![A WEB OF CORPORATE RUBBISH]()
by CAA | Mar 27, 2020 | Library, Uncategorized
28th March 2020
From time to time, we receive anonymous material allegedly originating from within Victoria Police. The latest gem to fall our way is the ‘Community Web of Protection’, and we sincerely hope that this is a flight of fancy rather than a serious concept being considered to be flogged as some sort of BluePrint to protect the community.
We are mindful of the paranoia of Victoria Police to leaks, which is legendary. When it comes to operational matters, we strongly support confidentiality, however, that the paranoia extends to administrative matters borders on churlish.
The amount of resources applied to some of these administrative leaks is ridiculous and a distraction from the police core activity, something we find very hard to justify when it generally looks to be an effort to avoid accountability by the organisation, or embarrassment to the executive.
It has been our experience that a competent organisation does not hemorrhage administrative leaks designed to embarrass it. A happy workforce just does not feel the need, because they can openly question things.
We would be very pleased to be advised this is not a sanctioned concept.
‘What we are going to do’, How we are going to do it’, sounds very much like the lyrics from a rally chant we hear in the city nearly every Friday.
We would hope that this did not impinge on Police resources because if it did it is a wanton waste that could be applied more productively to the front line, and that is where the authors/s should be.
The accompanying note claimed that this concept was, ‘dreamt up in the bowels of Victoria Police’, and Operational police that have been exposed to the ‘Web’, respond with bewilderment. We can understand that reaction.
The CAA has been exposed to this sort of rubbish from within VicPol previously, and they all follow a similar pattern. The difference with this one is that it trumpets its uselessness in its own portrayal.
The common denominators of this sort of corporate rubbish are,
- Fails to say how it is to be done.
- Fails to say what is to be done.
- Fails to say who is responsible for it to be done.
- Fails to say when we know it is done.
- Fails to show a benchmark, so we will know it is being done.
- Fails to show how it will be measured to know it is done.
- Fails to identify the resources to be applied to get, whatever it is, done.
- Fails to identify the cost of having, whatever it is, done.
The only saving grace is there is no Police Badge on the document indicating it may not be officially adopted or sanctioned.
Let us hope so.
by CAA | Mar 25, 2020 | Library, Uncategorized
26th March 2020 – Contributor
In a well-written article, by the CAA‘A novel idea – how about a Vicpol AUDIT ‘, presents an argument of great importance to law and order, within Victoria, now and into the future.
In the lead to your article, you described “The Peter Principle”. That concept was elucidated in the 1969 book ‘The Peter Principle’, by Dr Peter and Raymond Hull.
For those unfamiliar with this concept in management developed by Laurence J. Peter, it observes that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to their maximum “level of incompetence”.
Thus, an employee is promoted based on their success in previous jobs [or nepotism] until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent, as skills in one job do not necessarily translate to another.
Organisations “infected” by the Peter Principle cannot heal themselves – they do not know what they do not know, and do not have the skills to adequately operate.
Worse, incompetent individual operatives in such organisations fear discovery, and resist offers of help; cover-ups are rife.
They see the organisational culture as their friend, but in reality, it is a major contributor to their incompetence.
The solution, as often applied in private enterprise, is to strongly “flush” organisational incompetence by replacing sufficient numbers of apparently incompetent Administrative [decision-making] Staff, particularly the most Senior Staff and including some prominent middle-level Managers, so as to ensure a serious and major change of organisational culture which will reach to all Operative Staff. Neither are Operatives beyond reach of the guillotine.
How can this CAA article reach a much wider audience than that normally achieved by CAA articles…..?
It deserves a special effort to distribute it widely into the community.
I believe that most of Officialdom, [inside and outside VicPol] who are in a position to action the matters raised in the CAA article, will be affected by:
- guilt from past commissions or omissions and/or
- existing or potential conflict of interest and/or
- being inhibited from a moral response by their cognitive dissonance.
Therefore, a significant groundswell of community indignation will be required to cause Officialdom to act to sincerely and thoroughly investigate,
attribute accountability, and cause corrections, to straighten out VicPol.
Beware of the probability that some of Officialdom and Hierarchy will anxiously anticipate that the appointment of a new CCP will “fix” the problems, and thus allow numerous parties to “escape unscathed”.
The very carefully considered and widely-accepted appointment of the new CCP is absolutely critical to current law and order within Victoria, and such a person obviously must set a high standard for well into the future.
But consider the challenge to locate and appoint an individual who has the required basket of abilities, and who:
- likes to receive a poisoned chalice?
- has experience of achieving “mission impossible”?
- demonstrates senior-level policing skills, as well as wide lower-level working experience.
- can prove successful high-level professional business management experience.
- shows corporate political nouse, and unshakeable party political neutrality.
- displays genuine police competence, and a strong desire to flush organisational incompetence.
The role definition, election, and appointment of the new Chief Commissioner is far too important to the community welfare to be left in the hands of politicians and bureaucrats not competent to perform the task.
John Basham
ex-S/C15560.
by CAA | Mar 19, 2020 | Library, Uncategorized
19th March 2020
We have been told that the Community Advocacy Alliance (CAA) is made up of Police and civilian Neanderthals, but we have put our collective minds together with our four hundred years of policing experience and connected a few dots, that the Government and the Chief Commissioner should have a serious think about.
Unlike many others, including the Prime Minister berating us all as uncaring dolts, we should really have a think about just what is going on.
Firstly, we do not believe that the majority of Australians are uncaring and selfish.
Secondly, if this was just a matter of your average Joe simply hoarding for their own use, their financial capacity to hoard (and the space) would have been exhausted by now.
If you peel back the layers, you will expose that this is the work of organised crime gangs.
There is a pattern that has been developing where particular products are targeted to create a market shortage, whether real or perceived so that the Criminals can then make a killing selling on the Black market at exorbitant prices.
The latest, buying up of all children’s Panadol is a classic and cruel example, that is way over the top, trying to exploit the emotive relationship of a parent to their child, Australians are just not that selfish.
How can we predict with confidence that the criminal enterprises are behind this?
Where else would a sector of the community have ready access to the substantial amounts of cash, now in the millions, and with Supermarkets reporting they have supplied enough goods to service a population of seventy-five Million people, enough for three times the population of the country. As individuals, we just do not have the financial capital to achieve this.
So, who is behind this extraordinary event – the drug Tsars, of course.
The other give away is the teams travelling by bus to country supermarkets to crowd surge and empty them out.
We note that Peter Dutton has latched onto this. However, we have grave doubts much of this product is headed overseas when a market is being created right here, and the existing drug empires have a structure already in place for distribution by the drug mules and the heavies to enforce payments.
