Police Agency Head Unaware of Church Policy, Integrity Commission Told

By Michelle Harris
Newcastle Herald
October 15, 2014

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/2627728/police-agency-head-unaware-of-church-policy/?cs=305

THE former commander of the Child Protection Enforcement Agency has told an inquiry he was unaware that Catholic Church officials routinely withheld the names of victims when they reported sex abuse to police, as he never checked on the Church’s reporting practices.

John Heslop also told the Police Integrity Commission on Wednesday he could not recall a draft agreement between NSW Police and the Church that set out abuse reporting protocols, although the agency’s chief of staff received advice while Mr Heslop was commander that warned the draft’s terms breached criminal laws and the Catholic Church was seeking ‘‘preferential treatment’’.

Documents show Police later explicitly told the Church it would not sign the agreement as it did not comply with obligations under the Crimes Act to report information about serious indictable offences.

But another draft of the memorandum (MOU) was produced the following year.

The Police Integrity Commission is considering whether the MOU effectively operated and whether any police misconduct was involved in the arrangements, as well as the participation of officers in the Church’s Professional Standards Reference Group between 1998 and 2005.

Mr Heslop was Child Protection Enforcement Agency commander from 1996 to 2002.

He said he was unaware the Church’s former professional standards director John Davoren had reported abuse complaints to police without giving names of victims, who did not want to speak to police.

Nor could he recall a police practice to log the complaints as information reports that weren’t investigated, and said he never looked at the police database to check on the Church’s reporting practices.