AUSTRALIA
The West Australian
AAP
BY EOIN BLACKWELL
October 15, 2014
The former head of the NSW child protection squad says he was unaware of a special arrangement between the police and Catholic Church to “blind report” incidents of sexual abuse until this week.
John Heslop, former commander of the Child Protection Enforcement Agency (CPEA), told the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) he didn’t know of the arrangement until the inquiry started on Monday.
The commission has heard the church and police had an arrangement of blind reporting, whereby information about abuse allegations would be given by the church to police without key details about the victim, since 1998.
“Are you saying you don’t recall it either way,” asked counsel assisting Kristina Stern.
“Yes,” Mr Heslop said.
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