The Government is going to have to move very rapidly to create Black market retrospective legislation to control this other epidemic.
If this is allowed to go unchecked, masked by the fear of the COVID-19 Virus, the pain of the Black market could destroy our economy, apart from ruining many people financially as they try to survive the shortfall in necessities.
Many people may contract COVID-19, and we know the vast majority will recover, but the ones sucked in through desperation to the clutches of the Black market may not.
If the same strategy is applied to Black market products as is applied to drugs, the pushers will be initially, very generous to victims, but as soon as they are indebted, they are locked in, and the only way out will be to sell drugs or the contraband to others at exorbitant prices. That’s where the heavies come in.
The Tsars are opportunistic but also can play the long game.
This phenomenon has to be attacked by two strategies simultaneously – destroy their marketing model and prosecute perpetrators.
The speed with which governments have moved in relation to COVID-19 needs to be mirrored in this aspect of the pandemic- they are inextricably linked.
by CAA | Mar 17, 2020 | Library, Uncategorized
18th March 2020
Chief Commissioner Ashton has suspended the Booze Bus operations based on medical advice and pressure from the union.
Announcing this action has just blown any deterrent effect that the Busses had.
The intelligent strategy would have been to suspend their use and not tell anybody, operational confidentiality.
It is odd that the Busses are suspended, but roadside testing is ramped up – what is the difference in contact risk for police, is there something about the ‘bus’ we are missing.
This pandemic could go on for months so it will be interesting in the wash-up as to how many Police members were calculated would have contracted COVID-19 and how many additional deaths happen on our roads. Given the Booze, Buses are a major part of VicPol’s Roads Safety strategy.
If there is a spike in road fatalities, we assume that will be classified as collateral damage, if there is not, the whole value of the Booze Bus strategy will be blown away.
Wonder if there is a market for Booze Buses, some brand-new.
The long argued effectiveness of Police traffic patrolling the roads will now be capable of assessment. The Booze Bus personnel must be detailed for traffic patrols to maintain safety on our roads, not simply swallowed back into General Duties, because without a visible Police presence mayhem will ensue.
Sadly it is unlikely anybody will have the foresight to take advantage of this situation and gain some targeted empirical data about the effectiveness of police resource management, rather than operating on guesswork.
![A WEB OF CORPORATE RUBBISH]()
by CAA | Mar 17, 2020 | Library, Uncategorized
17th March 2020
As most with an interest in Policing and Law and order are aware, the position has now been advertised, and the advert is worth reading.
The CAA congratulates the Government on this advertisement and hope that the ultimate appointment reflects these values.
About the only matter that should have had a higher priority is Integrity, but it is reasonable to presume that integrity should be a given.
We were also a bit confused about the ‘Operational leadership in emergency services’ criteria. We agree, recent Chief Commissioners have not covered themselves in glory with this attribute, but the appointment of effective Emergency Management Commissioner for Victoria has been very successful, and our present Commissioner Andrew Crisp is doing an outstanding job.
Unless there is a proposal for police to assume that role again, as in the past it would be very counterproductive leading to all sorts of issues in a crisis to have two leaders responsible for emergency management – which one does what? And which one is accountable for what? A bad management practice.
It would also be obvious that many who were named or appeared in the Royal Commission would have difficulty with the integrity characteristic and should be automatically precluded.
Additionally, the impact is far wider than those who made headlines at the Commission. There is a large group of support staff and other Senior Officers that would have, or should have been aware of the impropriety of the lawyer X matters, with one exception, Sir Ken Jones. None of them saw the need to take decisive action.
That they may have been at personal or career risk by taking action is not an excuse as there is Protected Disclosure Legislation to protect them, and they did all take an oath that must be honoured. So applicants that fall into this category must be overlooked, as their actions are counter-intuitive to leadership.
As a starter, this probably wipes out most of the senior executives of the past ten years.
They were happy just to move along through the promotion chain without taking any responsibility – that demonstrates a lack of integrity.
There are some other interesting take-outs from this add.
The first is the order of the attributes – Leadership, Community Policing, Crime Prevention at the top of the list, followed by Detection. A philosophical concept of Policing established with the Peelian Principles and a philosophy that the CAA has been strongly advocating for five years.
It is also a policing philosophy roundly rejected by recent administrations, so the concept of the Peelian Principles is foreign to many police, including executives.
An exercise that some readers might enjoy is reflecting on how many of the Chief Commissioners in recent history would be ineligible for the job given these advertised criteria.
It is also clear the Government is looking outside the current serving aspirants.
If the Government follows through on these criteria, they will gain substantial support from the Community. This appointment is a watershed moment for Policing in this Sate – the selection process has started out on the right foot – delivering on this criteria is the challenge, and we wish the Government well.
by CAA | Mar 15, 2020 | Library, Uncategorized
15th March 2020
Perhaps one of the more vivid examples of serious, even catastrophic, mismanagement arose over the police informer named Gobbo but originally given the identity 3838,
It has become clear that very senior officers were closely involved in what the High Court has called “reprehensible conduct”; conduct that then Deputy Commissioner Sir Ken Jones and others warned contained the seeds for a Royal Commission; conduct that could conceivably cause people to be wrongfully sent to prison.
This mismanagement would be serious by any standard, but it is now obvious that the police “managers “have fought tooth and nail to cover it up at our cost.
The Director of Prosecutions (DPP) had put the police on notice that he intended to give several convicted prisoners information that might give them cause to appeal and to challenge the evidence on which they had been convicted, on the grounds of the lawyer/client relationship between them and 3838.
It seems apparent that the police had not disclosed to the prosecutors, in a timely manner, information that possibly should have been disclosed to certain accused persons pre-trial. It is also apparent that the DPP was doing his duty in trying to belatedly correct that situation.
Instead of recognising and supporting that dutiful disclosure by the DPP, the police chose to cover-up the whole scandalous affair through a series of protracted and very expensive lawsuits, culminating in the High Court’s ruling.
That is, the police tried to prevent the DPP from doing his duty in order to avoid exposure of their own failure to do theirs, all at the expense of the public purse, and inevitably distracting the DPP officers from their proper functions.
From an audit perspective, it might be regarded as ‘Misconduct in Public Office’ for police to knowingly breach the rules of legal procedure in pursuit of a conviction, no matter how serious the alleged crime.
From a wider social perspective, it was utterly disgraceful if the police conduct led to the wrongful conviction of one or more people otherwise entitled to be presumed innocent.
