Former Queensland police say a lack of accountability within the service has allowed racism to fester after revelations that officers who joked about “beating and burying black people” have not been punished.
On Tuesday there were calls for the state government to intervene in the case, as well as stamp out the process of police investigating police, after Guardian Australia revealed four officers recorded making racist comments had escaped sanction.
The tapes, published by Guardian Australia last year, revealed officers at Brisbane watch house referring to Nigerians as “jigaboos” and raising fears that Australia will be “fucking taken over”.
They also captured an officer joking to his colleague that a female Indigenous detainee “won’t give you a fucking blowjob here”.
The Queensland police commissioner, Katarina Carroll, said at the time she believed officers making such comments “should not be in the organisation”.
But nine months on, the officers have been dealt with via “local management resolution” (LMR), undergoing training and being spoken to by a senior officer.
The retired First Nations officer Richard Monaei accused the Queensland police of taking a “Band-Aid approach” to disciplinary issues.
Monaei, the first identified Indigenous person to make it into the force’s special emergency response team (Sert), said Carroll should have followed through with promises last year to ensure serious incidents of racism were not sent to LMR.
“At the tail end of the commission of inquiry, Katarina Carroll’s comments were in relation to stamping racism out.
“We’re seeing LMRs almost a year post that particular incident. So how is the organisation taking that seriously? Quite frankly, the Band-Aid approach is not the way to go.”
Audra Pollard, a retired officer who gave evidence at the commission of inquiry into Queensland police last year, said there seemed to be a lack of accountability in the service.
“The first thing that came to my mind [after listening to the recordings] was no wonder why the community don’t have any faith in policing. Police are supposed to protect and police the community but they are struggling to even police themselves,” she said.
Pollard said racist remarks were fairly commonplace during her more than two decades working in the service across the Gold Coast, Mount Isa and Mornington Island.
“A lot of those sort of comments were very common and brushed off, including by myself. My friend was Indigenous and she used to get called a coon to her face by other police officers,” she said.
“I could see that it bothered her but I didn’t have the strength at that time to stand up and say anything.”
Pollard said she had witnessed officers get dismissed from the service over their conduct only to end up being reinstated many times over the years.
“I think there is definitely a difference with how QPS treat matters in comparison to the private sector,” she said.
The human rights activist and refugee advocate Craig Foster said it was “shameful” the recordings had not resulted in immediate dismissal “in a profession that is fundamentally about community protection, engagement and the provision of equal standards under the law”.
“Of all workforces and professions in Australia, the police and security forces must be the most advanced in their understanding of racial or other prejudices, an issue that First Nations have been impacted by over several hundred years,” Foster told Guardian Australia.
“If officers feel comfortable in expressing these disgraceful views on our fellow Australians, what further problems exist and how deep does the issue go?
“I would expect the Queensland government to intervene in this case, given the impact on community trust.
“It is not tenable to allow employees to engage with the public while holding these prejudicial views.”
The Greens MP for Maiwar, Michael Berkman, said the case showed the need for reform of the police investigations process.
“It’s perhaps the clearest indication yet that the government needs to act on royal commission recommendations to overhaul police oversight in this state,” Berkman said.
“Until Queensland police are overseen by a genuinely independent, citizen-led integrity body, this kind of vile racism will continue to fester in the QPS.”
A QPS spokesperson revealed on Tuesday the officers involved had no prior “disciplinary history of a similar nature”.
They said of the four officers investigated, one was found not to have been involved, “with no case to answer”.
Three officers had to undertake a “range of remedial strategies”, including participating in courses relating to multicultural awareness, ethical behaviour, workplace inclusiveness programs and dealing with emotional intelligence, the spokesperson said. One had since resigned from the service.
“The commissioner made it very clear to the workforce that inappropriate behaviour in the workplace will not be tolerated and will be appropriately investigated,” they said.
“That is why the Ethical Standards Command has created the State
Case Management Unit to centrally manage complaints about police officers and staff members.”
