Filming an employee's genitals "unprofessional" but not "criminal", NSW Police
A NSW Police sergeant received only a warning and a transfer to another command after filming a colleague's genitals and posting the footage to a group chat in November 2023. A complaint of serious bullying and misconduct was made to the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) who referred the complaint to the NSW Police for internal review.
Greens MP and spokesperson for justice Sue Higginson said “A senior officer has violated a junior officer’s privacy and right to be safe at work, and all that’s happened is a warning and a transfer. The air of secrecy and impunity around the NSW Police is reminiscent of the handling of charges of abuse against the Catholic Church,”
“The LECC is supposed to be the tough cop on the beat when it comes to police misconduct in NSW, but we have seen repeatedly that it is not fit to deal with the deep and systemic cultural issues within the Police that are failing police and the community. The system as it stands is that police investigate police and it’s a broken system. Either the LECC needs more power or we need a new oversight and integrity body,”
“In the 2023-24 year, the LECC received 21% more complaints than the year previous, representing a 50% increase over the previous 3 years - police misconduct is an increasing epidemic. If the LECC is not properly empowered or resourced for these increases, the independent oversight of police is declining in real terms,” [Annual Report]
“The culture of cover-up in the NSW Police cannot be resolved by another review that will only ever be considered by the police themselves. I speak with cops and former cops regularly who say the system is broken and that it is well known that if you complain about bad behaviour or systems, you may end up the target of a complaint. The LECC is limited in what they can do and the Minns Labor Government has shown they aren’t interested in proper oversight of the police,”
“I have been calling for a Parliamentary inquiry into the culture of the NSW Police to fix these issues, but the Government has turned this proposal away every time. In any other workplace, if you filmed someone’s genitals and sent it to colleagues you would be fired and on criminal charges. Why are the NSW Police treated differently?” Ms Higginson said.