This is an attack on the legal framework of our democracy that has attracted substantial Public expenditure. Victorians are entitled to demand an Audit to ensure transparency.
by CAA | Mar 8, 2020 | Library, Uncategorized
8th March 2020
Pondering the intricacies of Police management can be a tedious exercise, but there is one common denominator that has been exposed. If Management, Police or otherwise fails spectacularly in one area, it is guaranteed not to be isolated; it is inevitable that management has failed overall and the various problems of an organisation will start to surface over time, showing the breadth and depth of the management failures.
The Community Advocacy Alliance (CAA) has been calling for an inquiry into the management of policing in Victoria for five years. We identified serious problems back then that have not abated, but more have been piled on, and the normal principles of bad management are manifesting slowly as more bad practices are exposed. The inevitability of this contagion spreading is a reality. There is also an inevitability that the focus will ultimately shift accountability to the Government of the day. We have no doubt there are more problems to come.
The mismanagement that has ended up spawning a Royal Commission can be seen in other aspects of the Police functions. Legal services expenditure, procurement malpractices, and personnel mismanagement.
With police members suffering PTSD at near epidemic levels with many cases caused or substantially contributed to, by the mismanagement of staff, rather than exclusively the exposure of Police to operational trauma the human cost outstrips the material considerations.
Additional failure to manage effectively the core functions of the organisation, crime detection and crime prevention coupled with the road toll, make this a sorry and embarrassing tale.
Recent extraordinary revelations about Police mismanagement at the Royal Commission and the Bourke Street Inquest is probably an unfair characterization, as mismanagement seems to be the norm rather than being extraordinary.
What has been amazing is, that while the Royal Commission and the Inquest have proceeded, the Auditor General has not been tasked to conduct a shadow investigation into the financial impacts and procedures associated with these two events plus the other identified failures.
Exposing who authorized expenditure for what, would identify just who is pulling the string that empties the fiscal bucket of VicPol.
We were very surprised when it was reported in the media that a Deputy Commissioner claimed he, ‘authorized’, the alleged $4.5m to protect the identity of Lawyer X, Nicola Gobbo, but legal circles have told us that this amount probably only related to the High Court Challenge against the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). All the other legal steps taken would make the legal bill somewhere north of $30m. The question is, how does one senior executive authorize and commit the Police budget to that sort of exposure?
Given the amounts involved, one would expect that Ministerial approval would be required, but was it sought.
The other issue to consider about this action was VicPol v The DPP both Government entities, so win lose or draw, we the taxpayer were,’ toasted on both sides’. This has the whiff of a power struggle with us the loser, whoever won.
VicPol sought Ministerial approval for the ex gratia payment of around $2m to Nicola Gobbo, but it would seem, not the bigger legal bill.
We can estimate that the costs to suppress evidence that might damage the Police hierarchy at the Bourke Street Coronial inquest could exceed $1.5m and two civil cases unsuccessfully pursued by VicPol recently have cost the Police budget (or some budget) somewhere close to $4.5m each. That is only the ones we know about.
With legal bills somewhere north of $40m just for these known actions, and probably with associated costs adding another 25% that would be somewhere about $50m.
A serious question must be asked as to what processes and what accountability exists to authorize incurring these costs given that VicPol, it can be argued, failed to achieve its objective in each of the actions.
The question of the objective is a pertinent one because on the surface it would give the impression that the way these legal issues are dealt with, is more to do with protecting the hierarchy of VicPol rather than the furtherance of law and order for the State.
$50m is a hell of a lot of money, blown for nothing.
Equally irksome is that the true cost of legal actions is unable to be identified in the Police Annual Report.
The question also raises the quality of the legal advice to VicPol and whether it was properly considered, and what additional costs were incurred where VicPol failed to comply with the Model Litigant Rules that apply to it.
We know that most of this massive expenditure could have been avoided by competent management and it could be argued that most, if not all the $50m, was just wasted on questionable rationales, rather than furthering the Police function.
VicPol has an ordinary record when it comes to the use of our money. The $100m unaccounted for in the IT area and the multimillion-dollar debacle called the Booze Bus Scandal, when linked with the legal expenses exposes a common thread; nobody is held to account.
Any executive whether sworn or unsworn, that authorized transactions that came under an audit microscope would not escape scrutiny even if they are no longer serving, a precedent set by the Royal Commission.
The outcomes of an audit could disclose, ‘misconduct in public office’, a criminal offence. Any successful prosecution could also result in the Crown seeking restitution rather than penal servitude.
At least the former Senior Police and non-police executives have their superannuation to fall back on, and the Taxpayer might recoup some losses.
After all, if somebody authorizes something they are not entitled to, it becomes a personal authorization and would incur personal liability, and they could be acting outside the protections of, ‘Vicarious Liability’.
When the selection of the new Chief Commissioner is undertaken there are many qualities for the successful applicant to possess in relation to Policing operational skills, and we do not argue to minimize the importance of those attributes; however, there needs to be equal consideration to broader management skills in relation to Governance, personnel management and fiscal responsibilities.
Just think of the resources that could have been made available to Operational Police on the front line if the millions squandered had been applied to the policing core function – serving the public.
We might also have been able to get police when we needed them.
Victoria Police has the highest ratio of police to the population of any force in Australia and is probably the most expensive, but it is unable to deliver a service that the community expects. This is a very serious failure and indicates again management failures that no doubt cost money.
The CAA has invited the Auditor General to investigate the governance and management of Police expenditures over the last twenty years and bring to account, by identifying those who have abused the trust of the people of Victoria by mismanaging their money. And further, where maleficence is identified, the individual is referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions for consideration of criminal sanctions.
Interestingly, any culprits may not have the shield of unlimited taxpayer-funded legal services to defend them; that proposition might just grab their attention. How could VicPol fund a defence for ripping off the Police purse, our taxes?
The areas of concern are, but not limited to;
- Approval processes and evaluation of legal actions, criminal and civil. initiated by VicPol.
- Approval processes and evaluation of defending civil actions against VicPol.
- What objective test is applied to these decisions?
- What costs are incurred by failures of VicPol to comply with the Model Litigant Rules?
- Is there a competitive tendering process for engaging Legal Services on a case by case basis from the Government Legal Services Panel?
- Are reasonable cost estimates provided to VicPol prior to litigating and are these cost properly evaluated objectively?
- The accuracy of these cost estimates for legal actions.
- Whether legal advice is properly evaluated on a cost versus outcome risk basis?
- Is there an effective post-evaluation process of Legal Services provided?
- The use of Judicial Personnel Management processes and the cost.
- The efficacy of the procurement processes, procedures, review and oversight by VicPol.
Within months a new Chief Commissioner will be appointed, and we can only hope that the successful applicant will have the capacity to resurrect a failed administration.
