Today’s topic’s the police. Again. I recently wrote on my cyberfriend Chrows25’s blog: ‘Police officers aren’t a random sample of society. Rather, they're people who relish whatever it is that being a police officer involves and stands for. And whatever that is, is not something I admire or respect’ [1]. I appreciate policing’s difficult. But the police force’s bureaucracy and culture don’t make it any easier. Indeed at times the opposite. To wit, the Vorchheimer case [2, 3]. The hypocrisy, arrogance and ass covering of the Victoria Police in this matter are breathtaking. It’s no wonder I, as a half-intelligent concerned fellow, have no confidence in the intention of this mob of coppers to uphold the law equally for all citizens. In Victoria the Office of Police Integrity [POI] – an independent body – was set up in 2004. Its pretty website says it values Integrity, Excellence, Fairness and Courage [4]. The Police Integrity Act was proclaimed in 2008. Tellingly, if the OPI deems that a complaint against the police needs investigation, the Act requires the OPI to refer it to the police to investigate. Like Dracula and the blood bank, eh. In the Vorchheimer case there’s no evidence of police or OPI Integrity, Excellence, Fairness and Courage. No wonder Victorian opposition leader Baillieu said the OPI’s run its race [5]. Likewise the Victoria Police has made its own bed. And so it must lie in it. Chronic insomnia’s the likely result. And I for one won’t be prescribing it any sleeping pills. Ho hum.
2 comments:
We are supposed to be having some Kind of body, I suspect recently deceased, or close to oversee our Winnipeg Police Service.
I am increasingly distressed that the gains we had made under a new Chief of Police are rapidly losing ground,. We had one sort of governance body which was closed in order to pave the way for a better system, but funnily enough, huge amount of foot dragging in this eventuality. GRRR!
After last Saturday's election, Ted Baillieu - mentioned in this post - is the incoming Victorian Premier. And this article in today's Age [1] includes the following: 'Given the Coalition's frequent public criticism of the Office of Police Integrity, Baillieu can be expected almost immediately to make initial steps to scrap the office and pave the way for future laws to replace it with an independent, broad-based, anti-corruption commission, which will investigate police, judges, politicians and public servants'. Nice one, Ted.
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