The Corruption and Crime Commission has issued a message to Public Sector Authorities setting out their responsibilities in the event of staff misconduct.
In a statement, the Commission said public sector authorities and the WA Police Force were responsible for taking appropriate action in response to any serious misconduct by PS staff.
“The Commission assesses every allegation it receives. However, public sector authority should not wait for the Commission’s assessment decision,” the Commission said.
“The responsibility for taking action and managing serious misconduct risk is the appropriate authority.”
It said that after assessing an allegation of serious misconduct, the Commission had a number of options available to it.
“If a reasonable suspicion of serious misconduct is formed, one option available to the Commission is to refer the allegation(s) to the appropriate public sector authority for action, often the one that employs the staff member subject to an allegation,” it said.
“In these instances, the Commission’s primary responsibility is to ensure the public sector authority deals with the matter in a timely and appropriate manner.”
The Commission said that in the event that an allegation was referred back to a public sector authority, the Commission recommended the authority begin taking action within six months.
It said it retained oversight of the matter by requesting updates.
“When the public sector authority has finalised the actions taken, it must provide the Commission with a detailed report on the actions and conclusions reached,” the Commission said.
Further information about public sector authorities’ obligations in providing the Commission with progress updates and outcome reports can be found on the Commission’s website at this PS News link.