It would be appropriate that the future fiscal performance of VicPol began with a clean slate, or at least the new Chief Commissioner knowing what the issues are that need to be addressed.
by CAA | Mar 3, 2020 | Library, Uncategorized
3rd March 2020
Police look to outsource guns, cars, dining. Unions call plan ‘stupid’ –Melb. Age 3/03/20
The Community Advocacy Alliance (CAA) totally agree with the Police Unions description of this initiative as “Stupid”.
Many of these functions are currently carried out by unsworn Police employees, so it is not a matter of efficiency or to put more ‘boots’ on the ground, no this strategy is to abrogate responsibility, have somebody else to blame.
Additionally, VicPol has an atrocious record of engaging contractors that has cost millions, the booze buses and IT are just two, the tip of the corporate failures.
If there is a need to trim costs, there are millions upon millions of dollars expended on Police legal actions that are generally unsuccessful, some spectacularly so. And surprise surprise no executive of VicPol is held to account for this shocking waste of our money. Some of these matters must border on ‘Misconduct in Public Office’, a criminal offence.
One would think that VicPol would have worked out by now that the ‘him over there’s problem’, management style is seriously flawed and the root cause of many if the ills of VicPol.
These embarrassing ills have been regularly exposed through the Royal Commission and in the Bourke Street Inquest where it became obvious that with over 400 Commissioned Officers within VicPol, not one stood up to take charge. The incident effectively spanned two days, so no excuse for not having an opportunity, a disgrace by any subjective assessment that cost lives.
Did anybody else notice that those that should have stood up but didn’t, rapidly came out from under their desks to criticize the poor sods left to handle the incident without leadership?
If the omniscient bosses won’t take responsibility; why should we, the troops on the ground; a refrain gaining traction throughout the organisation.
But the CAA has a solution.
The responsibility proposed to be relinquished needs to be calculated in monetary value and that value deducted from the executive salaries.
It logically follows that the value of their contract should be adjusted on a pro-rata basis to the responsibility they will no longer have – that will save a couple of million.
In all good conscience, (an attribute in short supply) we would expect the executives would support this innovation whereby they are paid what they are worth – totally equitable and fair don’t you think?
by CAA | Feb 17, 2020 | Library, Uncategorized
18th February 2020
Police Veterans in Schools Program
To All Victorian Primary School Principals
It has come to our attention that you may have received a letter recently from Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton.
Mr Ashton’s letter concerns the joint venture between a number of Victorian primary schools and the Community Advocacy Alliance Inc. (CAA). That joint venture is the ‘Police Veterans in Schools Program’ (PVISP).
Mr Ashton has sought to distance himself from the PVISP. He has said a number of things about what Victoria Police are apparently doing with schools.
The school principals, teachers and other education professionals with whom we speak tell us a very different story. They say that the service required or expected from Victoria Police is simply not being delivered. That is why we have established the PVISP.
Views expressed to us by educators in both public and private sectors include:
- Current activities by police around schools are, at best, ad hoc and spasmodic in nature;
- There is no consistent program underpinning those activities;
- The goals that are meant to underpin such activities are either not clear or are non-existent;
- There is little or no effort to integrate police activities within the current school curriculum;
- There is little or no effort by police to assist schools in delivering quality education or contributing to the development and enrichment of students;
- No effort has been made by senior management within Victoria Police to engage with the grassroots needs of schools or their students;
- The Respect the Badge program is patronising and ‘police-centrique’, rather than focusing on student needs and goals; and
- Police activities lack continuity, dictated by local police priorities and are subject to cancellation at short notice making planning problematic.
- There is little if any opportunity for the school to have input into the Police interaction to service the school needs, but must accept what the Police dictate.
The PVISP curriculum and lesson plans have been designed by an educator who is currently teaching in grade four, our target group He also happens to be a police veteran. He is assisted by a cadre of retired police from across the rank and experience spectrums who cumulatively represent over 400 years of policing experience and who maintain links into Victoria Police. Those links ensure that the curriculum will always be current and up-to-date. We also have legal advice on tap to ensure that material we deliver accords with current legislation.
The PVISP is a worthwhile initiative delivered by a registered charitable association, the CAA. It does not supplant any similar government program, any more than private schools supplant the public education systems. Lesson plans and curriculum are available on request.
Australian Principals Federation national president Julie Podbury said police in schools programs were a benefit for children.
“Anywhere where we have police in schools is a plus … and it’s a damn good investment, whether they’re retired or serving,” she said……..Herald Sun 17th February 2020
If you would like any further information or you would like one of our team to contact you, o register the interest of your school in this program, please use the portal available at www.caainc.org.au
Yours faithfully
Kelvin (Kel) Glare AO
Chief Commissioner Victoria Police Retired.
Chairman
The Community Advocacy Alliance Inc.
by CAA | Feb 16, 2020 | Library, Uncategorized
17th February 2020
In a letter to the School Principals, blatantly designed to undermine the Police Veterans School volunteers. Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton sets out a wide raft of mainly reactive claims that allegedly are applied somehow to schools.
The problem is, schools generally know nothing about it. It can only be described as spin.
School principals that have contacted us are either angry or confused because what Ashton claims to be happening, they never see. That is why they had embraced the Police Veterans In Schools Program (PVISP).
The PVISP attraction to Schools is that it is designed to serve their needs and can become integrated into the school community.
Chief Commissioner Ashton, if you had engaged with the CAA as we have continually invited you to do, you would know that;
- While some veterans have been out for years, many of our Veterans have retired recently.
- The PVISP is a curriculum-based initiative with well-developed Lesson Plans (Designed by a highly qualified educator); engagement would have allayed any concerns of what was proposed to be taught,
- With engagement, you would also have known that the PVISP is targeting Year 4 students, and we are yet to find a nine-year-old student that would comprehend the Police policies and practices that you are concerned about.
- You would also know that the schools we have spoken to have gone to considerable trouble to engage with the Local Police, but at best, receive very inadequate, spasmodic and ad hoc interactions of limited long-term benefit,
- In short, what you claim to provide doesn’t happen in any meaningful way, but if you had engaged with CAA, you would already know that.
- Every school has different issues, some ethnic-based and all are behavioural with the common thread of a lack of long term and planned engagement with positive role models, that is measurable, but by engaging with us, you would have that knowledge.
- You would also know that engaging with nine-year-olds in the year or so before they are first exposed to gangs might just be smart. A better option than chasing around trying to lock them up later. We would suggest the Community may have something to say on this, had you asked.
Above all else, by engaging with the community, you would have discovered that telling schools what they will have, rather than asking them what they need, is a flawed VicPol strategy.
Your Spin Mr Ashton does not square well with reality.
