Paul Mullett is like tinea. No mater how many exhaustive feats one tries to avoid reinfection, he can reappear with a vengeance. More so - putting odour aside - it's painfully irritating to look at and remove traces of his presence. Finally, one moist, warm and dirty environment in which he thrives is Melbourne's Herald Sun; aka The Pulp and Print Court.

Suspended from active duty, and remaining a force within the "police union" [website here] he is described fondly as the "embattled union boss" in the PPC. State Premier John Brumby is somewhat serious about his police corruption "watchdog", although experts point out only a seperate dedicated body will solve the full problem. Prior Premier Steve Bracks was a fool to yield to any of Mullett's demands - many of which arose after investigations revealed his illegal ways.

Please feel free to reacquaint yourself with Paul Mullett and his honest approach to power struggles.
Flash Audio: OPI Police Phone Taps; Ashby, Mullett, Linnell. Explicit Language
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That his involvement in corruption, bullying of members, cowardice, threatening of female officers, tipping off murder suspects and ethical breaches may secure a 25 year jail term is of no moment within Murdoch's pages. This is a paper in which police are perpetual "heroes", reporting on whom is biased milk-sop pulp fiction and who regularly run beat ups and campaigns based on fallacious claims they initially propose. It's a fertile ground for a conspiracy nutter to air his paranoia. Selfless heroes with a swan song "What About Me?". Sure guys, sure.

It is the latest most recent association with Melbourne's only real rag-paper that beggars belief. A day after we learn from two other sources Mullett faces a challenge from within his own union, the PPC excelled itself. The paper forwarded a "survey" packed with leading questions to a one third minority of members, collated the predictable results and pretended to have a "news" story. Packed with distractions like "devastating", "shock findings", "graphic results", "pressure" on Chief Commissioner Nixon, readers were bound to lose their way. We hear primarily of the 69% who dislike Christine Nixon. We had to wait on the good Commissioner herself to hear that only 69% of one third of Victoria Police were suitably "pulped" - shall we say. Put another way, she's actually admired by the bulk of her members.

The very fact the Herald Sun survey includes responses critical of Mullett's suspension when the reality is that even his closest confidants want him gone, and ask only questions about their beat up dynamic can't be ignored. More so, most of the detail is superflous. It's a Mullett vs Nixon beat up. The Police Association Magazine actually notified members of the impending survey. Disenchanted members and Nixon antagonists had pencils at the ready. Herald Sun readers can join in. Unaware of the world outside their boxes the uncritical readers had an opportunity to vote on her performance themselves. This was replaced by a "new" poll on whether these corrupt cops should have stun guns and automatic pistols.

Ironically, it's other leading piece was coverage of a rally primarily attended by Police Association members and somewhat peppered with other emergency service members. In a nutshell Police supposedly want more members, more resources, less females and no "improper association policy". The final sticking point requiring police to reveal all social contacts of a criminally dubious nature. In this episode we look at how valid these concerns are in the present climate and in the context of Mullett's real history. The final insult was the "editorial". Remember, this entire story is nurtured by this newspaper. There really is no problem other than a demonstrably right wing appraisal of it's own delusion. It included:

Police have also challenged falling crime statistics and are intent on labeling the forward progression of modern policing as "the softly, softly approach". The tiny minority who bemoan the morale-eroding "feminisation" of the force almost certainly realise they act for Mullett - not themselves. The reality is that Victoria Police has a problem. Mullett is yet to address issues raised in previous episodes here; Mullett's Mumbles, Mullett's Motives and Corruption in Victoria Police, extending back to Janurary 2007. On the issues raised by the Herald Sun farce one must note Victoria has below average numbers of female officers with only one other state having less. Policing today requires a sharp mind and access to data for economic exploitation. Police deal with people - not characters. The PPC may wish it were otherwise but our crime rate has fallen 23.5% under Nixon. To this we can add that of the 20 best performing service areas, 14 had more than a quarter of female members.

