Deputy Commissioner Andrew Scipione, said the evacuation planning required police to imagine the worst that could happen.A round up of the boys and girls in blue
A review of what the boys and girls in blue have been up to shows that their respective juices have been stimulated by their ability to demand greater and greater police powers.
In Sydney, NSW police were the first to ask for extra powers to evacuate the city centre into Hyde Park and other predetermined areas in case of a 'terrorist' incident, according to the August 1 Sydney Morning Herald.
The plans have been described as nonsense by security experts as this is exactly want terrorists want - 100,000 or so people in Hyde Park so that they can be the victim of secondary bombings. The excitement of police at ordering hundreds of thousands of people around obviously got in the way of their better thinking.
A central plank of the proposal was the push for more sniffer dogs, however, they will have to be better trained than the Victoria police dogs who were accidentally trained to sniff out talcum power.
An August 2 AAP report noted that dogs that had been trained to sniff out cocaine were in fact taught to sniff out talcum powder as the original cocaine had been switched. In January, two Victoria Police dog squad members went to the Australian Federal Police headquarters in La Trobe Street to take the cocaine to train the dogs. They took the merchandise, signed the appropriate forms and headed back to the dog squad.
Each of the dogs will now have to be re-trained at an approximate cost of $95,000 per dog.
The original cocaine has not been found.
On less weightier matters, our cops can't even get traffic cameras to work. A Herald and Weekly Times news article reports that many Victorian drivers have been wrongly banned from driving. Graeme Marr, 41, a former camera operator, said that there were problems with reflected radar beams. Radar beams can be reflected off various metal objects and this corrupts the readings.
Mr Marr is appearing as a defence witness for Glenn Hilburn, in the Broadmeadows Magistrates Court, who is being charged with speeding.
Finally, police are good at some things: shooting unarmed and mentally ill people being one of them. An August 4 AAP report quotes a state coroner attacking Victorian Police who shot a mentally ill man in 2002.
Mark Kaufman, 25, died after he was shot by a police officer at his Glen Waverley home in 2002.
The court heard Mr Kaufman, who had schizophrenia, was brandishing two knives and had stabbed his father earlier that day.
The State coroner, Graeme Johnstone, said that he accepted that the officer feared for his life, but that the police should have just waited while trying to confront him. He further found that the police handled the situation badly and that more experienced police officers should have been involved.
Elizabeth Crowther, from the Mental Health Fellowship of Victoria, says police need to learn from the tragedy.
When not shooting unarmed mentally ill people or criminals, there is always the wildlife. A police officer has been summons to appear at Melbourne Magistrates Court with shooting a magpie.
The unnamed constable, from Diamond Creek, has been charged with discharging a firearm in a populous area in a dangerous manner, hunting and destroying a protected species. An autopsy has been conducted on the dead bird as part of the investigation.
The officer had been charged with discharging a firearm in a populous area and in a dangerous manner. He was also charged with hunting and destroying a protected species. The bird has been subject of an official post mortem.
There is always the avenue of complaint, of course, for the public when the police don't do their job properly. Like the woman who wrote to the Office of Police Integrity complaining that a police officer had breached her privacy.
The reply from the Office of Police Integrity plopped into the woman's letterbox, consisting of 500 pages of confidential material on more than 400 people.
According to the August 6 report in the Melbourne Age, the woman who originaly complained said 'I was writing to the [Office of Police Integrity] about breaches of my privacy and they have breached privacy beyond what I could possibly have imagined...I have no faith in returning the documents to them because they are simply going to sweep the issue under the carpet and do it to somebody else at will.'
The files contained full names, private addresses, sexual preferences, 'ethnic appearance' and criminal records.
The OPI said that 'Although mistakes of this nature are regretted, it should be remembered that the office handles thousands of complaints and inquiries every year.'
That's alright then.
By Julie Smith posted August 15 05
Related:
Australia: Cop Watch
The roundup this week - dodgy riot gear, shooting French photographers, senior coppers being 4 times over the legal limit, dodgy promotions in NSW, more terrorism powers in WA and drug-dealing coppers in Melbourne (it is alleged).
Assaulted, intimidated or harassed in custody?
"Then make an Apprehended Violence Order application against the police, says assault victim Ms Teresa Kiernan.
NSW Police Force: 2 dead, $1 million dollars to catch a thief?
NSW police have expressed concern about their response to the Macquarie Fields riots in south-western Sydney after a police pursuit that killed two young youths Dylan Rayward 17, and Mathew Robertson, 19 that went horribly wrong.
OUR STORIES MUST BE TOLD. THEY HAVE TO BE
On Sunday 13th February, a Community gathering will be held to enable all people to remember the death of one of our young Community members, 'TJ' Hickey.
Vic police chief moves to sack officers
The Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police, Christine Nixon, has moved to dismiss two police officers as part of a crackdown on corruption and says up to 20 more dismissals could follow.
Vic flop cop warns there's more corruption
Victorian Police Chief Commissioner, Christine Nixon, says Victorians should brace themselves for more evidence of police corruption.