Your letter has also angered the Veteran volunteers who without any pre-determined agenda are prepared to give up their retirement time to help the young people of Victoria
That sort of commitment should be applauded, not undermined and disparaged as your instructions to Station Commanders imply.
Chief Commissioner Ashton, can we respectfully remind you that in four months you will be joining the ranks of the Veterans you now deride.
Perhaps you might consider giving up some of your retirement time to help the youth of our State by joining the PVISP program?
by CAA | Feb 14, 2020 | Library
14th February 2020
An interesting field of prospective applicants is being rumoured for the top job in Victoria Police, and as interesting as the field is, the number being eliminated is like nothing that has been seen before. This may end up – last one standing.
The Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informers (RC) has potentially knocked out quite a few that could be serious candidates for the job of Chief Commissioner for Victoria.
One has been charged, and in the Age, Feb 9th, under the title, Victoria Police misled High Court, Supreme Court over Gobbo, [i]reporting on the submission to the RC by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), alleging senior Police misleading the RC, the Supreme Court of Victoria and the High Court of Australia, has the potential to put a full stop on a number of aspirants.
These latest revelations support the long-held contention of the Community Advocacy Alliance (CAA) that Police Command arguably operates with a contemptuous disregard for the law.
We would suggest that even the most strident advocates that argue that the Gobbo affair justifies the means must now be shifting their opinion, the community certainly has
This is now, not so much about Gobbo, but of how Victoria Police executives appear to operate outside the law. How can people at that level be so apparently arrogant to think that perverting the course of justice on a regular basis is going to end well?
On a separate note, the latest rumoured front-runner for the top job is a former Commander Sue Clifford-Clark who has been at the Justice Ministry since August 2019 and worked at Family Safety Victoria for two years before that.
That would be an interesting appointment as the former Commander has never been in a commissioner-level Police management role. Ms Clifford-Clark is alleged to have been a disciple of former Chief Commissioner Nixon The Black Saturday fires, QANTAS tickets and Lawyer X events have all cast a significant shadow over Ms Nixon’s judgment and her time as Chief Commissioner.
What also, and probably most critically, makes this an interesting consideration for the appointment, is the former Commander’s media acumen as reported by Caroline Wilson in the Melbourne Age, ‘The woman with footy’s hardest job’[ii]. Referring to Clifford-Clark in which Wilson refers to a train wreck interview. The train wreck interview has been well buried. We understand her disastrous interview came about as a result of trying to protect some St Kilda Footballers after allegations of inappropriate interactions with a minor. You can rest assured if it still exists, the media will likely expose that interview at some stage in the event that Ms Clifford-Clark becomes a strong contender.
The Commander’s career over the last two decades has seen her spending a good deal of that time outside of VicPol.
Having met Sue Clark, (as she was then known) her lecturing style and condescending approach was not endearing. That prolonged lecture/ meeting resulted in Clark having to write a letter of apology.
This Clark- Clifford approach was further highlighted in a blog by Kim Duthie, who was a victim of alleged indiscretions by AFL footballer/s. In her blog, ‘The small girl with a big voice,’ [iii] August 2011, she is also critical of Clark’s style and attitude to victims.
It is worth noting that Ms Clark-Clifford was also the author of the ‘Capability Plan’, for Victoria Police [iv]– a huge document that many have tried and failed to read in its entirety- at least War and Peace had a story. Ultimately destined as a draw filler, the Plan was more of a ‘navel-gazing’, exercise than an effective planning document that could be relied upon…
If the Government is serious about appointing Clark-Clifford to the top job, heaven forbid.
Then there is Assistant Commissioner (of a few months) Brett Curran, he seems to have a credibility deficit on social media from his former role as Chief of Staff to Daniel Andrews before returning to Victoria Police and was appointed to Chief of Staff to Ashton. He has trouble shaking his political associations. Curran was then promoted to Assitant Commissioner by Ashton in the twilight of Ashton’s career.
Although the precedent of these moves to Chief exist the last person who followed this path was Ken Lay who seemed to be a far more experienced and mature member.
[i] https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/victoria-police-misled-high-court-supreme-court-over-gobbo-dpp-alleges-20200209-p53z37.html
[ii] https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/the-woman-with-footys-hardest-job-20120302-1u8jf.html
[iii] http://kimduthie.blogspot.com/
[iv] https://www.police.vic.gov.au/capability-plan
by CAA | Feb 9, 2020 | Library, Uncategorized
10th February 2020
A recent article in the Herald Sun on the life and crimes of Dennis Allen, aka Mr Death, makes very interesting reading.
We are not fans of glorifying the activities of a low life, the likes of Allen, but if accurate, it is illuminating. Of greatest interest to us, in light of the Royal Commission into the Police Management of Informers, are the similarities between the handling of Allen and Gobbo.
It is interesting that the handlers of Allen back then ran the strategy of assisting him with bail applications to remain at large and therefore indirectly being party to his crimes committed while on bail, which would seem to be prolific. We can be confident in speculating that there were other inducements for Allen to continue to inform on other criminals.
Allen would have been considered a valuable asset, and just like Gobbo, the informing became a part of his life. Indeed, they both relished being an informer. It was as addictive as any drug.
Trying to explain the mishandling of Allen and Gobbo, and there would be others, is difficult, as police would no doubt believe they are using the assets to serve the greater good, to solve major crime, but are they misguided?
Cultivating and using Police informers is a legitimate tool of policing with evidence of its use as far back as records of policing exist. The line is crossed when the Police consciously and deliberately allow an informer to continue or to participate in anything unlawful. As soon as the Police cross that line, the informer has the whip hand. The crook knows of the Police indiscretion and can use it as an empowering bargaining chip in the ongoing relationship.
It is worth visiting the Oath that each Police officer undertakes-
“…from this date, and until I am legally discharged, that I will see and cause Her Majesty’s peace to be kept and preserved, and that I will prevent to the best of my power all offences, and that while I continue to be a police officer I will to the best of my skill and knowledge discharge all the duties legally imposed on me faithfully and according to law.(Schedule2 of the Police Act)”
There are parallels to Informers and Police relationships, with a Lottery. The punter buys a ticket hoping for the Million Dollar prize, and when it doesn’t come they buy another next week, and so it goes on, week in week out, with tantalising small wins the addiction eventually escalating over time and even when they win a good prize it is never enough, the lure of an even greater prize hooks them in.
The problem for Police is when the Police management loses sight of their role and becomes as hooked as the Investigators, the management then becomes a real problem because they lose objectivity and start directing activities, getting dirt under their fingernails.
