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Wednesday January 7, 2009

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Nixon legacy has a price?

Posted by: By Derryn Hinch, 3AW Drive | 21 November, 2008 - 4:42 PM

Christine Nixon may be on the way out. The clock is  mercifully ticking down towards her March exit and she may have lost all credibility through the Qantas freebie fiasco – and her feeble attempts to belatedly justify and explain it.

But the Police Commissioner’s touchy-feely, velvet glove approach to Police work, is well and truly now inculcated in Victoria Police. Perfect word ‘inculcate’. It means to instill, ingrain, by frequent admonitions or repetition.

Christine, the Inculcator. Never more was it more obvious than in an extraordinary interview I had on this program yesterday with Assistant Commissioner Tim Cartwright.

He was trying to justify, bless him, Mrs. Doubtfire’s philosophy that it’s better not to upset the community than proceed with charges against youths even though their anti-social behaviour put one police officer in hospital  with suspected broken ribs.

It all stems from that mini-riot where Police were outnumbered in Flemington last year. Four teenagers were arrested and initially charged with assaulting Police, assault in company, resisting arrest and hindering Police. The charges were downgraded and then all were dropped. Why? Police won’t admit it but it was because the alleged offenders were of African  origin?

One Policeman told the truth. Senior Sergeant Phil Pearson. He said ‘This is a perversion of the course of justice. This happened because they were  Africans and to maintain community harmony, but they have done the wrong thing. If they were white Australian males it would have proceeded to court’.

And he is right. But listen to Assistant Commissioner Cartwright’s Nixonian spin on this…

(audio contained in media player above)

As I said earlier this month  our system of justice has become so politically correct, so worried about offending people, so worried about social ramifications that serious criminal charges can be dropped in this state: Not because of insufficient evidence. Not because of reluctant witnesses. Not because of an incomplete brief.  But because of the skin colour and ethnic origin of the defendants.

What message does this send? You didn’t respect police or the authorities in your old country. Well, don’t worry you don’t have to here either. This is a dangerous message.

It should have been up to the courts to decide about giving these youngsters a second chance if convicted. 

I’ll leave the last word, although it won’t be the last word, to a serving copper with thirty years on the job. He wrote to me and said:

‘This disgrace is Rob Hulls and Nixon's legacy. The youths should have been charged and had their day in court.  If the prosecution wished to mitigate on their behalf as to the improvement in the relationship then so be it. The force is a now a soft c--k organisation and we are being walked over.’

He’s right. I was going to say ‘March is only three months away and how much more damage can Nixon do in three months?’ Sadly, for justice and Police morale, the answer is: Heaps.

Blog comments Your Say

  • I fully concur that it is a disgraceful legacy we are being left with by Nixon. Our laws are being totally ignored purely because the government is afraid to offend someone. It is time we complied with the old adage - "When in Rome do as the Romans do" - AND ENFORCE THIS TO THE LIMIT. If anyone does not like it then they can go back whence they came. If they wish to live and work as Australians then let us welcome them but they must remember - they chose to come here. The very least they can do is live by our laws and become part of this great country.

    Ian Cameron Saturday 22 November, 2008 - 6:59 PM

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