A Queensland police officer has lost an acting inspector position while others have received “formal guidance” after they engaged with lewd and offensive social media posts.
An investigation by Guardian Australia revealed high-ranking members of the Queensland police service (QPS) publicly shared and commented on vulgar social media posts over several years, including one about a sexual assault and others about pornography, masturbation and dildos.
Guardian Australia understands Det Insp Michael Jones of the QPS child abuse and sexual crime group has been moved from that role after partner agencies refused to work with him after the Guardian investigation’s revelations about his engagement with a social media post in 2017.
Jones had tagged officers Brad Rix and Benjamin Fadian in a post about a woman drinking from a “dong bong” which was shaped like a penis. Jones wrote “the new tube is certainly interesting” to which Fadian responded that it was a “tad unseemly”. Jones replied: “I can think of some who would enjoy a sip from it.” Rix wrote it brought “a whole new connotation to [the officer’s] preferred real man’s piss”.
Guardian Australia also revealed Det Supt Benjamin Fadian publicly tagged multiple officers in dozens of posts from 2017 to 2022. One public post that Fadian commented on, on 7 November 2017, was a screenshot of a news article about a law student being jailed for an apparent sexual assault after hitting a sleeping girl with his penis. Fadian tagged another Facebook user on the post before responding to someone who tagged him: “neither of us got the op [overall position mark] to do law mate”.
Meanwhile, QPS officer Brad Rix was investigated over a post he shared about International Women’s Day from 2024. The post is of a photo of a wrinkled banner and reads: “International women’s day – could’ve ironed it.”
Guardian Australia understands a complaint was made regarding the post which Rix has shared every International Women’s Day since at least 2021.
A Queensland police spokesperson said the ethical standards command investigated the posts and “a number of members received formal guidance from a senior officer in relation to their personal use of social media”.
Guidance “included reinforcement of their understanding of their role in the workplace as well as organisational culture and their conduct not being aligned with the values of the QPS,” they said.
“Officers were reminded of their supervisory responsibilities for women in the workforce, the QPS social media policy, and the use of personal social media accounts.”
The spokesperson said they were “unable to comment on any personnel movements and/or any decisions around members’ personal leave due to privacy reasons”.
“All … members are expected to adhere to the highest standards of professional conduct and workplace behaviour,” they said.
Guardian Australia has contacted the officers for comment.
• Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html
