Greens MP Sue Higginson said the report painted a damning picture of how police leadership instinctively protected itself and its own. Photo: Claire Fenwicke.
Serious misconduct within the NSW Police has been revealed in a commission’s report detailing how one drunk senior officer crashed an unmarked car before allegedly committing insurance fraud.
This week the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) released its report on Operation Harrisdale. The investigation was undertaken after complaints we made about senior NSW police attempting to interfere with the police investigation of the car crash, along with allegations of irregularities in the police response to the insurance claim.
According to the report, the senior police officer (known as Officer AB) crashed an unmarked police car in Sydney’s NorthConnex in May 2023. Instead of waiting to be breath tested, Officer AB left the scene and was deliberately dishonest in his answers on the insurance claim form for the car he crashed.
Of great concern to the commission was its finding that Officer AB received more lenient treatment by his commander and in the police review of his driving.
Greens MP and spokesperson for justice Sue Higginson said the report painted a damning picture of how police leadership instinctively protected itself and its own.
“When a senior officer crashed a vehicle while drunk and committed insurance fraud, police pursued ‘arm’s length’ internal investigations and stated their main concern was that the officer ‘got through the ordeal with as much support as possible’,” Ms Higginson said. “This, Harrisdale finds, is not unusual.
“This was outright lying and gross misconduct from a senior member of the force and it was enabled by an embedded culture of impunity and cover-up at NSW Police.”
While the commission found no evidence of interference with the police investigation of the car crash that led to the officer being charged, NSW Police did fail to publish a media release at the time that damaged its reputation.
No impropriety was found to be involved in this failure. However, the commission did highlight further concerns about the NSW Police Force officer practice of automatically deleting work-related electronic messages.
Ms Higginson said the impunity was “full throttle” on this occasion and highlighted the “unacceptable” culture within NSW Police.
“When police do the wrong thing, they must be held accountable and the public must know,” she said. “Instead, this officer maintained his prestigious position, continued to hold his driver’s licence and was immediately given access to another police vehicle.
“It was only when the LECC started asking questions three months after the accident that a safe-driving panel was established.
“Without LECC oversight and public scrutiny, it does not appear that NSW police would have issued media statements about the initial incident, or followed basic internal accountability measures following the incident.”
The Greens MP was also alarmed by the routine deletion of work messages and called on Chief Commissioner Peter Johnson SC to “put an end to this practice immediately”.
“The LECC does excellent work, but it is reactive, has limited resources and powers and is routinely obstructed by police in the courts,” Ms Higginson said. “A police force we can trust requires a watchdog with proactive powers and teeth.”
One of the commission’s recommendations in the report urged NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb to issue guidance to her officers on the use of encrypted applications and the deletion of messages from police-issued phones. It also claims senior police have acknowledged that a media release should have been issued promptly following the incident.
The drink-driving charges against Officer AB are yet to be finalised and are listed for summary hearing before the Local Court.
Chief Commissioner Johnson said two audiences were watching to see how allegations of criminal conduct by a police officer were dealt with.
“The general public wants to know if a police officer is dealt with in the same way as the ordinary citizen,” he said. “But there is a second important audience.
“Other NSW Police Force officers watch to see if senior officers are dealt with in the same way as junior officers.
“If there is not equitable treatment of all police, it can lead to dissatisfaction in the ranks of the police generally.”
