The plod hate citizen vigilantes because they often do the job the police should do, but don't because of political pressure etc, and make plod look dumb & dumber for not doing it.
The fact is that in the UK our beloved Dixon (Evening all) has long since retired to be replaced by politically nuanced officers almost wholly concerned with promotion and budgets - and not concerned with effective policing.
The latest wheeze is not to even get involved in lower level crimes and villainy like petty theft and fraud. Make a report about this and the police won't even visit you. They just log it and give you a crime number.
On the other serious crime is so beset my deep dirty motives, corruption and political fixits they don't get solved either. On the Elm House paedo case almost 2 pages of names of police officers of all ranks were named as being visitors to that establishment and the Establishment can't, therefore, allow prosecution to occur.
And it hasn't.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
Quote:Page updated on Friday 20th September 2013 at 0955hrsuPSD were primarily responsible for unmasking West Yorkshire Police paedophile, DC Michael Vause. Working with the Yorkshire Posts Rob Waugh we were able to propagate this nationwide news story. Without that publicity, Vause would have disappeared into retirement with his vile tendencies unknown to the wider public. Indeed, it became apparent only very recently that residents in the tiny village of Wentbridge, Pontefract where Vause lived, at the time of his conviction, were blissfully unaware they had a child abuser in their midst. Mainly due to the localPontefract & Castleford Express newspaper steadfastly refusing to cover the story of the second convicted Pontefract police paedophile in the past few years. uPSD are also piecing together accounts of a child sex/pornography ring that operated in Knottingley and Pontefract during Vause's time serving as an officer there. We have the names of two more police officers in the town who, allegedly, were having sex with underage girls. Like Vause, they were engaged with Pontefract CID. A CID detective for most of his career and a seriously bent one at that, according to one very reliable account, Vause ended up in the police Professional Standards Department investigating other suspected paedophiles, would you believe? One of those West Yorkshire Police officers he investigated, former Police Band member PS David Oldroyd, was alleged to have abused his own child. The accusations were made by the suspect's own wife, but he was cleared by Vause. That same Band playing officer also perjured himself at Crown Court in Bradford but has faced no action yet from his own Force. That may well change, in the near future, as an outside police force investigation is now under way that will highlight that criminality. During a Section 18 search of a fellow police officer's home, the paedophile Michael Thomas Vause removed a CD containing images of young children. Those were nephews and nieces of the officer under suspicion. Despite strenuous requests for an audit trail of the precise movements of that CD whilst in Vause's possession, his PSD protectors have steadfastly refused to provide comfort that Vause still does not hold a copy of that CD. They were aided and abetted in that deceit both by West Yorkshire Police Authority's Fraser Sampson, to whom the officer turned to for help, and Force Solicitor and Police Band member, Mike Percival. The latter-named will also feature in the Rogue Solicitors area of our site. A third suspected West Yorkshire Police paedophile was arrested after child images were found on his computer. A criminal file was prepared for the CPS but no charges were preferred and the inspector (a former custody sergeant in Wakefield) was allowed to retire on medical grounds. uPSD are aware of the identity of this individual and our enquiries continue. Particularly in respect of the proposition that he was not the owner of the computer hard drive when the indecent images were made/downloaded. This was the reason tendered by DC Vause's solicitor for non-prosecution in respect of the more seriouscategory 4 images which should have sent him to jail. The fourth and fifth West Yorkshire Police paedophiles are named as ex-PC's Christopher Snowand Michael Conlon. Snow of Headingley, Leeds was jailed in 2011. He was sent down for 3 years and nine months, for a string of sex offences against children, including inciting a child into sexual activity. He was already the subject of a child sexual offences restraining order. He had resigned from the police after the first set of offences came to light in 2006. Judge Christopher Batty described Snow as devious in his grooming of teenage girls'. The children were aged between 13 and 15. Conlon was sent down for making and possessing indecent child images, grooming and attempting sexual activity with a child. Jailing Conlon for two-and -a-half years, The Recorder of Leeds, Judge Peter Collier QC told him: "It's aggravated because you used the fact you were a police officer to build some measure of trust." Conlon served five years with West Yorkshire Police, ending in 2009. Conlon was based at Killingbeck police station, the same location as Inspector 5′ Mick Starkey(see Jimmy Savile paedophile news page here). We cannot let the mention of Starkey pass without mentioning Sergeant, and now infamous Blobby Bobby', Matt Appleyard, another paedophile and rapist protector who is still a serving officer at the notorious Wetherby NPT (more on them here). Killingbeck was also where one of the the infamous and illicit trysts between Rogue Officers DCIElizabeth Belton and C/Supt Ian Whitehouse took place and the base of most of the bent West Yorkshire Police officers involved in the huge, and now notorious, Operation Douglas corruption scandal. Some of those cases on West Yorkshire Police's roll of paedophile shame are historic but, nonetheless, significant as they involve former police officers who did not have their names listed on the Sex Offenders Register for life. A disgraced Halifax police officer, who was stationed at Richmond Close Police Station, sexually abused a young girl and was jailed for four years at Leeds Crown Court in Febuary 2004. Peter Newton had served with West Yorkshire Police for more than 29 years admitted six offences of indecent assault against the girl who was aged 11 when the offences began. Newton was not put on the Sex Offenders' Register for life and his name will be removed next year unless the decision is challenged. He had abused the girl over a period of four years. When Newton first groped and kissed the girl, she was too frightened to tell anyone. The nature of the offending got progressively worse including touching the girl's private parts and simulating a sex act with her. Newton's offending came to light when the abused girl confided in a teacher. Passing sentence, Mr Justice Wakerley said the case represented an enormous breach of trust. West Yorkshire Police probationary officer, Simon Dagger, downloaded pictures of naked children from an American pornography site and was snared by police in the Operation Ore crackdown on internet child pornography. Appearing at Leeds Crown Court in April 2003, 24-year-old Dagger, from Pontefract, wept when he was told he would not be jailed for having around 45 indecent images of children stored on his computer. DC Mick Vause (see above) was also from Pontefract and, like Vause, Dagger received a three-year Community Rehabilitation Order with a condition of attendance on a sex-offender treatment programme. The Court was told that Dagger accessed the child images from a library' of around 8,000 photographs stored on the computer. The vast majority were legal adult material with a handful of images involving children falling into the most serious category. He admitted five sample charges of possessing indecent images of children and was ordered to sign the sex-offender register for five years (ending 2008). Dagger was adamant that he didn't get any sexual gratification from these images and it was his curiosity which spiralled out of control. Paedophile Vause also produced the same excuse with his famous line to the Judge: Curiosity killed the cat, Ma'am' Now we uncover, in March 2013, yet another pervert that is running loose in the community who formerly worked for a significant period of his police career at Killingbeck, the same police station as PC Michael Conlon (see above). PC 3917 Gary Simpson, aged 41, was convicted in March 2010 on 20 charges of making and possessing indecent images under the Protection of Children Act 1978. He was also made the subject of a Sex Prevention Order under the Sexual Offences Act 2003. His computer was also confiscated which is a concern as it is known that at least one paedophile was operating at the time in the Professional Standards Department of West Yorkshire Police. DCMichael Vause has since been convicted of child pornography offences. A jail term indicates that the images discovered on Simpson's hard drive were of a serious nature as only Level 4 or Level 5 images would normally attract a custodial sentence. Simpson was unmasked as a paedophile only when he showed the images to a fellow officer, who reported his concerns to supervisors. The latest two West Yorkshire Police officers to be arrested on sex offences by their own Professional Standards officers are PCSO Liam Austerfield, a Wakefield Division NPT officer who was suspended in early April 2013 pending the outcome of criminal enquiries and then resigned just one week later. Austerfield was involved at the Brick House Youth Club in Ossett and uPSD understand that some of the alleged offences are connected to those duties. He was subsequently re-arrested for possession of indecent material shortly after the first arrest which, uPSD