Police In Schools that identified some management problems.  An independent Monash academic review published in 2004 concluded that the program had substantial merit and was effective in teaching the tenets of good citizenship to young people while teaching them how to avoid situations that could cause them harm.  While this review also concluded that there were some management issues they could have, and should have, been easily fixed.

Police Veterans have watched with dismay as efforts to address the youth problem seem to have had no meaningful impact. Rehashing of unsuccessful programs rebadged as ‘new’, like the Youth Committees of stakeholders, that failed in the 80’s and again in the 90’s, are being touted yet again.

Recent calls demanding respect for police fail to recognise that respect is earned, not mandated as many dictators have learnt to their detriment.

Similar to these demands is the current strategy of police in Victoria to arrest their way out of the problem, and the citizens of this state are expected to act like lemmings and accept this strategy and not challenge it.

Waiting for our young people to offend, then targetting them without applying any effort to divert them from a criminal path is not what the community expects from our police force. This approach, a product of policing of the 50’s and 60’s, does nothing to help build respect so that our frontline police are not used as a punching bag.

This arrest approach also increases the demand for more police and with Victoria already having the highest number of police to population ratio for Australia. When will the realisation occur that throwing more police and resource at the arrest strategy is not working?  Where will it end?

In Victoria, the wholesale jettisoning of youth programs in the early 2000’s has substantially contributed to the current situation. Police in Schools and Blue Light Discos were the cornerstones of police youth interaction. Police in Schools was shut down entirely and support for Blue Light withdrawn.

Contrast these decisions of Victoria Police to all the other states in Australia, as well as New Zealand, who adopted these two programs created in Victoria and have embraced them where they continue to prosper and survive.

If the rationale for jettisoning these programs in Victoria was sound, then why have they not been jettisoned elsewhere? All other the states and New Zealand cannot be wrong.

The move to disengage from youth was an error. However, the greatest failure is to not rectify the situation. That action would gain respect. VicPol does not do the admission of errors well, at our peril.

Police Veterans returned to class this week to prepare for the introduction of the Police Veterans in Schools Program (PVISP), an initiative of the Community Advocacy Alliance  Inc. (CAA), a registered charity group chaired by retired Chief Commissioner Kel Glare.

The program is offered to primary schools and has been designed to fit within the state curriculum. The Police Veteran will become a valuable addition to each school community and can play an essential role in supporting school staff. Liaison with police and other agencies to assist with problems encountered by the schools will be a natural extension of their work to help with the development of young people, a basis for starting the long road to reduce juvenile crime and rebuild respect in the community for Police.

The program will cover many social issues. For example, the role of the police and the law,  personal safety of children, bullying, drug abuse, domestic violence, harm minimisation and a particular focus on road safety and public transport issues.

The Police Veterans will provide a reference point for children and their parents to discuss issues of concern.

Police in Victoria do visit schools on an ad hoc basis, but this program has substantially more depth.  It is planned and outcomes capable of being measured. Most people who experienced the original program still remember the names of the police involved, but a cursory visit to a school by police to play games may have some benefit but does nothing to build long term relationships and achieve a lasting impression and respect.

One of the crucial yardsticks of programs of this type is the impact and retention of the messages delivered, where some programs are all about rewarding bad behaviour and are counterproductive at read this post from norgescåsino.

Additionally, the CAA is working with the Les Twentyman Foundation to introduce youth workers as a resource for young people as part of the program.

Policing is a people business.  Relationships and trust are essential and take time to build.

A time to remember

by CAA | Oct 13, 2019 | Library, Uncategorized

12th October 2019

On one of the darkest days in the history of Victoria Police, the ambush and murder of the Divisional Van crew, call sign Prahran 311, Constables Steven TYNAN and Damian EYRE, I reflect on today, October 11, in 1988. The day the chain reaction started with the shooting of Graeme Jensen in a roadside intercept in Narre Warren by members of the Armed Robbery Squad ( ARS).  Don’t get me wrong, Jensen was a low life, recidivist criminal who was an alleged prolific armed robber and was tied up with the Allen/Pettingill clan who were into anything and everything you could possibly think of, and then some.