The onus is on proponents of this rot to serve up some evidence. It's doubly offensive coming a day after we hear of a national youth homelessness crisis. These individuals present with dual problems of substance/medication use/abuse and psychological disorders of almost any magnitude. Certainly they come daily into police contact. Is brute force really what we want here? Or is it the skills of a well educated and properly trained compassionate person we need to step back to see clearly?

The other annoyance is double standards. Victorian Police are certainly corrupt - charges have been laid, conversations heard. I actually think the "improper association" idea is going to be a logistical nightmare, possibly discriminatory and perhaps of limited value. I also think it's a great idea. Victoria has no Spent Convictions Policy. Our L.E.A.P. database is compromised. Our privacy is a joke in Police hands and to Police members. Today, Victorians can loose careers, homes, families and worse solely due to the brandishing of criminal "records" by insouciant police and their nosey assistants. In other words, you and I have no such "protection" in our relationship with authorities or indeed their flawed and discriminatory use of our own personal history.

That we, as a community, pay taxes for this corruption to run unchecked in the largest law enforcement body in the second largest city in a so-called "globally progressive democracy" is, objectively speaking, utterly fascinating. Just how gullible are we? Fairly so, I'd wager. 

In January 2007, in The Australian Don Stewart former Supreme Court Judge, Royal Commissioner and founding director of the NCA said the "deep seated and continuing corruption" will only be  finally managed with a Royal Commission. He claimed at the time recent findings were "the tip of the Iceberg", describing the task of cleaning up Victoria Police as "herculean". "Only a wide ranging Royal Commission will do it". The article went on to report:

"Mr Stewart is one of the most senior legal figures in Australia to warn that Victoria has failed to address police corruption. In 2005, former royal commissioner and former ASIO head Edward Woodward said corruption in the state was at its highest level ever".

"I take the opposite view," he says. "Why the Victoria Police don't want, and the Victorian Government will not have, an independent wide-ranging judicial inquiry into police corruption, such as was had in Queensland and NSW, is obvious. They know that it would reveal what they don't want revealed."

Mr Stewart says that, while head of the NCA, he met opposition from many members of Victoria Police, whom he describes as "bad as any". He says he had to terminate the secondments to the NCA of a number of state-based police because of concerns over their conduct".

In March 2007 in an interview with Damien Carrick for ABC's The Law Report, Stewart noted,

"We have to look at establishing proper agencies, research areas, but looking at them, making them transparent, auditing them all the time. You can't let the police investigate themselves, it doesn't work, never has done, never will. And there are all sorts of ways that you can endeavour to maintain integrity, and I don't want to become involved in the discussion of this in any way, but one cannot but be aware of what is happening in Western Australia at the moment. It's not just the police obviously who can become involved in corruption and corroding to use your word, of institutions. There are other people who can be, other people in powerful places. Including politicians.Not only politicians but public servants at high level. Money is a great incentive. I don't know how you get rid of greed, you can't just wave a magic wand and say 'From now on the human race shall be greed free'. It doesn't work like that. It is part of the human condition...".

Damien Carrick: The more things change, the more they stay they same.

Don Stewart: They do. And it reflects the human condition, and we can't change that. All we can do is our best to minimise it.

This Episode Firesnake looks at these fun times with audio grabs from the main players. We also award a Clear and Present Danger to Critical Thought to Paul Mullett himself. He slam dunks a more than respectful score of 8.6 / 10 for being himself. Of course, moaning about "weakening" female officers, then using a picture of a "diminutive female" disarming a shoddy copper during a rally to highlight the true evil of these people we call women, was delightful.

The real issue some say is this silly business of human rights and fear of "being sued". This "thuggery" - yes we're still on about a "diminutive" lass - demands we actually compromise our very definition of democracy such that law enforcement have unprecedented powers and limited accountability.

Where have I seen that before?

All articles touched on are here.
Music thanks to Garageband.






Gags,

51 min.
19.5 MB.