ACT Police Media Criticism
Alex Sloan – ABC 666 Interview with Chief Police Officer Audrey Fagan
Thursday 12 April 2007
Alex Sloan: And this is triple six mornings, Alex Sloan with you, great to be with you, welcome and I’m taking you through until lunchtime today. And between now and midday, very soon in a moment in fact head of ACT Policing the ACT Chief Police Officer Audrey Fagan will respond to claims that the ACT Police are gun-shy, anti-accountability, and anti-media. Well yesterday at this time we spoke to the Editor-at-Large at The Canberra Times, Jack Waterford about his column which had very strong criticisms of ACT Policing. And I’ll quote you just a bit of Jack’s column and it says, and I quote “yesterday’s Canberra Times reported an indecent assault on March 27, of a Narrabundah College student soon after school hours, it was a story which the AFP did not seem to want the public to know about” and he went on the say it’s a nice parable of a complacent and unaccountable organisation of no great competence which is wide open to and may have already been percolated by corruption. Jack ended with the lines that a closed and unaccountable culture persists within ACT Policing and that Canberra gets a second rate service for Rolls Royce prices and that the time is right for a general outside inquiry into the whole shambles. Well this morning I am joined by the ACT Chief Police Officer and that’s Audrey Fagan. A very good morning to you.
Audrey Fagan: Good morning Alex.
Alex Sloan: Some pretty tough charges. How do you respond to the charge that you’re gun-shy, anti-accountability and anti-media.
Audrey Fagan: All of those are quite disturbing in a sense that we work very hard to first of all, to solve crime in the territory and prevent further crime occurring. And when you look at our statistics, that’s exactly what we’re achieving with property offences and improved clear up rates across many areas. So, you know it is an indictment to all our officers who are out there each day doing a terrific job for the community. Having said that, it’s important that we talk to the community, and it’s important that we have a debate, and we are very accountable, we’ve got the accountability measures through the ACT Government, through the Policing Arrangement and the Purchase Agreement. We’ve got oversight bodies that step in and conduct reviews. So we’re very used to this and that’s part and parcel of being an accountable police force.
Alex Sloan: With the latest sexual assault, it took one of the town’s most senior journalists, Jack Waterford, after he heard his police reporter at The Canberra Times being hung up by your media office. He got on the phone and toughed it out and finally there was acknowledgment and confirmation of this assault. Why did it have to come to that?
Audrey Fagan: If we go to the detail of that and, I’m mindful here of a young victim who complained to police, and might I say the investigation’s been very thorough right from the start, a photofit was compiled and put out once the victim was discussed with her about getting that out. The first queries that came in were to a particular area and a particular offence type and the searches weren’t matching that, so there was earnest work occurring, but we didn’t have the right detail to find the particular matter that was being inquired of.
Alex Sloan: But don’t you have a duty to report sexual assault? Especially if this could be a serial offender, to the public and to the schools involved. Now we know that Narrabundah High was told and students were told in smaller groups, but St Clair’s wasn’t.
Audrey Fagan: It’s a real priority for us to make sure that we put that information out when and where it is possible. If we look back, we were investigating, we had doorknocked the area, we had done a lot of work, we were compiling a facefit - there was a delay with that - we then needed to put that out once we had a good facefit. If we look to the consultation with the school, that did occur. I can’t unpick what has happened, certainly our efforts were there about getting it out to the community as we could.
Alex Sloan: We had a pretty distressed mother, who’s the mother of a St Clair’s student ring yesterday and said, you know ‘is this guy really going to discriminate between uniforms?’ I mean, it just seems unbelievable that it had to come to a wrestling match with a senior journalist to basically get this information out. We still wouldn’t be told, would we?
Audrey Fagan: I would counter that completely. I really believe the photofit was being done, there was a delay with the photofit, we were waiting for best available evidence and we were putting that out to the community. In the meantime, there were doorknocks, the school was advised, that was being done and the officer has done a good job in doing what she could to actually do this investigation. And this is similar to the others that occurred in the past, that we did go out with media releases. And you know, we had assertions raised about offences at Lyneham and media releases did go out the next day so it is a priority for us, it is a priority that we get information in from the community.
Alex Sloan: Well, with Lyneham, again the public was deliberately not told, this went on for five months, these serial rapes, these horrific rapes, when the public was alerted, the offender was apprehended within 18 hours.
Audrey Fagan: That’s in an article. I’ve got the offences before me that show media releases that went out the next day, on each incident, and similarly, so five media releases in total, and similarly we were putting out warnings, and if we go to The Canberra Times of April last year about playing it safe, protecting yourself are the headlines, warning people. So our job is about crime prevention as much as investigation of crime, it is very important to us.
