Police suppress 'appalling' video

11 Aug 2011, 1:47 pm   -   Source: SBS Staff - Stefan Armbruster
8 Comments
Share This
+ Comment
8
With honour we serve: Queensland Police.

With honour we serve: Queensland Police.

A video showing an anti-terrorism squad officer stripped to his underpants and gyrating his groin in the face of a drunken Aboriginal colleague has been supressed at the request of Queensland Police.

Queensland police under fire

The SBS MP3 Player requires the Adobe Flash 8 Plugin. You can get Flash from here...

A video showing an anti-terrorism squad officer stripped to his underpants and gyrating his groin in the face of a drunk Aboriginal colleague has been supressed at the request of Queensland Police.

The supression order comes ahead of the release of a major review of police disciplinary procedures, raising further questions about the culture within Queensland’s police force and why the officer was not sacked.

The security camera footage, taken at the McDonald’s restaurant in the south-east Queensland town of Kingaroy on March 23 last year, shows Constable Daniel Kennedy straddling the Aboriginal officer while nine other non-indigenous officers watched on.

Constable Kennedy’s actions came to light when police reviewed the footage during an investigation into the Aboriginal officer’s arrest at the restaurant late on the first night of the state’s annual police rugby league carnival.

A Queensland Police report into the incident described Constable Kennedy actions thus: "You approached …removed your shorts, lifted your left leg and gyrated your groin in front of his face."

'APPALLING' ACTIONS

The Special Emergency Response Team officer’s actions were described as “appalling” by Deputy Commissioner Ian Stewart, who presided over an internal police disciplinary action last November.

"I have seen the footage and I am appalled by your behaviour …  I am sure that had members of the public witnessed your behaviour, they would have been affronted by it … In your case, not only did you commit an act resulting in your conviction for a public nuisance offence but, if observed by a member of the public, it had the potential not only to be seen as offensive but also taunting the dignity of [the other officer], together with racial overtones."

Deputy Commissioner Stewart delivered his findings in the presence of Constable Kennedy, who denied it was a racist act.

However, Deputy Commissioner Stewart found Constable Kennedy’s conduct had “tarnished the good image of the majority of members of this organisation, which we strive to maintain …”

“Additionally your conduct had the potential to result in significant publicity and embarrassment to the Service and its members,” he said.

Deputy Commissioner Stewart's report said that Constable Kennedy had kept his underpants on, but an investigation had revealed the incident with the intoxicated and sleeping Aboriginal officer was not consensual.

“I note the argument submitted that your actions were done in jest and not intended to offend your friend,” Deputy Commissioner Stewart said.
“I acknowledge there is no evidence you exposed yourself or that there was any contact, deliberate or accidental, between your genital area and [the other officer]. Further [he] has regarded this as a joke.”

FOOTAGE SUPRESSED

Queensland's administrative appeals tribunal, QCAT, has ordered the CCTV footage never be shown.

An application by SBS for its release was denied, in spite of assurances to conceal the Aboriginal officer's identity.

Tribunal member Susan Booth ruled the footage is "capable of offending public decency" and could still cause the officer public ridicule and humiliation.

Former Queensland police inspector Col Dillion, once the highest ranking Aboriginal officer in Australia, retired a decade ago warning of the police culture towards indigenous officers.

“I think it is absolutely reprehensible, the actions of the police … given for starters, the police officer, any police officers for that matter should be setting the highest possible standards of behaviour for society,” he said.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service's Greg Shadbolt said Constable Kennedy’s actions had besmirched the reputations of his colleagues.

“The Queensland police service has the largest vested interest in cleaning up this area because there are many many officers who work long and hard in very trying circumstances, and do a tremendous job, as a general rule, and for them to have their reputation besmirched by conduct of this nature is really beyond the pale,” he said.

“One must feel really sorry for the other officers and wonder what they must think of all this.”

The Aboriginal officer did not lodge a complaint about the incident. He declined to be interviewed by SBS.

$250 FINE

The police disciplinary report states Constable Kennedy “did not believe his actions were inappropriate when he considers the circumstances of the incident. He stated this type of behaviour had occurred at other police football carnivals".

He was immediately stood down from anti-terrorism duties and later pleaded guilty to public nuisance, for which he was fined $250 with no conviction recorded in Kingaroy magistrates court.

