AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
October 14, 2014
Paul Bibby
Court Reporter
The NSW Police Force had an informal agreement with the Catholic Church not to encourage victims of child sexual abuse to come forward, particularly if they were reluctant to make a formal statement, the Police Integrity Commission has heard.
The evidence emerged on Tuesday as the commission continued its examination of how the church and police have co-operated from the late 1990s until today in dealing with scores of abuse complaints against priests and other church employees.
It follows highly publicised allegations that the two bodies effectively conspired to cover up child sex abuse.
The commission is focusing on the church’s Professional Standards Office, and the Professional Standards Resource Group (PSRG) – a body made up of senior church members, police officers and community members.
The commission heard that the church had a policy of not giving the names of abuse victims to police if the victims chose to deal with the church rather than police.
Instead, police were provided with a “blind report” which set out the allegations and the alleged perpetrator but did not identify the complainant.
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