Teoría de la Segmentación del Mercado de Trabajo

An audit of other Australian and New Zealand police practices and protocols for handling sexual offences w as undertaken for the Inquiry. A separate report documenting those practices will be published by the CMC at a later date.

Previous reviews

In 1997, the QPS and the CJC jointly reviewed the procedures, processes and methods of investigation by the QPS to conduct enquiries into complaints

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involving the sexual abuse of children. That project (called Project Horizon) was followed by an examination (known as Project Axis) of a whole-of-government approach to child protection issues conducted by the QPS and the QCC. The Project Horizon report acknowledged that the expertise of police

investigators during the initial intervention and interviewing process, and during the subsequent delivery of support mechanisms, is fundamental to the success of the prosecution of the accused and the rehabilitation of the victim. The report raised these concerns about QPS processes for dealing with sexual offences at that time (1996):

• the nature of the work was perceived to be an impediment to promotion • many officers performing in this area had no interest in it

• there was an absence of effective specialist training and education programs for those working in this area

• training of investigators in this area had fallen to below acceptable levels • concerns about the quality of child sexual abuse investigations had been

raised by the ODPP

• most investigators had heavy workloads

• there was a lack of support/supervision from experienced officers

• regionalisation of the QPS had had a negative impact on service delivery to child victims of crime — this was caused by the loss of experienced

investigators, the assignment of inexperienced supervisors and managers to child abuse investigative areas, the loss of the statewide network, and downgrading of interdepartmental liaison

• there was inconsistency with service delivery in the management of, and response to, child sexual abuse matters

• there was a perception that the Service did not recognise those who work in the area and that such investigations were of low priority.

The Project Horizon report made 47 recommendations. Those of particular relevance to this Inquiry called for:

• enhanced selection and retention processes for specialist staff

• appropriate training frameworks for all officers involved in child protection investigation (including prerequisite ICARE training and greater managerial understanding and expertise with respect to child abuse)

• a coordinated central training system and appropriate marketing strategy for policing in this area

• identifiable career paths for suitably committed and credentialled officers • recognition of the specialist and unique characteristics of these duties. Many of the structural recommendations arising from the report had been implemented by the QPS by 1999, including the restructuring of the Crime Oper ations Branch, the formation of Taskforce Argos, the restructuring of the CSAIU, instigation of the role of Brief Managers, and the formation of Prosecution Review Committees.

A later evaluation of the implementation of Project Horizon by the Inspectorate and Evaluation Branch of the QPS (2000a), however, found that some of the recommendations had not been progressed or finalised because of the impact of subsequent external acti vities such as the Forde Inquiry, Project Axis, and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women’s Taskfor ce on Violence. The

evaluation also found that restricted training budgets, staff rotations and turnover were having a direct impact on the number of appropriately qualified and skilled investigators in the field, that the specialist units were understaffed, that the ‘train the trainer’ processes for ICARE training were no substitute for the full ICARE course, and that there had been a marked reduction in officers’

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there was a need for more input/interaction between ODPP officers and police investigators to resolve any problems as they arose, including regular committee forums and joint training sessions. The report concluded that there was much room for improvement in both the investigation and prosecution of matters involving sexual offences against children and noted that there was a direct relationship between the quality of investigative processes and the success or otherwise of the prosecution process.

The results of Project Horizon ha ve been made public twice. They were initially published in the Courier-Mail on 15 September 1997 (Ware 1997, p. 6), which stated that:

the review was prompted by widespread perceptions that the quality of investigations currently undertaken by the police within their criminal investigative role has diminished to the extent that service delivery was below community expectations.

The article went on to describe further concerns about tr aining, lack of career paths in the area, inappropriate attitudes of officers, insufficient resources and the need for discrete specialist criminal investigation squads.

In 2000, Project Axis (QCC & QPS 2000b) also discussed Project Horizon and made further recommendations, including the need for increased ICARE tr aining and commensurate funding for the QPS and the Department of Families. The report w as somewhat critical of the QPS’s response to Project Horizon at that point, indicating that, for various reasons (including the resources required for the Sydney Olympics), adequate increases in police training regarding sexual offences had not yet occurred.

The QPS submitted to the Inquiry that some of the Project Horizon recommendations remain outstanding because there:

have always been difficulties exacerbated by geographical factors which invariably impact upon effective law enforcement within this particular field.

CMC 2002b, p. 44

And that, indeed, some of the more specific recommendations such as those regarding career paths:

do not fit within the corporate perception of job descriptions that are currently advanced … it is against Service policy that people career-path in certain areas.

Personal communication 6.5.03

Thus, it is unlikely that some of the recommendations will ever be implemented, although these are likely to be few.

The report b y the Taskforce on Women and the Criminal Code (Queensland Government 2000a), released in the same year, also made strong

recommendations for improving the response of police to victims of violent crimes. The Taskforce called for government to ensure that ongoing training was provided to police and persons working in other public sector agencies that were accessed by women victims/survivors of violence and that this training should, among other things, increase the understanding of violence against women, its nature, scale and impact (Recommendation 46.1).

More specifically, the Taskfor ce recommended that all police officers should receive compulsory training in relation to such issues as gender stereotyping, race, disability, culture, homophobia, sexual assault and domestic violence. Further, it was recommended that this training should be dev eloped by police in conjunction with support services within individual police regions to encourage a more integrated response. Further, the Taskforce recommended that police should receive training in relation to gathering evidence in cases of violence and sexual violence against women and in the identification and impact of intellectual, learning and physical disabilities on complainants

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A joint internal evaluation and review of the ICARE training program by the QPS and the Department of Families, undertaken in 2001, recommended some improvements to the course content and structure, collaboration between the QPS and the department, and access to training and ongoing training needs. It also pointed out the necessity of ensuring that the interview process was

conducted in a professional manner acceptable to the courts and sensitive to the well-being of children.

The report recommended that ICARE training be enhanced to provide

participants with up-to-date research and literature about the complexities of child sexual abuse and its investigation, and to provide a better balance between evidentiary requirements and child-protection considerations. It further recommended that sessions should include topics such as the dynamics, causes and effects of child sexual abuse, the prosecution of child sexual abuse cases with an emphasis on children’s evidence and testimony, managing c hild safety and well-being after the interview and interviewing Indigenous children. It recommended that a refresher course be developed and a mentoring process be established for officers working in the area of child protection.

Most importantly, the report recommended that procedural guidelines be developed to prevent, where possible, untrained staff from conducting section 93A of the Evidence Act interviews.30 _{Feedback for the evaluation indicated} that such interviews can be problematic and distressing for children if

interviewers do not possess sufficient skills. The QPS told the Inquiry in a follow- up request for further information that implementation of the review

recommendations w as taking place progressively.