Despite supressing video of the incident, QCAT rejected a police application to suppress an audio recording of the deputy commissioner Ian Steward's disciplinary hearing, citing public interest.

It reveals that Constable Kennedy’s pay was frozen for a year, but this did not prevent his reinstatement to the elite Special Emergency Response Team.

ATSILS’ Greg Shadbolt said the outcome seemed “woefully inadequate”.

“As I say, it really does demonstrate yet again the fact that police investigating police in terms of outcomes, simply doesn't work,” he said.

Mr Dillion, now the acting director of the University of Queensland's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit, said if a similar incident took place in that institution, the offender would be sacked.

“I'd certainly expect the person would be dealt with in the harshest possible terms,” he said.

In a brief statement to SBS, Queensland's police minister (mr) Neil Roberts said the issue is an internal police matter

A review of police disciplinary procedures ordered by Queensland premier Anna Bligh is due for release by September.

It comes after the lack of disciplinary action against police investigators in the Palm Island death-in-custody case of Cameron Doomadgee.

The issue of police investigating police is a major concern of the review.

Mr Shadbolt said the facts of the Kingaroy incident were not in question, placing the focus on Constable Kennedy’s punishment.

“Anyone else, working for any other organisation would have been dismissed and the question I think the public is asking is should the police have lower standards than the rest of society,” he said.

Queensland Police told SBS the matter had been investigated by its Ethical Standards Command, and that “disciplinary charges were laid against this officer in accordance with the findings of that investigation”.


 

  • Follow us: 
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Youtube

Your Comments

Mandatory Jail

power-trippers - from qld, 9 months ago

JAIL .. Police that willingly break the law or commit disgusting acts as discussed MUST see the inside of a cell. These are police, and this guy was a SERT officer. These people are put into very powerful positions within our society and if they break the laws they supposedly uphold, they should be held far more accountable. Minimium jail terms for bad police!

Legal Inhumanity

Misswisdom - from Gold Coast, 9 months ago

A sleeping, drunk man does not make him any less human... anyone that exploits that man is nothing but a demoralising pig! What if it had've been black on white and the situation reversed? The Aboriginal Officer would've been bashed, charged and dismissed in a heart-beat. Sounds like double standards, looks like a travesty of justice and smells like police corruption.Of course the Aboriginal officer will say it's just a "joke", fear is a powerful incentive for silence !

once again

larry - from darwin, 10 months ago

proving that all it takes is a few bad apples to tarnish the reputation of the other 2%

Tortured by the Queensland Police

Jennifer Nash - from Logan, 10 months ago

That is not the only video the QPS is suppressing. My son Jordan, a bullied schoolboy was arrested by Queensland Security Intelligence in parliament on a false charge, pushed into the stone wall behind him for absolutely no reason, then handcuffed and driven away by police. The false arrest went unreported, but it gets worse. I have put his story on Indymedia and YouTube. Queensland Security Intelligence agents torture and arrest young judicial corruption victim http://bit.ly/kqOs5u

To serve and humiliate

Keefy - from Qld, 10 months ago

These are the public servants that regardless of where and when, always should be setting an example, not behaving like drunk 15 year olds!!

Who cares

Who cares - from Qld, 10 months ago

Why does it matter that he is aboriginal, it's so ridiculous get over it

Racism created by people crying racist

Al - from Gold Coast, 10 months ago

How does alcohol fuelled stunt between mates on football tour become platform for racism. If white on white it's just a bad joke. If white on black it's racism. Critics should be proud. How to create racism from nothing. Apart from Qld Police I've NEVER heard of employer punishing employee for minor street offence committed in own time on weekend away from work. Average employee, $250 fine. End of story. Police, $250+$1000s lost wages. Not even witnessed by public, later seen on CCTV by Police.

Once an oinker

Flanders - from Outer Townezania, 10 months ago

And sadly still just as grubby... Not only getting caught wth brown bags they have to worry about, it's getting caught with their bags out.

Join the Discussion

Name
City / Suburb E.g. Artarmon, Sydney
Title
Comment
You have characters remaining.
Validation
What's this?
This is a captcha-picture. It is used to prevent mass-access by robots.
All submitted comments become the property of SBS. They are moderated, so we reserve the right to edit comments and remove HTML tags. Not all submitted comments will be published. Publication does not mean we endorse the opinions expressed. Please read our terms and conditions for more information.