understands, followed a search of his home and siezing of Austerfield's property, including his computer. Austerfield appeared at Barnsley Magistrates on Friday 24th May, 2013 charged with indecent image offences and inciting a child to have sex offences. He was committed to Sheffield Crown Court for a plea hearing on 31st May 2013. He was bailed with conditions that include no unsupervised access to children under 16 years old. At the trial which concluded on 19th September 2013 Austerfield was jailed for 15 months. Judge Roger Keen QC said: Instead of behaving properly, you abused the trust the community placed in you in order to gain sexual satisfaction. You have brought a great deal of distress to your own family but more importantly your actions have had a profound effect on your victim and her family. Your position if further aggravated because of your work at the time and takes this well outside the appropriate guidelines. You corrupted this girl and as a consequence her life has been greatly affected'. Austerfield had been found to have beengrooming a local 14-year-old schoolgirl online and begging her to send him explicit pictures. Austerfield had over 300 exchanges with the child by text and Facebook when police seized his mobile phone, laptop and computer and, during one exchange, he sent an indecent picture of himself and told her: If you want to see more you have to show more'. Response officer, PC Kevin Ellis from Castleford was arrested in mid-April after child porn images were found on his computer. He committed suicide the day after he was released on bail. For full story on the background to the arrest of Ellis click here. Once again, Ellis's local newspaper, the aforementioned Pontefract & Castleford Express, are happy to ignore the potential connection with the other two police officer paedophiles in a relatively small circulation area but gave substantial coverage to the jailing of a 75 year old paedophile member of the public in the same week. This takes the West Yorkshire Police paedophile count to ten, if Austerfield is convicted, and uPSD fully expect more police paedophiles to be unmasked in the coming weeks, as our network of informants/investigators grows. We have a very strong lead concerning another Pontefract CID colleagues of Vause's, with a predeliction for under-age girls, who also lived in a village close to Vause's Wentbridge home. A third Pontefract detective has also been named by an informant also in connection with sex with under-age girls. Throughout this process of exposing West Yorkshire Police child abusers we have been obstructed at every turn by West Yorkshire Police, and their devious co-conspirators at the Police Authority, but this is an issue of massive public interest and importance, particularly in the light of Jimmy Savile operating unfettered in Leeds for over 40 years by his local police force. Police & Crime Commissioner, Mark Burns-Williamson, occupied the Chairman's seat at the now defunct and disgraced West Yorkshire Police Authority during the entire period when these paedophiles have been exposed and has, on the face of it, chosen to look the other way. Burns Williamson also lives in Castleford, significantly enough. Burns-Williamson's Vice Chair was dodgy long-term Leeds City Councillor and ex-Mayor of Leeds,Les Carter. What did he know about Jimmy Savile's rape and paedophile activities over the entire 40 years he has been a Councillor. Nothing at all, Mr Carter? Well, not quite. We do know that you put forward Savile to be the face of a crime prevention campaign in 2008 called Talking Signs in your role as Chairman of Safer Leeds Board (read here). The police officer running the campaign in his role as Community Safety Officer was none other than serial flasher, Sgt Ian Poskitt. Is it a coincidence that the police and Police Authority went to extraordinary lengths to conceal Poskitt's first two offences from public view? Finally, why would Mr Vause be attending the Authority's last ever meeting in November 2012, which you chaired, when he was a convicted paedophile and then belatedly give apologies almost as the meeting started when it was realised that investigative journalist, Neil Wilby, was present at the same meeting? What a tangled web we weave.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