Failing to recognise a loss of objectivity is evident in the Gobbo matter and a damming indictment of the police executives’ lack of competence. The buck, however, stops with the Chief Commissioner and in this protracted affair, no less than four Chief Commissioners failed to resolve or wheel in this train wreck and each of them took a similar Oath to the other Police involved.
It is worth noting at this point that the Gobbo informing stretched over fourteen years and would possibly be continuing today had journalists with the support of their employer not relentlessly challenged the matter.
As for the Police subordinates involved in this fiasco, we have sympathy for many of them who found it impossible to extricate from the situation because to survive in the Police organisation they needed to acquiesce to the leaders who hold all the power, especially over their career, and who have unbelievably deep pockets (with taxpayers money) to take on any dissenters.
That sympathy does not extend to those that wantonly broke the law.
There are even suggestions that the Government may have known. With all the parties and authorities that were aware of the issue, it comes perilously close to a State-sanctioned activity.
We have argued that although the matters canvased at the Royal Commission are very serious, the most damming aspect of the evidence thus far is that the executives failed to consider and apply an exit strategy for the problem they knew they had created.
The distinct probability exists that they lacked the skill to deal with it. Amongst the pleather of executives involved in this debacle, only one identified the problem and tried to do something about it. The then Deputy Commissioner Sir Ken Jones who paid a heavy price for his attempt to address the problem.
The question is, how can this problem be addressed.
An attractive solution is to go for more supervision, more checks and balances and more input from the legal profession, but that strategy is fundamentally flawed because as we now know with the Gobbo matter, there were senior Law Officers involved as well as Supervision at the highest level of Police and even the Police watchdog was actively involved.
To fix the problem, it is necessary for two things to happen. Firstly, those particularly in executive roles, both Police and Law Officers must be made an example of, and the RC must ensure that every senior Police member and Law Officer who have had any direct or indirect association with the Gobbo matter must be identified to ensure they lose influence within their respective professions – the price to pay.
Secondly, the culture of VicPol must be addressed, and that solution is too complex to deal with in this piece, but it must be dealt with. The key to that is having the organisation lead by somebody of faultless integrity and a deep understanding of the policing function, a genuine Leader not tainted by the demise of the organisation.
by CAA | Feb 7, 2020 | Library, Uncategorized
8th February 2020
The Herald-Sun must be congratulated for recently raising the issue of the Appointment of the next Chief Commissioner. Public debate about the appointment must be encouraged.
Our next Chief Commissioner must come to the position with a plan for the future and a strategy on how the problems affecting our daily lives can be mitigated. The excuses put forward in relation to the soaring Road toll and unacceptable violent criminal activity must be addressed. Victorians are sick of the statusquô and a whole generation of our children growing up not experiencing a safe community that we once enjoyed, is totally unacceptable.
Community comment may enlighten decision-makers on matters and attitudes towards the applicants that would be invaluable in the decision-making process. That an applicant resonates with the Community should add weight to their suitability.
It is disturbing that the issue of Leadership has not been aired in relation to this appointment which must be one of the key criteria.
In the wake of the Royal Commission and a decade or more of below-par management, Victoria and Victoria Police need a leader who cannot only run the Police Force, but the next appointment must be somebody that has the demonstrated ability to repair the organisation,
Simply appointing somebody because they could run the organisation like a private company falls well short of the required job description.
Some of the named candidates are known others are not. The Government must ensure the successful candidate was not part of the failed administration that allowed the Lawyer X matter to fester. Even if they were not a key player, nevertheless, they would have been part of the Police Command that was incapable of extracting itself from the problem it created. And, that is the most damming aspect of this whole affair.
A ‘safe pair of hands’ has been attributed to one possible applicant. The old cliché of ‘been there and done that’ applies but a safe pair of hands is not Leadership but a guarantee of more of the same as happened with the last ‘safe pair of hands’, who is yet to be tested by the Royal Commission.
This next appointment is a watershed moment for Law and Order in this State.
This is arguably one of the most difficult choices any Government could face because failure will adversely hang over the Government for decades to come. Obverseley, success will attract credit from a community looking for a ‘new dawn’, in policing their communities. And credit from the Rank and File of the organisation that now has political clout.
The Herald-Sun should invite those named by the paper as potential candidates, to submit an article for publication setting out for Victorians the applicants vision or philosophy for Policing.
If the applicants choose not to, they may well be judged adversely by not being prepared to share their views with the people who pay their salary and bear the cost of the Police organisation. It would be nice to know how the applicant intends to spend the millions of our dollars they are to be entrusted with.
This would not diminish the independence of the Government in making the appointment but would enhance the process by providing the community with a voice to add to the knowledge base from which the decision is made.
Additionally, the CAA strongly believes that the selection of a Chief Commissioner should be bipartisan to remove politics from the position. The Government, however, must remain responsible for the appointment.
by CAA | Feb 5, 2020 | Library, Uncategorized
6th February 2020
THE AGE education editor, Adam Carey, reports that a global survey shows Australian classrooms are among the least disciplined in the world.
Learning time is lost to noise and disorder and a high proportion of students cannot work well in class.
Australia ranked 70th out of 77 participating nations in the OECD’s 2018 index of disciplinary climate.
Coupled with the abysmal level of Australian students learning Maths it is high time that discipline is reintroduced into all classrooms.
The Community Advocacy Alliance Inc. (CAA) will introduce police veterans into selected schools in 2020. Our program (PVISP) was launched on the 23rd of November 2019 and seeks to instil in students the basic tenets of good citizenship and provide students with the skills to avoid either becoming involved in crime or being victimised.
The presence of police veterans in schools delivering this program is certain to have a beneficial effect on the behaviour of students. Helping to create a disciplined school environment will allow teachers to teach and students to learn without the other distractions an undisciplined environment creates.
Schools must also play their part and tighten discipline in all classrooms.
More disciplined students will lead to them becoming more disciplined adults to the benefit of society at large.
The genesis of self-discipline is the imposition of external discipline.
Support for the CAA’s PVISP will make a difference.
by CAA | Jan 29, 2020 | Library, Uncategorized
30th January 2020
The Productivity Commission has released new data showing 32.9 Police staff are female, just 1.2% below the national average. We assume they refer to sworn Police members rather than the total staff of Victoria Police because that figure would then be different. Additionally, the number of females sexually harassed during their career is one in four.
Former Chief Commissioner Ken Lay even went as far as subcontracting out the management issues relating to sexual harassment of female members to the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission (VEOHRC) rather than address the problem, and to date that would seem to be another waste of time and resources.
A basic premise of management is you cannot subcontract out your responsibilities as Lay tried to do, it never works well.
The VEOHRC is finally concluding its work after seven years without a lot to show for the effort, as the problem allegedly is still there. We, therefore mark this effort down as a fail.
