Abstracts THE TAINT This is a memoir of Ray “Poss” Ide, a man who has carried the taint of a horrifying crime since he was seventeen years old─a crime he claims he did not commit. The crime was the rape of a fourteen-year-old girl. The Taint looks at the time leading up to his conviction for rape, including the years he spent in Westbrook Boys’ Reformatory and Boggo Road Gaol as a minor, and then his sentence served in NSW gaols with such inmates as Stephen Bradley, the man who kidnapped and murdered Graham Thorne, and the bizarre but rather likeable Dave Scanlan, known for his exploits as “the Kingsgrove Slasher”. In prison, Scanlan encouraged him to become an elite sportsman and released, Poss was recruited by Canterbury Eels football team; but just on the point of making a name for himself in Sydney, someone discovered that he had been gaoled for rape, and humiliated, he left the team. He moved back home to Queensland via Grafton, NSW (where he met and later married the Jacaranda Queen) and continued his sporting career, but never again in the Big League. He became the Manager of the Waterside Workers’ Club and helped prevent a turf war between the Wharfies and members of the Painters and Dockers. Poss is now working with lawyer Robert Bax to have his case re-opened. He believes his story to be a cautionary tale for young men. It is a chronicle of social change, including the sexual revolution of the sixties, the confrontations with “the demons” in the streets of Brisbane during the Joh era of Bible-bashing fundamentalism and police corruption. It’s a story about what really went on behind closed doors in institutions where vulnerable children were preyed upon, in gaols where men were expected to become beasts. It is a story of how the taint of a terrible crime affected a man’s whole life. “QUESTIONS OF OWNERSHIP” Writing someone else’s story can be an ethical minefield─especially regarding questions of ownership. Who owns the story, the subject or the author? The easy answer to this is the subject owns the story and the author the text, but on closer examination this may not necessarily be so. Then there are those other stakeholders who claim ownership of story: people who embrace a narrative because of its similarity to their own lives. Published stories about institutional abuse have resonated for adults who as children were placed into the care of churches or the state. Another kind of ownership is claimed by readers who accept a version of a story and dismiss any counter-story as being invalid. What I call the “Plath Phenomenon” is an example of this. I will examine these kinds of ownership of story with particular reference to the work of Janet Malcolm on biography and then will look at gaps and silences in “official” stories, those created in police stations and courtrooms.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, 2004. / "A thesis presented to the University of Western Sydney in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy" "November 2004" Bibliography: p. 260-356.

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 107-109). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

The dawn of democracy failed to bring legitimacy to the Police Service. Public and political debate seriously lambasted the Police Service for criminal offences committed on and off duty by police officials which pertained to the infringement on the individual rights regarding personal safety and the right to own property. The outcry against criminal offences by police officials forced the Police Service to deal decisively with criminality in the Police Service by means of fitness boards. While the government and public approved of the attempts to rid the Police Service of criminality it was met with union resistance in the Eastern Cape and defeat in the Labour Court. Different legislation, internal arrangements and case law were observed in this study. The purpose was to determine the strength or weaknesses if any of the applicable legislation and internal arrangements which contributed to a finding against the Police Service in the Labour Court.

Peace officers across this country have allowed a hostile environment to be created with offenders who are in their custody. An overview of the issues to be addressed in this study will begin with sexual boundary violations among peace officers and offenders, such as physical intimacy and emotional commitment that meets the sexual needs of the peace officer.

A research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, 2019 / This research paper explores corruption within the South African Police Services, with a focus on non-commissioned police officers working at the Honeydew Police Station. Utilising ethnographic research in observing the spaces in which the police officers worked and conducting interviews with various participants, I was guided towards a specific approach to understanding corruption in the police, one which places class and consumption at the centre of my research. This paper therefore delves into whether class and consumption influences the choices of police officers and any involvement in unlawful activities. By adopting a particular ethnological perspective in the study of corruption, this research paper interrogates often-overlooked aspects of police officers daily lives and experiences which I think are vital in being able to understand corruption in the police. / NG (2020)

