Police Commissioner

The NSW police commissioner said earlier this week that police could soon be doubling as camera men and women, recording footage of alcohol-related confrontations. This would serve as evidence of bad behaviour and support the Force’s current Operation Unite and previous hard-line campaigns.

Andrew Scipione claims the cameras will enhance “transparency” and “accountability”. But the officers would be the ones to press Record, Stop and Delete, meaning there would be no guarantee of honest, fair and unbiased representation. Or transparency, for that matter. Would you expect to see incriminating or abusive footage that implicates the Police in any way? Hardly.

If ever such recordings were admissible in court, the one-sided footage could also be prejudicial.

Continue reading "It’s real life policing, not an episode of COPS" »

Whatever you make of the revelations that have emerged of Christine Nixon’s actions during the Black Saturday bushfires, she deserves respect for the apology made this morning in Victoria’s Herald Sun newspaper.

Admitting that you are wrong is difficult for people of any profession and given the tumultuous scale of grief and loss of the Black Saturday disaster, her position and decision to make admissions and forthcoming apology is an unenviable one.

As she wrote herself, no-one could have known or prepared for the disasters that ensued on that horrible Saturday a year ago, but her willingness to “report” back on her own actions in such a difficult situation shows not only a deep respect for the Victorian people but a willingness to support them and push through into the future by their side.

Continue reading "Christine Nixon deserves respect amid the firestorm" »