The major problem with this assessment of Victoria Police is the blurring of lines of the two objectives and too many executives trying to be more woke than everybody else. Female recruiting numbers and sexual harassment are two different things and unrelated. More or less female recruits will not impact on the harassment issue.
While we assume most sexual harassment is male on female, it is not exclusively, so broad-brush statistics carry little weight.
VicPol has lowered standards in an effort to attract more females, and this practice must stop. It is not only dangerous to the applicant but also demeaning to the applicant.
To employ a person who does not meet a physical standard required to perform a task is irresponsible of the employer and leaves open the prospect of litigation by a person employed when they are injured physically or mentally because they cannot adequately perform the function of policing.
Police management chasing some nebulous gender quota is not the fault of those who have been accepted at a lower standard unable to do the work.
The allegation that one in four females have been sexually harassed during their career is very concerning and a different issue altogether from gender quotas. Although we do caution that these raw figures do not provide comparative data from other organisations, all be it that any sexual harassment is unacceptable in a professional workplace.
It is very concerning that VicPol is only employing, promoting and retaining leaders who, “Demonstrate a commitment to gender equality”.
That should only be one of the criteria, and all these woke phases are of no value while the managers promoted are not accountable with measurable, meaningful management targets set against appropriate Key Performance Indicators.
A good manager will stamp out any harassment, but they need to be good in all aspects of their responsibilities to gain the respect of all staff and provide leadership by example. A manger hopeless at leadership but strong on harassment will not achieve anything other than chasing perpetrators identified responsible for sexual harassment, not preventing the problem in the first place, which should be the priority. Ask any victim whether they would have rathered prevention than an investigation post-event.
These issues are one of the symptoms of failed management practices.
To fix VicPol, they need to start at the top and address the behaviours of the senior executive who have been subject to rumour and allegations of impropriety over recent years. Good leaders are rarely subject to an adverse rumour.
The CAA fully supports the function and responsibility of VicPol to provide a workplace that respects all and deplores any activities that are unfairly negative towards any person within, or outside the organisation based on gender, ethnicity etc. Deliberate sexual harassment is particularly repugnant.
The weight of this research by the Productivity Commission on gender representation fails to acknowledge that we are dealing with people and not mathematical equations.
It may not have occurred to those responsible for this data that many women are just not attracted to Policing.
Irrespective what backroom bureaucrats may think, policing as a career involves the prospect of getting regularly abused, belted or shot at, dealing with deceased persons, attending horrific incidents, facing violent demonstrators, and frenetic victims and is something the bureaucrats would not have the first clue about. Working Night Shifts and working weekends, dealing daily with the dregs of society is not an appealing prospect for many females, and for that matter, some men.
The same phenomena that cause the gender imbalances in Policing are replicated in Teaching, Nursing and other caring professions, not to mention Politics, and for that matter, the vast majority of professions in the community.
Victoria Police is the largest in Australia has 32.4% female while as a percentage of the overall number it is 1.2% lower than the national average however actual numbers of female employees may show Victoria actually employs more females than every other Police force. It is time for the critics to get off VicPol’s case on this issue.
Next step will be a push for conscription to meet quotas because that is the only way the numbers to satisfy the critics will be achieved as evident in every other Police force in Australia.
Making an Albatross out of equality will have unintended consequences.
by CAA | Jan 25, 2020 | Library, Uncategorized
26th January 2020
Victoria police recently promised to work all weekend to try to provide all the papers required by the Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informers.
Is this another promise that will not be delivered ?
The Royal Commissioner has been remarkably patient while VicPol continually fails to comply with the Commissioners instructions to the degree that it now has the look of a deliberate strategy to frustrate the Commission to avoid complete scrutiny.
Promises of more staff applied to the task and other excuses are wearing thin. Recent examples also surfaced during the Coronial Inquest into the Bourke Street massacre, seems withholding information may be the go-to strategy for VicPol.
This is just not good enough.
Perhaps the Royal Commissioner should apply to the Supreme Court for an arrest warrant to bring the Chief Commissioner before the Supreme Court to explain why charges of ‘Contempt of the Royal Commission’ should not be proceeded with against him. Watch the material appear then.
by CAA | Jan 25, 2020 | Library, Uncategorized
26th January 2020
The Herald-Sun reports on Sunday the 19th of January 2020 that Victoria Police are leading a push for the removal of Committal Proceedings from the Victorian Legal System.
Just shy of two years ago the Community Advocacy Alliance (CAA) published, ‘A case for the Victims’, which included the abolition of Committals amongst a raft of other initiatives to improve the lot for Victims. https://caainc.org.au/a-case-for-the-victims/ .
Our premise was that the victims have already been traumatised by the matter they are involved in, it is therefore cruel and unjust to perpetuate that cruelty by the Justice system that is ostensibly supposed to be fair.
Supported by the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Victims of Crime Commissioner, this move must be applauded and pursued with vigour.
The question is, why did it take two years before the issues have shown any sign of rectifying a wrong.
It may have something to do with the criticisms of Victoria Police by the CAA. VicPol does not do criticism well.
“If you have no critics you’ll likely have no success” – Malcome X
That VicPol is taking a lead role is encouraging, but what is not so encouraging is the bloody-minded attitude of VicPol to the CAA that in part has contributed to unacceptable delays and inaction on initiatives for victims, many within the control of VicPol.
Before the ink was dry on this missive, the legal fraternity was on the attack. The old adage of, ‘never get between a lawyer and their fee’, was again to the for.
Lawyers are the one party to this issue who have a conflict of interest, and their views must be qualified by this conflict.
There was notably no reference to a ‘fair trial’ in a spirited defence of the ‘status quo’, by a lawyer on radio, so assumably the removal of Committals does not impact on fairness a cornerstone of our justice system. Much of the opposition was around the future ability of lawyers to negotiate on their client’s behalf.
That is lawyer-speak for a threat to the ‘Plea Bargaining’, a process which among other things whitewashes crimes committed on victims, justified by the argument of efficiency of Justice. Again, the victim in that debate is dismissed.
Now that there seems some sensible consideration to reform, perhaps the three parties to this push should be bought together to recommend further reforms, it would be efficient and effective.
The one group that should not be involved are the lawyers representative bodies, as they have a commercial imperative and an absolute conflict of interest.
Embracing the views of the CAA would contribute to meaningful change, four hundred years of Policing experience must count for something and the continual ‘Bloody minded’ attitude of Victoria Police towards the CAA is starting to look a little pathetic.
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.
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.
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.
by CAA | Dec 29, 2019 | Library, Media, Uncategorized
A video presentation of the launch of the Police Veterans in Schools Program produced by Board member Frank Caridi is presented for those that were unable to attend.
