AGY-6566 | Royal Commission into the New South Wales Police Service [Wood Royal Commission]

Full description

Background
Allegations made by a former NSW Police officer that “senior police had cleared the way for corrupt officers to resign rather than be prosecuted in trials that would sully the name of the force”, resulted in “debate on the need for a Royal Commission in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly’’. Independent MP John Hatton made a “lengthy speech and his motion calling for the establishment of a Royal Commission” was passed on 11 May 1994. (1)

Establishment of the Commission
A Royal Commission into the New South Wales Police Service was established by Letters Patent on 13 May 1994. The Honourable James Roland Tomson Wood was initially appointed as the sole Commissioner. (2)

On 21 February 1996, His Honour Judge Paul David Urquhart was appointed, by Letters Patent, “to inquire into such aspects of those matters as the first Commissioner from time to time may request you to do”, and also to: consult with the first Commissioner regarding methods and procedures to be followed in in relation to inquiries, and also in regards to preparation of reports; and to make these “reports only to the first Commissioner”. (3) Commissioner Wood made numerous requests for inquiry to Commissioner Urquhart between 8 March 1996 and 3 March 1997. (4)

Duration of the Commission
The Commission held 419 hearings, while some evidence was heard in camera by the Commission. (5) The Commission examined 856 witnesses, and 226 non confidential submissions were received by the Commission. (6) The Commission commenced hearings on 24 November 1994. (7)

The Commission was to report by 30 June 1996, but this reporting date was extended by Letters patent to 31 December 1996, and to “permit the Royal Commissioner to issue interim Reports”. The reporting date was subsequently extended by further letters patent to 31 March 1997 and finally to 30 June 1997. The scope of the Commission was expanded by Letters Patent on 21 December 1994, and on 23 October 1996. (8)

Consolidated Terms of Reference of the Commission
The consolidated terms of reference for the commission were to investigate:
(a) The nature and extent of corruption within the Police Service, particularly of any entrenched or systematic kind.
(b) The activities of the Professional Responsibility and Internal Affairs Branches of the Police Service in dealing with any problems of corruption and internal investigation generally.
(c) The system of promotion of the Police Service.
(d) The impartiality of the Police Service and other agencies in investigating and/or pursuing prosecutions including, but not limited to, paedophile activity.
(d1) Whether any members of the Police Service have by act or omission protected paedophiles or pederasts from criminal investigations or prosecution and, in particular, the adequacy of any investigations undertaken by the Police Service in relation to paedophiles or pederasts since 1983; however, you may investigate any matter you deem necessary and relevant which may have occurred prior to 1983.
(d2) Whether the procedures of, or the relationship between the Police Service and other public authorities adversely affected police investigations and the prosecution, or attempted or failed prosecution, of paedophiles or pederasts.
(d3) The conduct of public officials related to the matters referred to in paragraphs (d1) and (d2).
(e) The efficacy of the internal informers policy.
(f) Any other matter appertaining to the aforesaid matters concerning possible criminal activity, neglect or violation of duty, the inquiry into which you consider to be in the public interest.
(g) Whether the existing laws prohibiting crimes involving paedophilia and pederasty are appropriate and sufficient to effectively prosecute persons accused and punish persons convicted of those crimes or other related crimes of sexual abuse.
(h) Whether penalties currently prescribed for crimes involving paedophilia and pederasty are appropriate and a sufficient deterrent to the commission of those crimes.
(i) Whether Government departments and agencies have sufficiently effective monitoring and screening process to protect children in the care of or under the supervision of Government departments and agencies from sexual abuse; if not, what measures should be put in place to provide effective protection in this respect.
(j) Whether Police Service investigatory processes and procedures and the criminal trial process are sufficient to effectively deal with allegations of paedophilia and pederasty. (9)

Interim Reports and the Final Report (May 1997)
Commissioner Wood presented a first interim Report in February 1996 and a second Interim Report in November 1996. (10) The Final Report, Volumes I to III: Corruption, Reform and Appendices were published on 15 May 1997, and also presented by Commissioner Wood to the Premier, R.J. Carr on the same day. (11)

