AUSTRALIA
ABC News
By Jessica Kidd
A senior police officer who sat on a panel set up by the Catholic Church to investigate allegations of child sexual abuse was not obligated to report the information she received, an inquiry has heard.
The Police Integrity Commission (PIC) was investigating the conduct of Inspector Elizabeth Cullen while she was a member of the church’s Professional Standards Resource Group (PSRG) to determine if it amounted to police misconduct.
The inquiry was also examining whether the information sharing arrangement between the Catholic Church and New South Wales Police, in the form of blind reports, breached mandatory reporting laws set out in the Crimes Act.
Inspector Elizabeth Cullen (then a senior sergeant) was appointed to the PSRG from 1998 until 2005.
The PSRG was set up by the church in 1997 to investigate allegations of sexual abuse by members of the clergy, working within the church’s Professional Standards Office (PSO).
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