An ex-FBI agent has agreed to plead guilty to leaking information to a reporter about an al-Qaeda bomb plot and to child pornography charges. Donald Sachtleben, 55, is to be sentenced to 12 years in prison. The May 2012 disclosures jeopardised an international intelligence operation and put lives at risk, officials said. Investigators identified him after seizing phone records of the Associated Press, which published an article on the Yemen-based al-Qaeda plot. "This unauthorized and unjustifiable disclosure severely jeopardized national security and put lives at risk," Deputy Attorney General James Cole said in a statement. "To keep the country safe, the department must enforce the law against such critical and dangerous leaks, while respecting the important role of the press." In May 2012, the Associated Press published an article describing a successful effort to disrupt a plot by Yemen-based al-Qaeda militants to bomb a US-bound airliner. In court documents, Sachtleben of Indiana admitted giving a reporter information on a plot matching that description. US Attorney General Eric Holder called the national security disclosure among the most serious he had ever seen. "It put the American people at risk, and that is not hyperbole," he told reporters in May. The Associated Press declined to comment on its relationship with Sachtleben, but reported he had pleaded guilty "to revealing secret information for an Associated Press story". Sachtleben worked for the FBI as a bomb technician from 1983-2008 and held top secret security clearance. Stored secretsIn 2008, he was rehired as a contractor, maintaining his security clearance and continuing to have access to classified defence information, according to court documents. On 2 May 2012, he disclosed secret information to a reporter, according to a court document he signed. Nine days later he was arrested on separate charges of trading images of child pornography online, having been identified during an investigation into another man accused of possession of child pornography. An FBI search of Sachtleben's computer, seized in the child pornography investigation, revealed improperly stored secret documents, according to court records. On Monday, Sachtleben pleaded guilty to unauthorised disclosure of national defence information, unauthorised possession and retention of national defence information, and two charges of distributing and possessing child pornography. The plea agreement calls for him to be sentenced to a total of 140 months in prison - 43 for the national security offenses and 97 for the child pornography charges.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
The Unprofessional Standards Department have really done some excellent work. Goes to show how impossible it can be to use the official channels to seek redress if they have to resort to this. So pleased they do. Blessed are the cheese makers and the truth tellers.
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
Ecclesiastical scandal hit Peru yesterday when it was confirmed that one Gabino Miranda, until recently a bishop who worked in the Ayacucho region of Peru, was stripped of his offices by the church in August because of accusations of pedophilia. What's also interesting is how Peru's Catholic church, under the auspices of Opus Dei Cardinal Cipriani, wanted to keep the case of fellow Opus Dei member Miranda away from the public eye and had said nothing to anyone about the case until forced into the admissions last night by first a revelatory op-ed in a national newspaper and then questions arising thereof. In other words, they might have been talking a new talk recently but just like any other big and powerful organization, they'll only admit wrongdoing when forced to do so.
Hopefully, now the case is out in the open the Peruvian authorities will look into it and prosecute the piece of shit Miranda. However, in a country such as Peru, under the cosh of the Catholic church for nearly five centuries, that's nowhere near a given. http://incakolanews.blogspot.com.au/2013...month.html
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
That's Opus Dei for you. It should be renamed to Canis Day.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
I blinked reading this piece and fooled myself into thinking the tory was a well known peer and former conservative Home Secretary.
But then I woke up.
Quote:Tory vice-chairman Alan Lewis arrested over 1960s rape allegationConservative party refuses to comment after Greater Manchester police arrest and question 75-year-old Lewis Conal Urquhart and agencies theguardian.com, Saturday 28 September 2013 09.35 BST
A senior Conservative has been arrested over allegations he raped a woman in the 1960s. Alan Lewis, a vice-chairman of the Conservative party, was arrested by Greater Manchester police. Lewis 75, is the owner of the Crombie clothing brand and one of nine vice-chairmen of the party. In 1990, he was made a CBE for his services as chairman of the Confederation of British Industry's initiative to prepare British businesses for the single market. The Conservative party said that it would not comment on an ongoing police investigation. A Tory supporter since the early 1980s, he has a black belt in karate and is a promoter of Christian healing who claims to read the Bible every day. A Greater Manchester police spokesman said: "A 75-year-old man was arrested following a complaint received earlier this year of an historic rape that occurred in the Manchester area in the late 60s. The man was later bailed pending further inquiries."