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:
- 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.
- Managers will not need to negotiate to avoid rationalisation debates and conflict.
- The system will be cost-effective by removing convoluted disciplinary procedures.
- To free up resources dedicated to disciplinary matters to further bolster frontline policing.
- 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.
- 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.
![A WEB OF CORPORATE RUBBISH]()
by CAA | Dec 17, 2019 | Library, Media, Uncategorized
Welcome to the first edition of the Community Advocacy Alliance, Police Veterans in Schools Newsletter.
Chairman’s Message 
This first Police Veterans in Schools Newsletter is an historic moment in the life of The Community Advocacy Alliance Inc’s history following our successful launch of the Program on 23 November 2019.
I acknowledge the enormous amount of work done by all concerned with special thanks to our CEO, Ivan Ray.
The need for police to have good relationships with young people, particularly before they become offenders, is so blatantly obvious that it is difficult to understand what is holding the Victoria Police back from becoming totally involved. After all, it is clear current policing practices have failed miserably in preventing youth crime.
Using the successful Police in Schools Program introduced to Victoria in 1989 as a guide, it is obvious that the PVISP will have a significant impact in keeping many young people out of trouble to the benefit of the community at large. The workload of overworked rank and file police can only diminish as a result.
I am extremely confident that our PVISP will go from strength to strength.
The agreement of former Member, Ron Fenton, to act as our roving Ambassador and adopting his ‘service dog, Yogi’ as our Mascot is a reminder of the danger of police service and I thank Ron for his involvement.
My message to the Government and the Victoria Police is to take your collective heads out of the sand and get involved. Young people deserve help, and the community demands more significant action to curb youth crime and anti-social behaviour.
I thank all members of the CAA Board and all our supporters for their enthusiastic support.
Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year to all.
Kelvin (Kel) Glare AO APM
CAA Chair
PVISP Launch
After the recent successful launch at the Box Hill RSL on Saturday the 23rd of November,
we are now hard at work going through the initial phase of linking Veterans to their schools. Rita Panahi was our guest of honour tasked with officially launching our program. Over sixty invited guests joined veteran volunteers and the CAA Board at the event where the program was laid out for all. Rita expressed her amazement that this task should fall to the retired Police who were receiving no official support practical or otherwise. Rita emphasised the point that the program was a ‘No Brainer’ and she was astounded at the response from Vitoria Police as it defied logic. She also referred to, the fact that should not be overlooked, that Retired Police were so motivated by current in-action they felt it necessary to step up, and that says it all.
New Mascot 
Yogi and Ron have become our mascot and Ambassador, you can work out which is which. Ron a Police Veteran severally injured in the line of duty protecting Victorians, who to this day suffers as a result of being shot in the head by a deranged criminal, has Yogi as his guardian angel. Yogi is trained to warn Ron when difficulties start to manifest and he has improved Ron’s quality of life dramatically. Ron still carries shrapnel that cannot be removed from his head and has suffered the consequences of the damage by those fragments. The damage done by the bullet has required Ron to learn to walk and talk again and regain mobility a challenge in its self. Medicine has done as much as it can for Ron but it has been Yogi that has provided the missing link.
Ron will be visiting schools and introducing Yogi to the children in support of the schools Veteran Officers. We are confident that Yogi will embrace his new role and acquit himself with his new skill of breaking down barriers with young people. Incidentally, having a real live Police hero in the classroom may also help.
School Expressions of interest
*All schools should have a Veteran allocated by the start of the school year
*Additional schools are currently under consideration
| School |
Veteran |
| Camberwell Primary School |
TBA |
| Cheltenham College |
TBA |
| Bannockburn P12 |
TBA |
| Stenevsville Primary School |
Ross Whittingham |
| St Leonards College |
TBA |
| Karingal Primary School |
TBA |
| Wallan Primary School |
Roger Sanders |
| St Francis Xavier College |
TBA |
| Kerrimuir Primary School |
TBA |
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by CAA | Dec 5, 2019 | Library, Uncategorized
6th of December 2019
Dear Sir,
We pass on to you comments we received recently from a serving member in response to two articles published by the Community Advocacy Alliance (CAA), the first on the new Hostile Vehicle Policy, and the second relating to Drugs.
What we can tell you about the author of these comments is his gender, and that he has twenty years policing experience. We have no idea of his rank, or whether he is stationed in the metropolitan or a country region.
We do however conclude from his comment, that he is not bitter or twisted, but is an experienced Police member who wants to do his job better.
He writes;
I have read, with great interest a number of your articles.
The article in regard to vehicle born attacks. What was said in the article was absolutely spot on and I support it 100%.
The article about drugs is very good. But, and I refer to the point that is made to Police being out on the streets to deal with the drug pushers and addicts. This is fine as long as the process for dealing and processing offenders is streamlined. I’m not sure how much you know how frustrating the processing of offenders method is. To say its prehistoric is an understatement. There is no need for a unit to be tied up from patrolling the streets for a whole shift, and longer because they check a person with warrants, or in the articles case, dealing drugs. But this is the way we do things, and management do not, or do not want to see this. I have been around for long enough to realise that more police on the roads is more effective. So why not do away with the prehistoric processes and get the arresting members back out on to the road where they belong for the shift, with no stress of being tied up and knowing they are going home to their families at the end of the day. It is possible to keep members on the roads and not tied up processing offenders through a revolving door.
It would be rare for you to gain such insight from an operational member, and that is understandable, but these comments in management terms, are pure gold.
In an organisation driven to be, “Modern”, it is elementary when it is managed from the top down, to create unintended consequences, particularly when throwing technology in all its guises at the problem.
The author nails the issue, the processes; probably designed to do the job better, is having totally the opposite effect. It would seem that VicPol has come full circle with technology and processes theoretically intended to improve the organisation, rapidly becoming its nemesis.
The CAA has been concerned for some time of the lack of a visible Police presence, and we have suspected that the problem is in part technology-based, and the time required by members to sit at a computer amongst other distractions.
However, this member’s comments crystallise the issue.
Importantly, there are other more modern Operational models operating much more efficiently in other jurisdictions. Although it would seem they require sophisticated management skills, nevertheless, they reduce stress on members and substantially improve the operational efficiency by markedly increasing available patrol time and would significantly reduce your overtime budget.
Chief Commissioner, we implore you to implement an audit of the processes required at the coalface and examine alternate operational models to modernise and increase the efficiency of operational Police, not the convenience of the organisation.
The community would laud the payoff of more Police in our community at the expense of organisational nuances.
Ivan W Ray
CEO/Sec.
Community Advocacy Alliance Inc.
6th December 2019.