Jensen’s death, at the hands of members from the ARS caused a knee jerk reaction on the part of Jensen’s associates that culminated in the ambush and murder of Tynan and Eyre just before 0500 hrs on October 12, 1988 a mere 13 hours after Jensen’s death.  It was obvious who the initial suspects were right from the get-go.

The two junior Constables weren’t the only victims though.. Veteran Homicide Detective Senior Sergeant John Hill who investigated Jensen’s shooting, committed suicide in 1993 two months after being charged by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) with being an accessory to murder after the fact, for allegedly concealing evidence that the police members involved were criminally liable for Jensen’s death.

John Hill always maintained his innocence of the charge and felt that his integrity had been destroyed when he was charged. Sadly he didn’t live to see the charges being thrown out and VicPol lost one of its most amazing mentors and best detectives. Eight members from the ARS were directly presented by the DPP, but only one member’s charges proceeded to trial where he was aquited, that member is now Assistant Commissioner Bob Hill  (no relation to Det Snr/Sgt John Hill).

Over the years, tongues have loosened and consciences been pricked resulting in further investigations and more information becoming public record.  Some police royally botched things and made incredibly poor errors of judgement on this day 31 years ago and the ramifications have become part of our history. Maybe one day the whole truth will come out, it won’t change things for Damian Eyre, Steve Tynan or John Hill and their families but it will put to an end the secrecy and teflon like cloak of inviolability that surrounds the main players.

RIP Steven, Damian and John, you’re remembered to this day because of how you passed and the events that preceded it.

Jo Donovan

CAA Board

39 seconds to change Policing perceptions

by CAA | Oct 10, 2019 | Library, Uncategorized

11th October 2019

How good is this?

The Community Advocacy Alliance (CAA) is a strong advocate for building positive relationships between the Police and the community, and we are always looking for new initiatives, but his one is a standout.

Since the introduction of Random Breath Testing (RBT) and the ubiquitous Booze Bus many years ago, the concept has not changed. Although a very effective tool in driver compliance. Nobody it would seem has had a look at the quantitative approach of the maximum throughput of drivers to a more qualitative outcome for the resource commitment.

Although it is recognised that the Bus’s high visibility presence does of itself provide a deterrent, it has taken Senior Sergeant  Bruce Peel of Queensland Police to have a look at the traditional RBT strategy and apply some lateral and creative thought to this process.

Senior Sergeant Peel, working with the University of Queensland, developed a program entitled PACT.

The PACT initiative, (P) Purpose of engagement with the driver, (A) Acknowledgement of good habits, (C) Delivering an anti-Crime message, (T)Thanking the driver for the engagement.

The anti-Crime message is importantly relevant to the locality and can involve asking the community for assistance.

All this only takes thirty-nine seconds of additional time over a traditional test, but what a powerful message opportunity with the full attention of the driver.

The six month trial of PACT is currently underway, with the resources of Queensland University applied to measure the impact and effectiveness of this strategy. Early signs are that it is having a positive effect on crime and driver compliance alike.

It has been long acknowledged anecdotally at least, that crime and alcohol or drug non-compliance are interrelated. PACT addresses both and therefore when target areas are identified, the crime levels can be part of the targeting considerations.

We would encourage Victoria Police to follow this initiative.

There is, however, a beautiful irony that is not lost on the CAA.

The PACT program is very much in line with the traditional policing principles that have stood the test of time.

The Principles were penned by British Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel in the 1820s; we would have to wonder whether Senior Sergeant Peel is related.

Innovative Law enforcement is perhaps in the genes.

Ivan Ray

CEO CAA

De-Forcing VicPol – Don’t tell the Chief

by CAA | Oct 3, 2019 | Library, Uncategorized

I was recently given a book by a friend with the only advice; you will enjoy the read. Being diametrically opposed to the Policing values and strategies introduced by former Chief Commissioner Nixon, her photo on the fly cover seemed to ensure I wouldn’t enjoy the book. I had assumed it would be just a self-serving papering over of the facts of her tenure.

I was puzzled as my friend knew my views, and for that reason, I took on the assignment.

I am not sure that enjoyment was the emotion I experienced. As I waded into the book it became clear that arguably, and sadly, it chronicled how The Victoria Police Force had been de-forced, and how a toxic environment was created to allow the likes of the Lawyer X catastrophe to evolve, as well as many other management debacles that still have a negative impact on VicPol today.