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
Quote:Child protection agency chief under investigation over staff bullying claimsLincolnshire police say inquiry is under way into Peter Davies after complaints about his management style Sandra Laville The Guardian, Sunday 29 September 2013 16.34 BST [ATTACH=CONFIG]5341[/ATTACH] Peter Davies, head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, has not been suspended and remains in his post. Photograph: Toussaint Kluiters/EPA
The head of the specialist agency that tackles online child abuse and bullying is under police investigation over allegations about the ill treatment of his staff. Sussex police is carrying out an inquiry into Peter Davies, chief executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop), after grievances were lodged against him, some from senior staff, about his management style, including claims of bullying. The controversy comes as Davies moves Ceop into the government's new FBI-style National Crime Agency and threatens to overshadow its launch in seven days' time. The NCA will take over the investigation of organised crime, trafficking, online child abuse and cybercrime, and is accountable to the Home Office directly. The inquiry into the senior officer, who is on secondment to Ceop from Lincolnshire police, is shrouded in secrecy. It was commissioned by the Serious Organised Crime Agency which runs Ceop after a series of complaints from staff. It is understood an initial four-week review of the allegations involved interviews with several current staff and its findings were such that it was passed to the chief constable of the Lincolnshire force to begin a full investigation. Lincolnshire police called in the Sussex force as external investigators to mount the inquiry into the officer who has been running the agency since 2010. However, the investigation has not been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, as might be expected for an inquiry into such a senior officer. The IPCC said it had no knowledge of the inquiry. Davies has not been suspended and remains in his post, although several sources said he was no longer working out of the agency's main offices. Ceop refused to comment on the allegations against its chief executive, who earns £120,000 a year, saying they did not comment on "personnel queries". But a spokesman for the Lincolnshire force confirmed Davies was under investigation. "Lincolnshire police can confirm that a chief police officer from the force, Peter Davies, who has been seconded to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection agency for over two years, is presently the subject of a complaint regarding his style of management," a spokesman said. "The director general of the Serious Organised Crime Agency, the body responsible for Ceop, has referred the matter to Lincolnshire police. Deputy chief constable Giles York of Sussex police has been commissioned as an independent investigator to conduct an enquiry into the complaint. "It would be inappropriate for Lincolnshire, or the other agencies involved to make any further comment until the investigation is complete. "Mr Davies remains in post at Ceop." The Guardian understands that there was an earlier review by Soca into allegations about the bullying and management style within the agency but no action was taken. "There were people some really competent people who were just completely broken by this and they didn't feel they had anywhere to turn. It didn't feel like anyone wanted to deal with it," said one source. "It is particularly bad when people are carrying out really difficult, stressful work like this. You don't work at Ceop unless you care about what you are doing." Sussex police would not give details of the scope of its inquiry. A spokesman said: "Sussex police is conducting an investigation into a matter at the request of Lincolnshire police. "As we have been commissioned by another force it would be for that force to provide any details it is able to, so Sussex police will not comment further at this stage or later. This is usual practice in such cases." Ceop will be one of several agencies within home secretary Theresa May's National Crime Agency, which also takes over the role of Soca. Its staff include police officers, child protection experts and computer specialists, all of whom work to investigate, locate and gather intelligence on child abusers who operate online. Davies's secondment as head of Ceop is due to come to an end in November.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
You need really competent and caring management in a department like that (well, any department really) because the work and what they are exposed to is very traumatic and gruelling. It can be very fast burn out, breakdown, vicarious trauma and total disillusionment in humanity. Certainly don't need ito be dealing with some arsehole who hasn't worked through their shit above you either.
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
A pox on both their houses. Power covering up the crimes of the powerful against the vulnerable. The FOI documents show that Catholic church here thought it had an 'understanding' with police about its pedophile priests. Not sure if the video is geo-blocked but well worth a watch too. I've included a transcript of it below if you cannot view it outside of Australia.
