Nsw Police Officer on Catholic Church Abuse Panel Says Not Her Role to Report Misconduct, Inquiry Told

By Jessica Kidd
ABC News
October 17, 2014

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-17/police-officer-denies-obligation-to-report-church-abuse/5822046

A senior police officer who sat on an internal Catholic Church panel set up to manage allegations of sexual abuse by members of the clergy says it was not her role to report that information back to New South Wales Police, an inquiry has heard.

The Police Integrity Commission (PIC) is investigating whether then-Senior Sergeant Elizabeth Cullen's appointment to the Church's Professional Standards Resource Group (PSRG) amounted to police misconduct. She is now an Inspector.

It is also examining whether an information-sharing arrangement between the Church and the police breached mandatory reporting laws set out in the NSW Crimes Act.

The commission heard Inspector Cullen was privy to individual cases of alleged sexual abuse by members of the clergy when she sat on the PSRG from 1999 until 2005, while working in the Child Protection Enforcement Agency.

But when asked whether she ever reported those allegations back to the police she said, "that wasn't my role".

"I always considered myself to be a police officer invited (to sit on the PSRG) because of my expertise," she told the commission.

"However, I didn't consider myself acting on behalf of NSW Police, I believe that's an important distinction.

"I wasn't given much detail all in these matters and I was hopeful more detail was going to police (through the reporting practices of the Church's Professional Standards Office)."

The commission also heard Inspector Cullen drafted a report template used by the Professional Standards Office (PSO) to report allegations, known as a blind report.

Blind reports were routinely used by the PSO to report allegations of abuse to police but they only stated that an allegation had been made and the vast majority of reports did not identify the victims.

Counsel Assisting the Commission, Kristina Stern, questioned Inspector Cullen about the blind reports, asking whether she could be confident the Church was not using them to suppress allegations made against the clergy.

"I didn't believe people were filling the forms out in bad faith," she said.

"I had no evidence to that end.

"The contrary was preferred, that victims would go to police because it would save [the Church] a lot of time and money investigating."

The hearing continues.