QPUE rejects Atkinson criticism

Queensland Police Union General President Ian Leavers has described Commissioner Atkinson’s comments that were critical of the unions’ position regarding the timing of the public release of the operation Capri report.

“The union has consistently stated that we represent the vast majority of good, honest hard working police, however, it is important that everyone is treated fairly,” Mr Leavers said “The CMC readily admits that many of the allegations it has published would not stand up in a court. We have been critical of the publication of the material at this time partly because there are three matters before the courts that may be unduly impacted by the adverse publicity. In fact one matter is to be dealt with tomorrow.

I stated yesterday that I believe the only reason the CMC was in such a hurry to publish the allegations is so they could grandstand at an anti-corruption conference next week. I note that the CMC has not refuted this fact despite their rebuttal of other QPUE statements.

The right to a fair trial is vital for any accused person. It is for the courts to decide someone’s guilt or innocence, not the CMC, not the media and not the Police Commissioner. All persons under our laws are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty and this has somewhat been forgotten in the last few days. What would happen if all in our society were convicted on mere allegations without the opportunity to test the validity in the courts?

The CMC’s release of the report in these circumstances would seem to be a new form of justice - one that sidesteps the courts and the need for credible evidence and instead presumes guilt without trial. This is not the justice system that I or our members know and it doesn’t apply to anyone else in our society.

Mr Needham made it clear yesterday that the biggest concern that he had was about the lack of proper supervision and management within the QPS. In light of that fact, I’m not sure that Mr Atkinson is really in a position to make valid assessments about our handling of the Capri report into the results of that mismanagement,” Mr Leavers said