The Catholic Church tried to strike an agreement with New South Wales Police that would have helped shut down investigations into paedophile priests and placed police in breach of the Crimes Act. Police records, accessed under freedom of information laws by Greens MP David Shoebridge, show two attempts were made to finalise memorandums of understanding (MOUs) between police and the church over how to deal with complaints of sexual and physical abuse by Catholic Church personnel. The first agreement, which was unsigned, includes a clause that reads: "Church authorities shall make available the report of an assessment and any other matter relevant to the accused's account of events only if required to do so by court order." Barrister Geoffrey Watson SC says the agreement would have placed police in breach of the Crimes Act. "If you become aware of a serious criminal offence, you've got to tell the police," he told the ABC's Lateline program. "When I looked at the MOUs they were really in effect trying to get the police to condone the failure to comply with that law, or even perhaps worse, get the police to participate in that." NSW Police say neither memorandum of understanding was ever signed, or in force.
We had a line of communications with the police and all indications from the police were that the MOU was approved from their end.
Michael Salmon, director of the Professional Standards Resource Group of the Catholic Church in NSW
But a senior official with the Catholic Church has told Lateline an agreement was operational and the church dealt with police under the provisions of the first draft agreement. "We were practising the provisions of the MOU and dealing with the police under those provisions," said Michael Salmon, director of the Professional Standards Resource Group of the Catholic Church in NSW. "We had an understanding from police it was approved. "We had a line of communications with the police and all indications from the police were that the MOU was approved from their end." But NSW Police deny the agreement was ever in place. In a statement a spokesperson said: "The Church continued to cooperate with NSW Police but it did so without any protections assumed in an MOU, as such protections would not have been valid given the requirements of Section 316 of the Crimes Act." Records show two draft agreements were negotiated
The police file shows communications between the church and police about the agreement. In June 2003 Michael McDonald from the Catholic Commission for Employment Relations wrote to the Child Protection Squad: "I, therefore, seek your confirmation that the unsigned memorandum of understanding with the police remains in place." The Catholic Church could not tell Lateline why Mr McDonald was writing to the police, but Kim McKay from the Child Protection Squad was unequivocal in her written response to Mr McDonald. "Please note that his (sic) draft unsigned MOU has not been approved by the NSW Police Service, and the arrangements proposed by the MOU are not currently in place," she said. VIDEO: CEO of Truth, Justice and Healing Council says MOUs raise serious questions (Lateline) "The arrangements proposed by the draft MOU appear to be in direct conflict with the explicit legislative requirement of section 316 of the Crime Act." Before this letter was sent by Superintendent McKay, the church was under the assumption the agreement was in place. Mr Shoebridge wonders how many sexual abuse cases were dealt with under these provisions. "It's likely that hundreds, if not more than that were processed through this MOU, and processed in a way that didn't protect victims, didn't assist the police in prosecuting for crimes, but protected the good name of the church and effectively prevented the police from getting the key evidence to prosecute any accused priest," he said. After Superintendent McKay had made it clear in her letter that the unsigned agreement would have breached the Crimes Act, the church and police started negotiations to draft another agreement. The second draft agreement, dated August 2004, includes a clause that states: "The Catholic Church or (additional party) shall make available the report of an assessment and any other matter relevant to the accused's account of events only if authorised in writing by the accused or if required to do so by court order." Mr Shoebridge says the second draft agreement goes even further than the first one. "The church wanted to effectively give the accused priest a veto power about whether or not to provide crucial information to the police - utterly extraordinary when you think that that's less than a decade ago." This second agreement was prepared by NSW Police, but a police spokesman told Lateline it was never considered a workable document and never endorsed.
TONY JONES, PRESENTER: Police records obtained under Freedom of Information laws have revealed that the Catholic Church was trying to strike an illegal agreement with the New South Wales Police, damaging to investigations of child sex abuse.
The police say the memorandum of understanding was never signed and never in force. But a senior official of the Catholic Church has told Lateline the agreement was in fact operational and the Catholic Church dealt with the police under its provisions. Under the draft agreement, the Church could withhold personnel files from police. That and other provisions were found to be in breach of the Crimes Act.
Steve Cannane has this exclusive report. The producer was Sashka Koloff.
STEVE CANNANE, REPORTER: In recent years the Catholic Church has been accused of covering up child sexual abuse committed by its own clergy.
Now they're being accused of trying to co-opt NSW Police to help them suppress evidence against paedophile priests.
This draft agreement between police and the Church contains clauses that would allow the Church to withhold evidence from police.
