Call for investigation into Queensland police brutality cases

The Council for Civil Liberties of Queensland has asked the Crime and Corruption Commission or CCC to investigate actions taken by local police on the brutality complaint filed by Noa Begic. The victim had filed a complaint in the Surfers Paradise police station, claiming he was hit by officers in 2012.

The council doubts the seriousness of the police on handling this case and believes that police whistleblowers are being ignored by the authorities. Council President Terry O’Gorman wrote a letter to the CCC with a request to investigate whether the police were examining the case properly after the leakage of the incident's video.

Sergeant Rick Flori, who leaked the CCTV footage of the incident showing chef Begic being assaulted by his colleagues at Surfers Paradise police station, was charged with one count of misconduct in public officer for releasing the video to the Courier-Mail.

Begic was charged with public nuisance by the police and had accepted an out-of-the-court settlement, which O’Gorman believed to be a substantial confidential payout. However, the officers involved in the bashing faced no charges.

On Thursday, O’Gorman told ABC that the commission should “reinvigorate” the faulted police complaints system. “There are a number of police who contact me, including relatively recently, who are telling me that their complaints within the system are simply being ignored and that they’re being victimised,” he said. Gorman also mentioned that some policemen told him that the complaints filed under the Public Disclosure Act were not appropriately dealt with.

He added that Flori is only one of many who fall prey to the system. Gorman, however, said that to avoid such situations in future, it is necessary for the CCC to work on the issue and reinvestigate the matters.

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