Today fourteen legal organisations wrote a letter to Police Minister Lisa Neville, expressing serious concern about Victoria Police’s failure to correctly swear in more than 1,200 police officers over the last eight years.
The open letter highlights the serious harms that this mistake has caused, and the troubling lack of reflection in the government’s rush for quick-fix legislation. It also expresses concern about the Government’s willingness to give more and more powers to a police force which has demonstrably failed to understand the law which applies to it. The signatory organisations include community legal centres, private legal firms and human rights organisations.
It is critical that the Government establish a new independent police complaints body, that has adequate powers and resources and incorporates procedural fairness principles.