The book is by Stephen Linnell the Victoria Police Media Director during the reign of Christine Nixon, 2001 to 2009.

A decade on, and VicPol still struggles to recover.

I have never met, and do not know Stephen Linnell, so this is an independent comment. As for Nixon I have never met or had contact with her. My knowledge and opinion of Nixon is based purely on media reports and ‘informed sources’.

It is clear from this book that what many former Police suspected for a long time was, in fact correct.  VicPol management was destroyed by incompetent, skill-less pretenders and self- centred egotists, who were masquerading as Police professionals that were focused on themselves, rather than what they were employed to do.

Nixon’s role was that of a facilitator creating the environment for these things to evolve.

The organisation was run and may still be, by a coterie of Elites, serving only their objectives to gain and hold onto power.

According to this book, not only did Linnell have a front-row seat to the machinations of VicPol, but he was swept up in it and paid an enormous personal cost for loyalty.

I know many of my contemporaries often muse the conundrum of just what happened that took Victoria Police from the preeminent Police Force in Australia, to become the most inept, and derided by other Police Forces.

The book as it turns out, is a fascinating insight from within, chronicling the decay of the management of Victoria Police and the evolution of phenomena like Judicial Management, and the folly of Matrix Mangement, just two of the go-to tools of the Elites.

Judicial Management has now become entrenched and is used to control the members through the use of legal instruments. Whether that be the Courts or other organisations designed to fight serious corruption they are instead used to manage the awkward or those perceived to be threats to the Elites power base.

Linnell was swept up in the Noel Ashby, Paul Mullet struggle of the early 2000s where the art of Judicial Management was developed, later to be refined and applied to Sir Ken Jones who’s efforts to stop the Lawyer X debacle were thwarted.

The hope is that one day the sealed affidavits used to gain warrants for Telephone intercepts used by the Elites and hidden from scrutiny are opened, and we can see the alleged justification that led to partners and children of Police executives having their phones tapped. That will also clear any fears that the Judiciary or the Legal fraternity were complicit in this practice.

Linnell became a prime victim who was destroyed after being trapped by a process supposedly to fight crime and corruption rather than questionable matters like an executive power struggle that should have been dealt with by the Chief.

This whole matter was the product of the Elites forming suspicions based on questionable material and then set about trying to create the facts to fit their narrative. This is the antithesis of proper Police investigations, which involves gathering the evidence first, then determining what if any offences exist.

If you have an interest in the goings-on in the upper echelon of Victoria Police during that era and perhaps why VicPol is where it is today, ‘Don’t tell the Chief’, by Stephen Linnell, Wilkinson Publishing 2010. Still available from a number of online retailers.

You will be amazed at some of the crazy management processes bordering on bizarre that were implemented.

Police Veterans in Schools Program

by CAA | Sep 26, 2019 | Library, Uncategorized

26th September 2019

The planning is progressing for the start of the Police Veterans In Schools Program (PVISP), and I am pleased to advise that we have many with their shoulders to the wheel to make this happen.

The above logo is the one proposed to be used throughout the program and will look smart and present the program as professional. Derivations of the same logo will be used across many applications.

At this stage, the PVISP Polos will feature only the CAA logo, but provision is made that partner logos can also be included as we move forward.

We are excited that Youth Workers from the Twentyman Foundation will be involved in this program.

Schools that have shown a keen interest in the program are currently being assessed as to which ones we may be able to start with. Equally, we have many volunteers that are also being evaluated and we will be talking to both groups further as we develop.

We anticipate that the official launch will be towards the end of October; however, the program will start closer to the commencement of the fourth term.

As soon as we determine a date and select the school, we will be forwarding invitations to VIP’s and the media as well as all volunteers who have expressed interest.

We have done a lot of groundwork and plan this to be a substantial media event.

We will also be announcing who will conduct the Official opening.

We will distribute updates as matters are confirmed.

Regards

Ivan  Ray

CEO CAA

Ps. The PVISP Co-ordinators contact details are Robin Bailey (Veteran Coordinator)  robbailey10@outlook.com and Frank Byrne (School Coordinator) fcbyrne@bigpond.com