| Ballarat police officers lose bid to avoid public IBAC probe into alleged detainee treatment |
A bid by two Ballarat police officers to avoid a public hearing of misconduct allegations against them has been dismissed by the Victorian Supreme Court.
The state's Independent Broad-Based Anti-Corruption Commission (IBAC) wants the officers to explain their actions over the arrest and detention of an intoxicated woman at the Ballarat Police Station in January.
It is also investigating whether the police station has a cultural problem, in light of a large number of complaints.
On the night in question, IBAC alleges the woman, who was arrested for being drunk in a public place, was kicked and stomped on as she lay handcuffed on the ground.
IBAC also alleges she was forcibly strip searched in front of male officers and was kept semi-naked with her underwear "between her knees and buttocks".
Further, IBAC claims security vision shows the woman was forced to drink water from the cell's toilet, and was denied a blanket during the night after being soaked with capsicum spray.
A public hearing of the allegations began in May, but was quickly terminated when lawyers for the officers in question told the hearing they had lodged an application with the Supreme Court to have the examination struck out.
The officers argued a public hearing of the allegations would cause unreasonable damage to their reputations because they would not have an opportunity to cross-examine the woman who was detained, and it could impinge on their right to a fair criminal trial if the allegations proceeded to formal charges.
They also argued adverse publicity stemming from a public hearing could prevent them from calling good character evidence at trial.
On Friday, the court dismissed their case, finding that IBAC, under the power bestowed in it by Parliament to investigate corruption and misconduct, did have the power to proceed with the public hearing.
The officers cannot be identified and have 21 days to appeal against the decision.
Wider misconduct probe needed at Ballarat: IBAC
IBAC wants to examine other alleged incidents of misconduct at the Ballarat police station, including one in 2010, in which a woman who wanted to lodge a complaint about treatment of her son was allegedly "forcibly handled" by a male officer and arrested and detained.
The watchdog alleges the woman was physically impaired by a stroke at the time.
Court documents show IBAC is also looking into two other alleged incidents dating back to 2009, concerning an Indigenous woman aged in her 50s who wanted to know about her son, who had been arrested earlier in the evening.
IBAC alleges the same male officer involved in the 2010 allegation ordered her to leave the police station and, when she refused, placed her in a chokehold with his arm around her neck.
It says CCTV shows the woman was not posing a threat at the time she was placed in a chokehold, and that the officer also placed a female teenager at the scene in a chokehold.
Further, IBAC wants to probe Victoria Police's use of a chokehold "as an approved method of containment".
The watchdog alleges that in two of the cases, "officers prevented witnesses and complainants from retaining audio/video recordings of their interactions with police".
It claims other police officers who were present during the alleged incidents of misconduct did not intervene, and refers to "the existence of a relatively high incidence of complaints about excessive use of force by officers" at the Ballarat police station.
IBAC court documents show it wants to follow up on an internal police report by then chief police commissioner Ken Lay in 2012 that shows "he raised concerns internally about more experienced and longer serving members being overrepresented in complaint statistics".
A further report by local police command found the Ballarat police station's uniform section attracted the majority of complaints, including higher ranking officers, and recommended local police management consider interventions, court documents show.
Eleven officers were subject to complaints of assault at the time of the investigation, the report concluded, "three times the average number of assault complaints against uniformed members at comparable regional stations".
A spokesman for IBAC said it was considering the court judgement and a date was yet to be set for the hearing to recommence.
The Police Association, which backed the officers in their Supreme Court case, is expected to release a statement.
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