The panel also featured the Queensland Police Commissioner, the Chair of the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission, the NSW Deputy Ombudsman (Policing), and their New Zealand equivalent.
Porter’s work as Police Powers solicitor at RLC sees him representing clients from all over NSW and from all walks of life. The relationship of trust he shares with clients, necessarily developed through acting for them, yields information and insights not always available to public sector bodies. This perspective based off years of casework was shared during the panel.
During the panel discussion, RLC called for greater consideration of the link between the mental health of police officers and excessive force incidents involving those officers.
RLC also questioned the ability of current oversight agencies to scrutinize Local Court prosecutions for indicators of false evidence, especially as this jurisdiction handles the bulk of prosecutions in New South Wales.
Furthermore, RLC highlighted the high-value, high-impact contribution of specialist lawyers for misconduct complainants.
The feedback received after the panel was positive; RLC continues to bring a fresh, informed approach to police accountability, one that is not represented among the official stakeholders.
RLC welcomes the opportunity to work more closely with official agencies to improve police accountability in NSW.