Vic police corruption report tabled in Parliament
The Victorian Ombudsman's report on the Ceja Taskforce and drug related corruption in Victoria police has been tabled in State Parliament.
Bent police compromise Bulldogs gang-rape case
Deputy Commissioner Dave Madden could have compromised gang-rape investigation? Steve Mortimer resigned!
More NSW Police Corruption?
Line of fire? [Bullshit! Line of Lick Arse Noble Cause NSW Corrupt Cops] (clockwise from top left) Deputy Commissioner Dave Madden, Assistant Commissioner Peter Parsons, Superintendent Dave Swilkes, Assistant Commissioner Bob Waites and Superintendent Dave Owens.
NSW Cop suspect in murder?
A sacked Sydney police officer has finished giving testimony at a hearing into his corrupt activities over the past eight years. Christopher John Laycock was yesterday recalled to the witness stand at the Police Integrity Commission (PIC).
Corrupt NSW police officer sacked
New South Wales Police Commissioner Ken Moroney has sacked an officer who confessed to being involved in corrupt activities over the past eight years.
Policeman draws blank on fake raids
A suspended Sydney policeman has told an inquiry that he has "little recollection" of the details of fake police raids he set up.
Officer planned to kidnap criminals
A senior Sydney police officer who has admitted taking money for tipping off a child porn suspect had also been planning to kidnap criminals and extort money from them, the Police Integrity Commission heard yesterday.
Police offer protection to family following gang rape allegations
The parents of a 14-year-old girl claim their daughter was gang-raped in Sydney earlier this year, and have raised concerns about corrupt policeman Detective Sergeant Christopher Laycock's review of the case.
NSW police prosecutor charged with child porn possession
A New South Wales police prosecutor has been charged with the possession of child pornography.
Police, teachers charged in child porn bust
One-hundred-and-fifty people, including police officers and teachers, have been arrested in what the Federal Police (AFP) describe as Australia's biggest Internet child pornography bust.
A corrupt way to treat the community?
I seen the police bleeding on Nine's Sunday program arguing that promotion should depend on how many crimes police have solved and not how many brains they have and that was coming from police commissioner Ken Moroney and Police Minister John Watkins?
Judges Blood Sample: After the fact of the fact of a hangover?
Lawyers say New South Wales Supreme Court judge Jeff Shaw should not give police his own sample of blood taken after he crashed his car near his Sydney home last month.
NSW police drug amnesty under review
A drug amnesty for the New South Wales police force is under review, Police Commissioner Ken Moroney has said.
Police to uphold law not decide mental health
A diagnosis of mental illness could be made over the phone instead of in person, and involuntary psychiatric patients could lose the right to have their case reviewed by a magistrate, under proposed changes to NSW mental health laws.
Redfern police need education not weapons
According to the description of one senior police officer, the ACLO called out on the afternoon before the Redfern violence escalated was "hopeless, intoxicated and had no driver's licence."
Bulldogs simply not the best!
SIMPLY NOT THE BEST AND DEFINITELY NOT BETTER THAN ANYONE, ANYONE I'VE MET.
Clive Small, NSW Inspector Gadget
NSW Police has revived controversial plans for a specialist discriminative squad to tackle the wave of violent crime that has plagued Sydney's south-west for more than a decade.
2,500, crooked detectives? Or a corrupt Government?
The Wood Royal Commission into police corruption. Where did the police learn their trade skills? Led by example perhaps?
Australia's Political Underworld...And their enforcers
The promotion of law and order means money to big business. Profits from insurance, security fixtures, patrol services and the like can only continue to grow if the perceived threat of uncontrollable crime wave escalates. In the past few months there have been many examples of the true nature of our blood thirsty politicians and their sinister attempts to spoon-feed a not so gullible public with their repetitious rhetoric.
Lord Denning
Interesting how a member of the Police Board Mr. Tim Priest would hold grave fears for his safety from dangerouse senior police but fails to name them or have them sacked. Rather Priest resigns as if he had no powers. Could that mean what he was saying is that the Governments are also corrupt?
Black Nexus
The Separation of Powers Doctrine is nowcontaminated witharangeofcolours, now leaving us with a black shirt on a once blue bridge that crossed that thin blue line. The 'Amery and Woodham show'.
Partners in crime - history!
Roger Rogerson, the old hero, who never faced a result in the Lanfranchy, or Huckstepp murders, was let off in my opinion when the New South Wales Government rolled the legal system (deciding what evidence to give the police prosecutor) to have the jury believe the illusion they (the Government wanted to create).Similarly, Peter Ryan facing the Police Integrity Commission for questions about his involvement in the demise of the dysfunctional reform unit. Chess in the court (rolling the legal system).
Police Chronology 1994-2001
View events in the NSW Police Force since the Wood Royal Commission began in 1994. 1994 May Justice James Wood is appointed Commissioner of the Royal Commission into the NSW Police Service ('WRC').
Federal Police
AFP: The unlikely CRIMINAL
It was born of a bombing and it made its name after a far more devastating act of terrorism. But for most of the 25 years in between, little was known about the Australian Federal Police force or the work it did.
