Inquiry hears 'blue code of silence' stops DV victims reporting police

A Tasmanian parliamentary inquiry has heard that a "blue code of silence" is preventing people from reporting sexual violence perpetrated by police officers.

The inquiry into Tasmania Police responses to allegations of officer misconduct heard from sexual assault and family violence advocates today.

Policy officer Elise Whitmore from Laurel House, a community sexual assault support service, told the inquiry that victim-survivors were concerned about the "interconnected relationships" that police had with each other, both inside and outside work.

"Their concerns were not only that they wouldn't be believed, but that there may be retaliation from police in relation to other aspects of their life,"

she said.

Laurel House advocacy manager Kaity Graham said there was a perceived culture of police banding together to protect their own, which Laurel House called a "blue code of silence".

"When the alleged perpetrator is a police officer, the response must address the power, relationships and conflict of interest that can affect a victim-survivor's confidence in coming forward," she said.

Bree Klerck, chief executive officer of the Tasmanian Family and Sexual Violence Alliance (TFSVA), agreed.

"Tasmania is a small and deeply networked jurisdiction, so in this context it is difficult for Tasmania Police to investigate serious allegations involving its own officers," she said.

Domestic, family violence the 'elephant in the room'

Multiple members of the inquiry raised the ongoing impacts of the actions of paedophile police officer Paul Reynolds, who died by suicide in 2018 while he was being investigated for multiple child sexual abuse offences but was still given a full police funeral with honour guard in Launceston.

Nicole Asquith, a policy and research officer at TFSVA, said the subsequent review, called the Weiss Report, focused on sexual violence.

"It didn't really look at family violence, which is the bigger elephant in the room because across every western jurisdiction, the minimum is 40 per cent of police officers have engaged in family violence," Ms Asquith said.

Alina Thomas, the chief executive of family violence organisation Engender Equality, said it was asked by Tasmania Police to prioritise victims of police officers for its counselling service.

"We do get a number of victim-survivors who have been partnered with police, but not all of them,"

she said.

"We do not get any referrals from police even though there was an agreement a few years ago that we would prioritise police perpetrator victim-survivors."

Independent body is needed, advocates say

All organisations recommended an independent reporting pathway that does not involve Tasmania Police.

Ms Asquith of TFSVA said it was urgently needed.

"We need an independent body that is guiding and investigating breaches of the code of conduct, of the police manual, and also the criminal code," she said.

"If we have police officers breaching that, it does need to have an independent oversight."

She said it may need to be "taken off island" to a federal body.

Laurel House also recommended removing the six-month time frame on reporting a police officer misconduct.

"I don't think that any [of the people I interviewed] made a report within six months, which is a requirement of making a report about police to police," Ms Whitemore said.

Ms Asquith said after 30 years working with police forces, Tasmania Police was one of the best she had encountered.

"It is capable of taking on critique, reflect on practice, and change behaviours, and do it very well and very quickly because it is such a small organisation," she said.

In its submission to the inquiry, Tasmania Police said it supported effective and independent oversight of serious police misconduct matters.

"As an organisation, we recognise that public trust and confidence in policing depends not only on the integrity of individual officers, but also on having effective systems, processes and procedures that ensure misconduct is detected, reported, properly investigated, that appropriate accountability follows, and that organisational learning occurs," it said.

"The Paul Reynolds matter exposed significant concerns regarding historical reporting, investigation, escalation and decision-making processes … Tasmania Police accepts that the Reynolds matter has had a profound impact on victim-survivors, the community, and the organisation itself."