Alex Sloan: But there’s also charges that your senior investigating officers had great misgivings about the fact that you know, you weren’t going public with this and they were given advice and it was against their advice that this was the way it was managed by your media team.
Audrey Fagan: Well I don’t know where that’s coming from. I know what we have done.
Alex Sloan: Maybe from your frustrated senior officers.
Audrey Fagan: Well I’ve looked at the job in detail, and I’ve looked at the facts of the job, and the people were doing a very robust investigation, and continue to do that and similarly with other matters, we do go out and we do ask for the community’s help and I implore the community whether it be to make a public, make it public or anonymously through Crime Stoppers. Any information is taken and treated very seriously because….
Alex Sloan: Do you have any misgivings about the way the Lyneham situation was handled last year.
Audrey Fagan: Well I’ve looked at the job and I’ve got a timeline in front of me here that shows five offences where we’ve put out a media release the very next day, some immediately after the incident so I just have difficulty and find that statement to be very difficult to understand because it doesn’t match with my investigators’ accounts and the good work they’re doing.
Alex Sloan: To be clear, Jack Waterford’s criticism is going to the way it is managed; your media unit manages the media. And the way that information is blocked and this is a frustration and I know you addressed a meeting a year ago, of senior journalists in town and acknowledged there were problems, and you promised to change things, I have checked with senior journalists again and they think that the problem has in fact got worse.
Audrey Fagan: Well Alex, I take that very much to heart and we want our relationship to be with the media as strong, robust a good debate about issues and we will take action in that regard because that’s not a sensible way to work in our community and if that view is held I certainly did meet with Chiefs of Staff in November and we do meet regularly, and we will look to improve that, if that’s the case.
Alex Sloan: Do you acknowledge there is a problem?
Audrey Fagan: I acknowledge that at times there are difficulties with what we have in facts and investigations before us and what we’re seeking to have explained. Sometimes we don’t have all the picture, and we are in that situation where it’s difficult for us to put out information. However, we make an earnest effort. I mean I think there’s over 100 media releases this year that we’ve put out, to ask for help from the community.
Alex Sloan: My guest this morning is Audrey Fagan, the ACT Chief Police Officer. Audrey Fagan we do have a caller, are you able to take a call this morning?
Audrey Fagan: Certainly Alex.
Alex Sloan: Okay, and I believe you’re not able to give your name?
Caller: No, I’d prefer not to.
Alex Sloan: Okay, what would you like to say this morning?
Caller: Well I’d actually like to speak up for the police, because I’m one of the victims of the serial rapist from last year. And I’ve got nothing but praise for the police.
Alex Sloan: I think the source of the complaint is not about the police, it’s about the way the media is blocked from being able to report information that may be able to alert the public. I think that’s the core issue.
Caller: Well Alex, I think if Jack Waterford wants to have an credibility as some kind of a crusader for probity and accuracy in Canberra, he ought to get his own house in order and make sure that he does some accurate reporting. Because some of the glaring inaccuracies in his article yesterday, I think were absolutely appalling, it just seems like a blatant attempt at police bashing.
Alex Sloan: So you’re happy? You were happy with the way the situation in Lyneham was handled?
Caller: Absolutely, absolutely. And I’m actually quite offended by his suggestion that some women were assaulted as a result of the ACT-AFP’s acute PR policy. I think some women were assaulted because there was a lunatic out there. It’s nothing to do with police PR.
Alex Sloan: Alright and as you say you’re coming from that perspective and I appreciate your call and I’m so sorry for what happened to you. Thanks very much for calling in.
Caller: Thank you very much.
Alex Sloan: Audrey Fagan?
Audrey Fagan: Obviously we strongly believe in what we do and solving crime is our priority. Our utmost must go, too, to the dignity and privacy of victims and that’s where we start. So you know, when you putting a photofit out you’re talking to the victim, the family, saying this is what we’d be doing as a next step, they need to be comfortable with that and we’re doing a lot of victim liaison, as required with our legislation.
Alex Sloan: I suppose the point comes, as I say, I’ll refer to that meeting you had with senior news journalists, and you did acknowledge that there are problems, there are blockages happening between your media department and you, and what we’re allowed to know. You, as head of management, have a discretion to change this, will you change it?
Audrey Fagan: I will host another meeting Alex, that we can talk to this and I will do my best, and I think we continue to do our best, to put whatever information we can out. The battle we have, and the dilemma is that we must keep our view to the courts and in solving the crime. So, you know, there’s matters that are currently, in fact the Lyneham matter is coming up for trial, so again I’ve got to be conscious of not talking too much about these cases as they come before the court. And my staff appreciate that, and I appreciate the terrific work they do. Our clear up rates for sexual offences this year are sitting at 82%, which is an improvement from 71% the year before, and that’s a terrific clear up rate for sexual offences.
