NSW Police Integrity Commission looks at intelligence-sharing arrangement with Catholic Church

By Thomas Oriti, Jessica Kidd
ABC News
October 13, 2014

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-13/nsw-police-inquiry-looks-at-intelligence-sharing-with-church/5808506

The police corruption watchdog in New South Wales has been told an intelligence-sharing arrangement with the Catholic Church potentially allowed the clergy to withhold information from officers.

In the late 1990s, New South Wales police agreed to have a serving officer from the Sex Crimes Squad involved in the Professional Standards Resource Group (PSRG).

The internal panel was established by the Catholic Church to respond to complaints of child sexual abuse.

The arrangement between police and the church continued until 2005, despite internal police legal advice warning the arrangement was "illegal, nonsensical and undesirable".

As part of Operation Protea, the Police Integrity Commission is now investigating whether that involvement amounted to police misconduct.

Counsel Assisting the Commission Kristina Stern SC told the hearing the officer, Inspector Elizabeth Cullen (then a Senior Sergeant), played a key role in the internal church panel.

"Cullen's first PSRG meeting was on the 23rd April, 1999, and her last meeting was on 20 May 2005," Ms Stern said.

"The minutes of the PSRG record that she attended 44 meetings of the PSRG in that period, seven of which she attended as chair.

"Her conduct will be a key focus of the public hearing."

Ms Stern said the Commission would examine the information the police officer was provided as part of her role with the PSRG, and "the steps that she did or didn't take to ensure that all information held by the Catholic Church in relation to the serious criminal offence of child sexual abuse ... was appropriately reported to the New South Wales Police Force".

The former priest who set up the PSRG, John Davoren, told the commission complaints were not automatically referred to police.

He said the group would seek to substantiate abuse allegations before referring them to NSW police.

Under questioning from Ms Stern, he admitted the process was not necessarily automatic and that older cases or unsubstantiated cases were not always referred to child protection enforcement officers.

The hearing has been told the intelligence-sharing arrangement potentially led to a situation where criminal conduct was not investigated by the New South Wales Police Force.

"The simple fact is that the conduct complained of was, in many cases, recognised to be criminal conduct," Ms Stern said.

"Notwithstanding this, notification of all relevant information to the police did not take place, and this appears to have been well-known to officers of the New South Wales Police Force.

"Moreover, there appears to have been a usual practice of reporting claims of sexual abuse, including against children, on an intelligence-only basis where the complainant had indicated a preference to go through the church process rather than report the matter themselves to the police."

Ms Stern also questioned Inspector Cullen's records of her involvement in the PSRG at the time, including whether she should have recorded information in her police notebook or in electronic police databases.

"It appears that Cullen did not retain the documentation with which she was provided through her role with the PSRG, and was of the belief that this would be retained by the PSO (Professional Standards Office)," Ms Stern said.

Freedom of Information documents obtained by the ABC reveal church leaders thought a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was in place that covered what information would be handed to police.

According to the minutes of a PSRG meeting on January 9, 1997, the man nominated by the Catholic Church to liaise with police, Father Brian Lucas, said "agreements were being reached about a Memorandum of Understanding between the Catholic Church and NSW Police".

Father Lucas anticipated the agreement would determine when the church and police would act collaboratively, and when the two parties would act separately in the event of a complaint of abuse.

An unsigned draft MOU dated May 15, 2000 included a clause stating the PSRG would not provide the identity of a complainant to police if the person did not wish to report the matter, even if an alleged criminal offence was reported.

"Issues may arise as to whether or not the procedures set out in the draft MOU in 2000 were in fact informally adopted," Ms Stern said.

The hearing continues.