A damning internal fraud and corruption review has found that in 2022 alone there were more than 1,000 misconduct reports from inside the Queensland Police Service, including hundreds of allegations of violence.
The review was completed last year and raised concerns about the force’s ability to prevent, mitigate and manage corrupt practices such officers misusing their authority and confidential information for personal gain, using illegal drugs, being influenced by drug dealer and amending police records.
Documents obtained by the Brisbane Times showed that 242 of the internal reports related to assaults or use of excessive force, 311 were for drug-related offences and the misuse of authority and confidential information, 127 were allegations of interfering with investigations or legal processes, and 785 reports were for failures of duty.
Details of the review emerged on Sunday, the same day as officers from the Public Safety Response Team (PSRT) were filmed pushing, shoving and verbally abusing nationalist protesters in the Brisbane CBD and carrying out violent arrests for alleged obstruction of police and contravention of a police direction.
Noticer News understands that three demonstrators received serious injuries while being taken into custody, although only one of the four men arrested on the day was charged – with the non-violent offence of “inciting others to incite vilification”.
A QPS spokesperson told the Brisbane Times all recommendations from the review had been implemented, except for one concerning the regular updating of the corruption register.
“The QPS has a broad range of programs, policies and initiatives that support professional and ethical practice, including a robust internal complaints system, policies on declarable associations, gifts and benefits, as well as discipline and ethical awareness training,” the spokesperson said.
“In addition to the above initiatives, a new corporate risk management system is due to be implemented in the second half of 2024 to assist the QPS in managing the issues outlined in the report.
“Since mid-2023, the QPS has been using an interim risk management system that has addressed the concerns of static risk management documents and the identification of risk owners. The interim system will be retired upon commencement of the new corporate risk management system.”
Last week Queensland Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski was forced to acknowledge “end-to-end systemic issues” in police watch houses (holding cells) after allegations of misconduct and police brutality, the “abominable” treatment of children, and torture-like conditions.
Commissioner Gollschewski announced a broad-ranging review which would look into whether the facilities were fit for purpose, The Guardian Australia reported.
Queensland government statistics released in April showed that violent crime is up, with the rate of assaults three times higher than four years ago.
As a result of the violent crime surge and an immigration-driven population boom the QPS is so desperate for new officers that in 2023 it launched a global recruitment drive to find 500 foreign nationals a year for five years to join the force. They are not required to be Australian citizens or permanent residents.
Pictured above are two violent arrests from the Free England rally in Brisbane on August 11.