Corruption from a criminological perspective forms the basis of this dissertation. The crime component of corruption the 'what', 'why' and 'how' is the dominant theme throughout the study and includes corruption in the South African public sector, highlighting police corruption in the Western Cape. Although this study is exploratory, certain qualitative interviewing techniques, including an interview guide, were used to maximise the information obtained from knowledgeable interviewees. Corruption was further elucidated by the employment of criminological theories to explain pertinent findings in the research, by highlighting risk factors that lead to corruption, by giving examples of corruption and by discussing anti-corruption agencies and the effectiveness of existing legislation. Corruption in the public sector has always been around and will be ad infinitum. The severity of the consequences of this phenomenon can be curtailed by the will of politicians, the involvement of civil society and an operational criminal justice system. / Criminology / MA (Criminology)

Corruption from a criminological perspective forms the basis of this dissertation. The crime component of corruption the 'what', 'why' and 'how' is the dominant theme throughout the study and includes corruption in the South African public sector, highlighting police corruption in the Western Cape. Although this study is exploratory, certain qualitative interviewing techniques, including an interview guide, were used to maximise the information obtained from knowledgeable interviewees. Corruption was further elucidated by the employment of criminological theories to explain pertinent findings in the research, by highlighting risk factors that lead to corruption, by giving examples of corruption and by discussing anti-corruption agencies and the effectiveness of existing legislation. Corruption in the public sector has always been around and will be ad infinitum. The severity of the consequences of this phenomenon can be curtailed by the will of politicians, the involvement of civil society and an operational criminal justice system. / Criminology and Security Science / MA (Criminology)

published_or_final_version / Comparative Asian Studies / Master / Master of Arts

Conflict of interest allegations became a prominent part of the political and public sector in the 1980s and 1990s in Australia and elsewhere. The arena of policing was not immune, and in Victoria, the Ombudsman drew particular attention to the problem and expressed concern about the rise in public complaints relating to alleged conflicts of interest on the part of police officers. Against this background, permission was granted by Victoria Police for a major study of conflict of interest complaints against police officers within their jurisdiction. Access was granted to all public complaint case files where conflict of interest was the focus of the allegations, from the period 1988???1998. A total of 377 usable complaints files were examined, involving 539 police officers. Through extensive examination and analysis of these complaint case files, a comprehensive map of the particular kinds of interest involved, the nature of the conflicts with official police duties, and the particular contexts within which conflicts of interest emerged, was developed. Analysis of the case files identified 25 different types of problems related to conflict of interest. These were spread across the private and public realms of police officers??? involvements. Previous studies of conflict of interest have focused largely on the opportunities for misconduct arising in the public realm of police work and police duty, largely neglecting attention to the private realm of the relationships and involvements of a police officer that give rise to conflicts of interest. In this study, the specific private interests that gave rise to problems were able to be identified in 35 percent of all cases. Three broad problem areas were identified: (i) outside employment, private business interests, political, social, and sporting interests and involvements; (ii) family-based involvements, especially those involving family law problems; and (iii) problematic personal relationships, including relationships with criminals, informers, and persons of ill repute. These conflicts of interest were related to a range of breaches of official police duty, including the misuse of police authority for personal or family benefit, the use of police position to facilitate personal relationships, and inappropriate disclosure of confidential police information. When the conflict of interest identified related specifically to a police officer???s official or public role as a member of the police force, the main types of misconduct identified included three broad areas: (i) the use and abuse of police powers and authority; (ii) the use and abuse of police resources, including information; and (iii) the receipt of gratuities and breaches of the law. These problems were shown to play out in a range of ways, encompassing such behaviours as misuse of the police identity, inappropriate accessing of police information, involvement in investigations where the police officer concerned has a personal interest in the matter, failing to take appropriate police action against friends, family, or associates, the exercise of improper influence in civil matters, and engagement in harassment and discrimination. This study offers some important conceptual developments in relation to the notion of conflict of interest, focusing on the importance of the distinction between a conflict of interest and an associated breach of duty. The study noted that it is often erroneously assumed by police that if there is no breach of duty evidenced, then there is no problem of conflict of interest. The study also offers an important insight into the oversight and accountability processes involved in Victoria Police, emphasising the importance and effectiveness of the oversight role of the office of the Victorian Ombudsman. Evidence also suggests that the internal review processes within Victoria Police are by-and-large stringent, and that senior police management are genuinely interested in making police officers more accountable for their actions. However, it is concluded that both front-line operational police officer and police management often have a limited understanding of conflict of interest, and problems attendant to conflicts of interest. The study???s insights into the problem of conflict of interest are significant insofar as this problem is related to police misconduct???ranging from minor to serious???of various kinds. Attention to the problem of conflict of interest may be an important element in preventing ???upstream??? police misconduct and corruption.