‘blind Reporting’ of Abuse Allegations in Catholic Church Defended by Officer

The Guardian
October 17, 2014

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/oct/17/blind-reporting-of-abuse-allegations-in-catholic-church-defended-by-officer

Elizabeth Cullen: ‘What right do we have to presume that they can’t make an informed choice on their own,’ she said. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAPImage

A senior police officer at the centre of hearings into the force’s relationship with the Catholic church has broken down in tears while defending the practice of “blind reporting” sex abuse.

Inspector Elizabeth Cullen was a member of the Professional Standards Resources Group (PSRG) between 1999 and 2005, a body that supported the church’s Professional Standards Office (PSO).

But Cullen, a police officer for 28 years, told the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) it was not her role to make direct reports to her superiors at the child protection squad about incidents of abuse being handled by the PSO.

Counsel assisting, Kristina Stern, on Friday asked Cullen if sex abuse victims whose cases were brought before the PSO should have been encouraged to talk to police so they could make an informed choice about making a criminal complaint.

“There was an over-arching factor that their wishes be respected,” she said, referring to abuse sufferers who requested privacy while detailing allegations.

Cullen started to cry.

“What right do we have to presume that they can’t make an informed choice on their own,” she said.

Using a system called “blind reporting”, the information about abuse incidents would be given to police without victims’ details. In some cases, the blind report said the victim did not want police involvement when in fact they did.

Cullen, who attended the PSRG meetings on a monthly basis, said she did not see it as her role to be a conduit of information to police.

She prepared the pro-forma “blind reporting” forms that were used by the PSO to pass information to police. But she told the inquiry she was never present when a complaint was taken down.

Stern asked whether as a police officer she should have taken steps to ensure all information was being given about cases. Cullen replied: “No. I don’t think so.

“It was my understanding that information was given to police on all relevant matters.”

Cullen was shown details of a 2001 case seen by the PSRG that contained information about a serial sex offender.

Asked if she advised the group that more details should be given to police, she replied that just because the PSRG meeting minutes did not reflect her advice, it didn’t mean it was not given.

The process of blind reporting worked, she said, and it was not sensible for her to assess every piece of information brought before the PSRG. If she had information that should be given to police, Cullen said she would advise PSO members, Michael Salmon and John Davoren.

“[Mr Davoren] was a man of integrity and so when he said certain things were being done, I had no reason to believe they weren’t,” Cullen said.

The public hearings concluded on Friday.