Findings and recommendations for the consolidated terms of reference
(a) In February 1996, the Commission concluded, in the first Interim Report, that “a state of systemic or entrenched corruption had provisionally been shown to exist”. (12) In the second Interim Report of November 1996, the Commission confirmed these finding as “the existence of a serious problem was obvious and accepted by the Service”. (13) In the final report, the Commission concluded that its inquiries had “disclosed a very serious state of corruption that was widespread and of long-standing origin”. The Commission also concluded that the “state of corruption found can only be regarded as systemic and entrenched”. (14)

(b) and (e) In February 1996, the Commission concluded that “the existing investigative framework had been shown to be seriously inadequate, and to be in need for substantial reform”. The existing system consisted of “a mixture of internal investigation, and external investigation and oversight, entrusted to three agencies”. These included the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) which was “an internal Police Service command with responsibility to conduct inquiries into complaints of misconduct and corruption, with authority to initiate anti-corruption measures, and with authority to conciliate those complaints, both internal and external, which were suitable for conciliation”. (15)

In the Final Report, the Commission concluded that: the “code of silence and solidarity in the face of any form of criticism of the Service” was a substantial obstacle to the success of any internal investigations; often police were faced with “open hostility after they have reported incidents of possible corruption”; and there was an “apparent inaction of lack of sensitivity on the part Internal Affairs investigators”; there was also “limited resources given to the Professional Responsibility Command”, and a “downgraded, unpopular status of holding office within that Command”, which was regarded by some “as a ‘retirement haven’ for those who did not otherwise fit the mould”. Internal investigations were also hampered by: the failure to use “broad-based financial and intelligence analysis, the lack of communication between regional and central Internal Affairs Units, and the failure to sufficiently involve commanders in the management of, and responsibility for, misconduct within their command”. (16)

The findings of the first interim report were “implemented by legislation which created a permanent body, the Police Integrity Commission (PIC)” which had “primary responsibility to investigate or to co-ordinate the investigation of serious police misconduct”. (17)

The final Report recommended that the role of the Office of Internal Affairs be extended to ”investigation of category 1 complaints deemed unsuitable for the Police integrity Commission and the relevant Local Commander; the conduct of integrity tests; the provisions of advice and support service to Local Commanders; the co-ordination and establishment of intelligence based on corruption within the Police Service; planning proactive investigations, in liaison with the Police Integrity Commission; the provision of assistance with the development of anti-corruption strategies and training for the Police Service”, and the “role of the Police Integrity Commission extend to: monitoring the progress of the EMS [Employment Management System]; undertaking direct investigations into serious matters of corruption or police misconduct; monitoring investigations by the Office of Internal Affairs into those matters which it retains; exercising its coercive power to assist the Office of Internal Affairs where expedient to do so; taking over inquiries into police shooting or serious accidents where its considered desirable to ensure an impartial investigation”. (18)

(c) The final report found that in relation to the existing system of promotion and transfers within the Police Service there were many ”within the Service who do have the perception that the system is unfair. This perception is not lightly removed and it remains a circumstance contributing to the attitude of cynicism and distrust that has pervaded sections of the Service”, and a significant source of dissatisfaction “was the perceived lack of importance given to experience and aptitude”. (19)

The Commission recommended that: “the Service continue to develop and adopt the assessment centre method, and apply it to all career moves which may be described as promotions; assessment centres be regularly monitored by external experts to ensure their effectiveness; selection panels include at least one person who is not a member of the Police Service; the PIC, the Office of Internal Affairs and commanders pay particular attention to delivery of careful and realistic integrity assessments; the basis for transfers be confined to proper administrative and managerial considerations”. (20)

(f) The Commission investigated and made recommendations in regards to diverse issues including: Existing functions of the Police Service; Drug Law Enforcement; Gaming and Betting; Police and Community Youth Clubs; Organisation and Management Structures; Special agencies; education, training and development; Civilian Support and Administrative Services; Consequential Legislative Amendments; Civilian Advisory Councils; the Internal Witness Support Program; Integrity Measures; and an end to the Cycle of Corruption. (21)

