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| Nsw Police Admit Senior Officer Shredded Documents Relating to Child Sex Abuse
Herald Sun
June 21, 2013
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/nsw-police-admit-senior-officer-shredded-documents-relating-to-child-sex-abuse/story-fnii5s3y-1226667321160
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Former NSW Director of Public Prosecutions Nicholas Cowdery described the shredding of documents by a police officer as "extraordinary".
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Greens MP David Shoebridge made the discovery through a Freedom of Information request.
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NSW Police have admitted shredding all records of a senior officers involvement with a Catholic church body which deals with sexual abuse.
A Freedom of Information request by Greens MP David Shoebridge revealed briefing papers and documents created over a five year period between 1998 and 2003 had been destroyed.
The documents reveal that Inspector Beth Cullen, who was then with the Sex Crimes Unit, destroyed all documents relating to her role with the Catholic church body.
A letter from the NSW Police, which was released with the FOI documents states: “Inspector Beth Cullen, the NSW Police representative on the [catholic church body], shredded hard copies of meeting material after each meeting.”
Mr Shoebridge said the public deserved to know why the documents were destroyed, and why a police officer was involved in internal church investigations.
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It was created in 1997 in response to the Wood Royal Commission into the police and paedophilia, and its key function was to advise the church on specific cases involving clergy and others.
Mr Shoebridge said there appeared to be no "paper trail" that could explain how or why the police officer shredded the documents.
"We need all the documents produced, and in the absence of documents, we need the police explaining to the public about how they went about destroying these documents' evidence of crime," he said.
"No police officer should be involved in internal church investigations about crimes. When there is a crime it should be investigated by police."
The state's former Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Nicholas Cowdery QC, has also voiced concern.
"It is quite extraordinary because my experience has been that official police action is backed up by documents, reports and all the relevant material assembled during the official police activity," he said.
"So for someone involved in such activity to shred documents like this I think it quite unusual and indeed extraordinary.
"There is something about shredding documents - it is to put the documents out of reach, but in the mind of the person doing it, to shred documents is to destroy them and to make them unavailable for others."
Mr Cowdery said he he could think of no time when it would be necessary or appropriate for a serving police officer to shred documents of their role on a civilian body.
"No, I can't accept to destroy evidence - which is what it amounts to - evidence of what happened, so that the person that was involved can't refer back to the documentary evidence," he said.
"So that person's superiors can't have access to a contemporaneous record that was made or preparatory documents - or documents that might have been provided by way of briefing before the meeting was organised - all that has gone.
"I have sat on numerous committees and bodies with serving police officers who were there by reason of their position in the police force, they always make comprehensive notes of what is going on, they prepare reports for their superiors, they have records they can refer back to, if there is any uncertainty or confusion about what happened, it is to protect the officer as well as the institution."
NSW Police Minister Mike Gallacher has written to the Police Commissioner's office asking for an urgent briefing on the matter.
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