Police Misconduct as a Breach of Public trust: the Offence of Misconduct in Public Office

Until relatively recently, the common law offence of misconduct in public office has been regarded as anachronistic. The offence was perceived to have been supplanted by specific statutory offences that could more appropriately deal with criminal conduct by public officials. However, there has been a revival of the offence with successful prosecutions occurring in Australia, England and Hong Kong. Many of these contemporary cases have involved police officers. Examination of these cases reveals that the circumstances in which misconduct in public office has been identified have been diverse, including the unauthorised disclosure of confidential information, the use of false search warrants and the sexual exploitation of vulnerable persons. In many instances, police officers were charged with other criminal offences in addition to charges relating to misconduct in public office. The matters prosecuted as misconduct in public office typically involved matters that were serious and/or could not be adequately prosecuted as other criminal offences or as breaches of police regulations governing conduct. Consequently, despite the proliferation of statutory criminal offences in the 20th century it appears that there continues to be a place for the offence of misconduct in public office. It criminalises misconduct by police officers that may not be adequately dealt with by other offences and recognises the public trust dimension of wrongdoing by these officials. However, a continuing and fundamental challenge is to determine the appropriate definition and scope of the offence.

The footage is decisive’: Applying the thinking of Marshall McLuhan to CCTV and police misconduct

This article adapts Marshall McLuhan’s writings on mass media to ubiquitous and universal surveillance systems, looking at surveillance as media. The term ‘broadcast media’ is derived from an agricultural metaphor, a technique of planting. I argue that CCTV systems are an inversion of broadcasting: ‘harvest media’. Drawing on three case studies in which CCTV has been relevant to allegations of police misconduct, I explore how harvest media impacts on cultural and legal perceptions of evidence, and what can be known.

'The police are rottenly corrupt': Policing, scandal, and the regulation of illegal betting in Depression-era Sydney

One groundbreaking aspect of the Wood Royal Commission into police corruption in New South Wales was to recognize the importance of the historical dimension of corruption. The historical consensus is that systemic police corruption emerged in NSW only after the Second World War but, as Wood acknowledged, there has been little detailed research into earlier periods. One window into policing in the 1930s is provided by the Markell Royal Commission, which investigated allegations of police misconduct in relation to illegal bookmaking in 1936. This article explores the evidence gathered by Markell, and argues that his inquiry uncovered a system of entrenched police corruption at a level of complexity previously thought not to have appeared for another decade. It is argued that poor management contributed to the growth of systemic corruption from the early 1930s, and that a defensive and negative reaction to the exposure of this corruption caused an historic opportunity for
reform to be lost.

Conflict of interest in policing : problems, practices, and principles

Examines conflict of interest across the private and public realm of the everyday lives of police officers. Outlines how the problem is an important aspect of police ethics, arguing that recognition of, and accountability for, conflict of interest may be a significant element in preventing police misconduct and corruption

Black and white is always grey-the power of the police to conduct a strip search in Victoria

The performance of a strip search by a police officer is a serious interference with the liberty and dignity of an individual. However, it is considered by police to be an important part of their law enforcement armory and one that is increasingly necessary to utilise to assist in the investigation and prosecution of drug-related crimes. This article considers the troublesome issue of whether and in what circumstances the common law may extend to police the power to conduct a strip search. In addition, there is an examination of the statutes and regulations that purportedly give police in Victoria the power to strip search with particular attention given to ss 81 and 82 of the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 (Vic).

Police perceptions of interviews involving children with intellectual disabilities: a qualitative inquiry

This study employed a qualitative method to explore the experiences of 20 police officers when interviewing children with intellectual disabilities. Three main themes were interpreted as representing challenges to the officers when interviewing special-needs children: police organizational culture, participants' perceptions of these children as interviewees, and prior information. Participants in this inquiry mentioned poor organizational priority within the police force for child abuse cases and children with intellectual disabilities, as well as inadequate support for interviewing skills development and maintenance. Participants also attempted to equalize these children by interviewing them in the same way as their mainstream peers. Finally, participants viewed interview preparation as influential in determining an interview's successful outcome, but recognized that preparedness could bias their interviewing techniques. Increased attention towards these issues will provide a basis for developing strategies to minimize such challenges and thus improve the quality of interviews with children with intellectual disabilities.

The trouble with woon: the selective answering of police questions and the right to pre-trial silence

The 1964 High Court decision in Woon v The Queen is commonly understood to permit the drawing of an inference of a ‘consciousness of guilt’ when a suspect selectively responds to police questions. It is the author’s contention that, in the light of the emphatic endorsement of the right to pre-trial silence by the High Court in 1993 in Petty v The Queen; Maiden v The Queen, Woon should now be regarded as bad law and should no longer be followed.