Alex Sloan: But there’s been an enormous increase hasn’t there, too, in sexual offences.
Audrey Fagan: Well actually no, if you look at the results; I can give you those statistics as well. Last year there were 400 sexual offences reported, which is a reduction of 6.8% on the previous year of 429. This year thus far, we have 262 sexual offences with a clear up rate of 82.8%. So the police are working really hard, and you know it’s all part of our suburban policing strategy, our high visibility policing. I’m looking forward to the extra 43 police that will arrive in the next financial year; that came about from the joint study. This is all about serving the community and standing up for my troops who are there committed to our, the Canberra community.
Alex Sloan: Yes, and to be fair, the troops that under fire are the ones within your media department.
Audrey Fagan: Well Alex, I’ve undertaken that we will host, as we do, twice a year, another meeting, and we are actively looking at what we can do to improve that relationship, and if that’s the hub of the issue I will address it, I’ve undertook that and we will get on with that.
Alex Sloan: But we did have, as I said, we did have that promise before and as I said when I checked round senior media people they think that the problem has actually got worse. The blockages have got worse.
Audrey Fagan: I’m acknowledging and hearing that, and what I’m trying to get to you is that we’re getting on with our work, and we are getting results, we care deeply about the crime in this community and we want to solve it, and part of it is working very closely with you, and your community and the media team to make that happen. So, we will get on with that and change what we can to improve that relationship.
Alex Sloan: And does that mean accessibility to you? We tried to get you in this morning, you know you’re not often available Audrey Fagan, and that seems to be what the media is querying, we need to hear from you more often.
Audrey Fagan: Honestly I haven’t got in front of me the number of interviewed I’ve done, but I certainly work very hard at being available to you, and I’ve juggled some appointments this morning for this.
Alex Sloan: We appreciate that.
Audrey Fagan: You know, that is a commitment with me, my senior executive and the Superintendents; you know we do work hard at getting out and talking to you because that’s important.
Alex Sloan: And when we try to get to you, we have to run the gauntlet of a pretty tough media unit, who hangs up on journalists, can be pretty sarcastic.
Audrey Fagan: Well Alex, I’ll take that on board because I want to be able to talk with you and the Canberra community, that’s important, I think we are doing a good job, we don’t get it right all the time, we are open to an accountable review processes, we will learn and these have got to be steps that we take.
Alex Sloan: Do you regret the way the Narrabundah incident has been released and reported, should it have been released earlier?
Audrey Fagan: Well, it’s actually Griffith and therein the whole issue of accuracy. I absolutely stand by the work that the staff have done in, when that complaint came in, there was immediate reaction, as I said, doorknocks and immediate work done. It would have been nice to have the facefit earlier, we didn’t have that. When we get a facefit we circulate it around police as a first step because they may know someone. Then we put it out to the public, but only once we’ve got the victim ready because her counselling, support and on-going resilience is very important as well.
Alex Sloan: And while I understand all the sensitivities of that, can you though, understand if the media’s heard of this story, thinks well it’d be best to get the information out? Even before, just to say look, this offence has occurred, a warning to the people in that area?
Audrey Fagan: Where we can we do, do that. And as I said, I can look back and say could we, should we? And that is an assessment I can make, I think we got it out once the photofit was available with the best available evidence and that was our priority, we did have warnings out in place, we had doorknocked the area, so the staff had worked very quickly on doing this job and trying to find an alleged offender.
Alex Sloan: Can you give us a timeline on when things between the media and your media unit will improve and how will we notice this?
Audrey Fagan: Alex, I am happy to look at that as a priority as I hang up now and we will host a further meeting with you and develop clear strategies where we can agree on.
Alex Sloan: So that’s an undertaking for immediate . . .
Audrey Fagan: It’s an absolute undertaking, it’s just I don’t have a timeframe in my head because I haven’t thought that through but you know, if we get a couple of months of robust work and consultation I’d be more than happy to make that happen.
Alex Sloan: And there’s an acknowledgement of course of the incredible work that your staff do, but I suppose on the other hand the media was also there as that plank of public information as well.
Audrey Fagan: And I acknowledge that and really sincerely acknowledge the important role that you have and our obligations as well to the community through the media as well, I absolutely acknowledge that.
Alex Sloan: Audrey Fagan I appreciate your time this morning, thank you very much for coming on.
Audrey Fagan: Good morning.
Alex Sloan: Farewell, goodbye. That’s Audrey Fagan, ACT Chief Police Officer. You’re on triple six this morning and it’s coming up to 23 past nine.
Ends//