(d), (d1) - (d3), (g) – (j) The Commission found that: “serious deficiencies in the existing structures and procedures for the protection of children by those agencies and institutions responsible for their care” had been highlighted, as well as an “appalling lack of co-ordination of effort or commitment”; a “very disturbing picture of neglect, indifference and concealment” had emerged during its investigations “extending to almost every aspect of the preventative, investigative and prosecution process”, and also an “equally disturbing picture of the breadth and nature of the criminal activity involved”. (22)

The Commission found that the Police Service had “adopted a number of structures and procedures over the past 15 years to deal with child sexual abuse”, however there had been “insufficient recognition of the complexities of this form of criminality” and “insufficient liaison and co-operation with the Department of Community Services (DCS)”. The result had been ineffective policing which had “allowed those guilty of child sexual abuse to escape investigations and prosecution” and there had been occasions where protection had “been provided as a result of corrupt arrangements made with police”. (23)

The Commission made many recommendations, in regards to the improvement of child protection measures across Government agencies including the Police Service. (24) These measures included: “removal of gender discrimination in existing laws”; “creation of additional offences’’; amendments to procedures and legislation in relation to court proceedings; “the extension (by Regulations) of the mandatory reporting obligations under Children (Care and Protection) Act 1987 to a wider category of prescribed persons”; “a review of the legislation under which the Police Service and the other departments and agencies charged with the care and protection of children operate, and of their currents practices, with the assistance of the Children’s Commission and the Privacy Committee to ensure that a comprehensive and acceptable system exists to permit the exchange, bona fide, between those agencies of information concerning the sexual abuse of children, and of persons suspected of such abuse”; and retention of the Child Protection Enforcement Agency (CPEA) by the Police Service “as a permanent and separate agency, provided with adequate resources and expert staff including an effective covert and surveillance capacity of its own”. (25)

End of the Commission
The Commission ended with the publishing of the Final Report, Volumes IV to VI: The Paedophile Inquiry, on 26 August 1997. Commissioner Wood presented his report to Premier, R.J. Carr on the same day. (26)

Endnotes
1. Final Report of Royal Commission the New South Wales Police Service, Vol. III: Appendices, Sydney, 1997, p.A82.
2. Ibid., pp.A38-A39.
3. Ibid., pp.A40-A42.
4. Ibid., pp.A43-A48.
5. Ibid., pp.A25.
6. Ibid., pp.A65-A69, A77-A80; Vol. VI: The Paedophile Inquiry: Appendices, pp.PA3-PA11, PA13-PA15.
7. Ibid., p.A59.
8. Ibid., Vol. 1: Corruption, pp.1-2; Vol. III, pp.A38-A42.
9. Loc. cit.
10. Ibid., Vol. 1, pp.2-6.
11. Ibid., Vol. I, Front page, Letter of Presentation of the Report from Commissioner Wood to the Premier, the Hon. R.J. Carr MP, 15 May 1997.
12. Ibid., Vol. I, p.3.
13. Ibid., p.4.
14. Ibid., p.161.
15. Ibid., pp.2-3.
16. Ibid., pp.134-140, 155-159, 191-193, 200-201.
17. Ibid., pp.2-3.
18. Ibid., Vol. II: Reform, pp.547-548.
19. Ibid., pp.285-286.
20. Ibid., p.544.
21. Ibid., pp.539-560.
22. Ibid., Vol. 1, p.12.
23. Ibid., Vol. IV; The Paedophile Inquiry, p.689.
24. Ibid., Vol. V; The Paedophile Inquiry, pp.1317-1335.
25. Loc. cit.
26. Ibid., Vol. IV, Front page, Letter of Presentation of the Report from Commissioner Wood to the Premier, the Hon. R.J. Carr MP, 26 August 1997.

A note on the records of the Wood Royal Commission
Under the Police Integrity Commission Amendment (Records) Act 1998 (Act No.21, 1998), which received assent on 3 June 1998, the Police Integrity Commission Act 1996 (Act No.28, 1996) was amended to include in Schedule 3 clause 2B relating to the transferred records of the Police Royal Commission which were lawfully in the possession of the Police Integrity Commission.