Child abuse investigation: an in depth analysis of how police officers perceive and cope with daily work challenges

Purpose: The purpose of the current study was two-fold: to explore police officers' perceptions of the daily challenges involved in child abuse investigation and how those challenges affect their ability to undertake child abuse investigations, and to explore how these challenges are managed on a daily basis. Design/methodology/approach: This study employed a qualitative research design. In-depth interviews were conducted with a diverse sample of 25 police officers working in child abuse units across three Australian states. Findings: Inductive thematic analysis revealed that heavy caseload and collaboration with other professional groups are two key sources of negative work stress frequently associated with child abuse investigation. Further, despite the provision of organisational strategies aimed at reducing work stress, the officers tended to rely predominantly on informal coping mechanisms.  Research limitations/implications: This study has raised many questions for further research aimed at developing interventions to assist police organisations in managing work stress. Originality/value: This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the key challenges associated with child abuse investigation and the coping mechanisms employed for overcoming these challenges from the unique perspective of police officers authorised to investigate child abuse.

Police officers' and legal professionals' perceptions regarding how children are, and should be, questioned about repeated abuse

This study explored the perceptions of police officers and legal professionals (i.e., prosecutors, defence lawyers and a judge) about (a) what particularisation is, (b) the type of information that is required for particularisation to occur, and (c) how particularisation is best achieved in cases of repeated child abuse. The professionals' perceptions (all experts in this area) were elicited via individual in-depth semi-structured interviews. While all participants acknowledged the importance of particularisation, the views of the police officers varied in several important ways to those of the other professionals. Overall, the police officers perceived that highly specific details (such as the location, date and time of the offence) are essential for particularisation to occur, and that maximising the number of separate offences and specific details about each offence increases the chance of successful prosecution. In contrast, the legal professionals perceived that the primacy goal of the police officers should be to elicit a free-narrative account of one or more offences. A high proportion of specific questions was perceived to negatively impact on the child's credibility by contaminating the evidence. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Predictors of wellbeing experienced by Australian police officers

The aim of this study was to assess the ability of the Demand-Control-Support (DCS) model as well as the psychological contract model (PCM) to predict the wellbeing experienced by 2,566 Australian police officers. While the level of explained variance attributed to the PCM was substantially less than the DCS, measures of contract breach and organisational fairness still captured significant portions of intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction. Overall, the results of this study suggest that both the DCS and the PCM should figure prominently in strategies aimed at reducing or preventing police stress.

What makes a good investigative interviewer of children? A comparison of police officers' and experts; perceptions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine police officers’ perceptions about their role in interviewing children, and to compare these perceptions with those of child eyewitness memory experts.

Design/methodology/approach – A diverse sample of 23 police officers (from three states of Australia) individually participated in in-depth interviews where they were asked to define what makes a good interviewer in the area of child abuse investigation.

Findings – Irrespective of the background of the officers, the important role of interviewers’ personal attributes was emphasised (e.g. having a relaxed, empathetic, warm nature). Such personal attributes were more prominent in the participants’ descriptions than knowledge of legislation and children’s
development, prior job experience, and interviewing techniques.

Research limitations/implications – The paper shows that while child eyewitness memory experts acknowledge the importance of establishing a bond of mutual trust between the interviewer and the child, the importance of utilising an open-ended questioning style for enhancing rapport, and
for eliciting a detailed and accurate account of abuse cannot be overstated. The possible reasons for the police officers’ emphasis on personal qualities are discussed.

Originality/value – This paper has revealed that limitations in the competency of police officers in interviewing children is not merely a problem of “doing” (i.e. learning to ask open-ended questions),
but may also reflect ingrained attitudinal and organisational barriers.

What criteria do police officers use to measure the success of an interview with a child?

This study used a mixed-methods approach to explore the perceptions of a heterogeneous sample of 75 police interviewers regarding their performance in a mock interview with a 5-7-year-old child. Each officer recruited for this study was authorised to conduct investigative interviews with children. Specifically, we explored how the officers' perception of what makes a good interview differs depending on their background experience and their (perceived and actual) ability to adhere to best-practice interview guidelines. Overall, the officers' perceptions of what constitutes an effective interview were not entirely consistent with those held by experts in forensic interviewing. The majority of the interviewers perceived that the locus of control in the interview rested primarily with the child and/or the environmental setting. In contrast, experts tend to place the central onus of responsibility for the outcome of an interview on the skill of the interviewer in using open-ended questions. Several possible explanations for, and the implications of, these findings are discussed.