Commonwealth Ombudsman Allan Asher has criticised the Australian Federal Police's handling of complaints in a review of police practices, and used an ACT Policing case as an example of operational problems.
The Ombudsman's review, which examined data relating to 399 complaints closed between 1 August 2009 and 28 February 2010 — plus the 109 excessive use of force complaints made since January 2007, 80 from members of the public — was tabled in Federal Parliament today.
It noted that the AFP cleared themselves over the use of excessive force in all reviewed cases, and also noted failings in police methods.
'It is clear that there were deficiencies in the AFP's complaint-handling practices during this period,' the Ombudsman, Allan Asher, said.
'In some cases, there was little evidence to show that AFP members took steps to diffuse difficult situations before resorting to force, while in others the records were inconsistent or incomplete.'
Mr Asher criticised the AFP for failing to address inconsistencies in statements, referring to the case of a man who complained that an ACT Policing officer behaved aggressively when arresting him in Canberra (ACT Policing is an arm of the AFP).
One of these inconsistencies related to a paint scraper, which the man claimed was in his trouser pocket and would not have been visible to police until after he was forcibly removed from his vehicle. The police officer stated he grabbed hold of the man and then saw the handle of the 'knife'; while the AFP's 'use of force' report asserted that police saw the knife and then used force.
The man later complained the handcuffs put on him made him bleed, according to AAP, which reports that a closer inspection of the officer responsible revealed he had received about 16 complaints against him in the previous two years. Mr Asher called for the AFP to consider a member's complaint history when conducting a complaint investigation, but the police rejected this recommendation.
The Ombudsman called into question the AFP's complaint management practices, citing delays in reaching conclusions to investigations and the high 'clearance' rate as other major issues.
'Timeliness in resolving complaints about everything from a small customer service matter right through to the most serious of misconduct claims has deteriorated, with some cases open for years,' the Ombudsman said.
'Good complaint handling is about resolving individual problems and making improvement to systems. It differs from investigating crimes, even though the consequences of a substantiated complaint may be severe for an AFP member, and should take into consideration the history of complaints against a member where one exists.
'Efforts to improve the quality of complaint handling through training are paying off, but there is room for further improvement, and I look forward to continuing our work with the AFP's Professional Standards team to this end.'
The Ombudsman's report on activities under Part V of the Australian Federal Police Act 1979, February 2011, is available here.
Source: The Canberra Times
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