Simon Overland

We should cut the coppers some slack as they grapple with the public handling of the attacks on Indian students in Melbourne.

Victorian Police Commissioner Simon Overland.

Policing has long been a closed culture. Less than a generation ago the only way police reporters could get stories was to spend months or even years hanging around the Police Club, drinking with detectives and slowly building enough trust to get the inside running on big stories. These days, whenever a cat gets stuck up a tree there’s an expectation that an all-in press conference will follow within the hour to discuss its breed, name, and how the pesky little varmint got up there in the first place. 

There is no point in police complaining about this. It’s a reflection of the public’s legitimate conviction that information should flow freely from every arm of government. People have a right to know what is happening in their community and, these days, it is the job of the police to tell them.

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  • liju says:

    09:58pm | 30/01/10

    yeh Mark, Paul etc, one easily gets tiered when truth is spoken on to your face. Just go back to your own history to learn how “less racist” Aussies have been throught your own history esp western australia since James starling. Look into fate of the natives. Read about the… Read more »

  • Peter says:

    11:21pm | 28/01/10

    I’m fast getting tired of all this racism talk in the media. Isn’t it considered racism to apply generalisations to a group of people based on their nationality? And yet that’s what’s increasingly happening to us when Indian and American press point their finger and say that Aussies are racist.… Read more »

 

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