(female voiceover): "Church authorities shall make available the report of an assessment and any other matter relevant to the accused's account of events only if required to do so by court order."
GEOFFREY WATSON, BARRISTER: The point is that under our law, you must report it if you become aware of a serious criminal offence and you've got to give all the particulars of that. You've got to tell the police. When I looked at the MOUs, they were really in effect trying to get the police to condone the failure to comply with that law, or even perhaps worse, get the police to participate in it.
STEVE CANNANE: This file, accessed under Freedom of Information by NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge, documents communications between the Catholic Church and NSW Police over the agreement.
On June 18, 2003, Michael McDonald, executive director of the Catholic Commission for Employment Relations, wrote to the Child Protection Squad seeking confirmation the agreement was still in place.
MICHAEL MCDONALD, CATHOLIC COMM. FOR EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS (male voiceover): "I, therefore, seek your confirmation that the unsigned Memorandum of Understanding with the police remains in place."
STEVE CANNANE: In response, Kim McKay from the Child Protection Squad makes it clear that no agreement exists.
KIM MCKAY, CHILD PROTECTION SQUAD (female voiceover): "Please note that his draft unsigned MOU has not been approved by the NSW Police Service, and the arrangements proposed by the MOU are not currently in place. The arrangements proposed by the draft MOU appear to be in direct conflict with the explicit legislative requirement of section 316 of the Crime Act."
DAVID SHOEBRIDGE, NSW GREENS MP: Well it appears that the police didn't sign the MOU, but that's only one very small part of it. It's clear from these documents that the Church believed it was in force, at least until the middle of 2003, and its very clear that the police were aware of its existence for that entire period and either knew or would have been culpable in not knowing that the Church were operating under the terms of this MOU. And let's be clear about it: the MOU said that the Church would not provide crucial documents to the police.
STEVE CANNANE: Michael Salmon was the Catholic's Church's point of contact for police. He would not be interviewed on camera, but he confirmed to Lateline the Church operated under the agreement, even though it was not signed.
MICHAEL SALMON, DIRECTOR, PROF. STANDARDS OFFICE, CATHOLIC CHURCH NSW (male voiceover): "The Church assumed it was operational. We were practising the provisions of the MOU and dealing with the police under those provisions. We had an understanding from police it was approved. We had a line of communications with the police and all indications from the police were that the MOU was approved from their end."
STEVE CANNANE: No-one from NSW Police was available to be interviewed. In a statement, a spokesman said:
STATEMENT FROM NSW POLICE FORCE SPOKESMAN (male voiceover): "The Church continued to cooperate with NSW Police, but it did so without any protections assumed in an MOU, as such protections would not have been valid given the requirements of Section 316 of the Crimes Act. As stated in the letter to the Catholic Church, dated 20 August 2003, the MOU was not approved. The letter also made clear that the proposed arrangements had never been operational at any point."
STEVE CANNANE: But the Church assumed the agreement was operational and David Shoebridge says it's unclear how many abuse cases were dealt with under this assumption.
DAVID SHOEBRIDGE: We don't know how many sanitised complaints were made by the police under the terms of this MOU and we don't know the extent to which police were involved in that process for the better part of the decade. But it's likely that hundreds, if not more than that, cases were processed through this MOU and processed in a way that didn't protect victims, didn't assist the police in prosecuting for crimes, but protected the good name of the Church and effectively prevented the police from getting the key evidence to prosecute any accused priest.
STEVE CANNANE: In 2004 another agreement between the police and the Church was drafted, despite previous advice from police that it would breach the Crimes Act. If signed, this agreement would have given even more protection to accused clergy.
DAVID SHOEBRIDGE: And in that MOU, the Church wanted to effectively give the accused priest a veto power about whether or not to provide crucial information to the police. Utterly extraordinary when you think that that's less than a decade ago.
STEVE CANNANE: This agreement was prepared by NSW Police, but a police spokesman says it was never considered a workable document and never endorsed.
Steve Cannane, Lateline.
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
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The accused was an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for 25 years