What ever happened to the old saying, 'prevetion is better than cure'.

Now before someone shoots me down for being racist, I do not for one minute support what the police may or may not have done to this guy, But! perhaps if he had not been blind rotten drunk, in a public place, then I have no doubt he wouldn't have been in the lock-up in the first place.

I often say to my (now adult) chidren, Prevention is better than cure.

In other words, rather than come complaining about being harassed by some idiot at a shopping mall, on a Thursday night, when we all know the hoons are out in force, be somewhere else, even at home and there is a pretty good chance we wouldn't be having this conversation, Hey!.

Custard, I don’t understand how the Crime and Misconduct Commission Chairman Martin Moynihan can reach a finding that six police officers need to be investigated without their leader, Queensland Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson also needing to be investigated, when he was in charge of overseeing these officers and making sure that they performed their duties in an impartial, neutral and unbiased manner.

It is crazy that he should charge Atkinson with disciplining these officers in these circumstances. This should be done independently of the police force.

The alleged culture of protection of officers within the police service as opposed to neutral treatment of them as per any other member of society has got to ultimately be the responsibility of the Commissioner.

As much as I have admired Bob Atkinson and think that he has done a pretty good job for a long time, he has got to wear this responsibility.

If there is alleged misconduct by officers under his watch, especially officers that he chose personally, in such an important matter as a high-profile death in custody, which he should have been overseeing with an eagle eye, then there has surely got to be alleged misconduct of him as well.

I can sort of understand why these officers allegedly erred strongly on the side of protecting Senior Sergeant Hurley, as they had to operate within a culture where that was not only possible but pretty much demanded by their colleagues and superiors. They would have been very hard-pressed to have found otherwise, without risking the possibility of alienating other police officers, including their superiors and prejudicing their careers accordingly.

Bob Atkinson would have realised this. It was his responsibility to make sure that no bias prevailed. So surely the main culprit here is the leader of the police force that has allowed this alleged culture to exist.

He certainly should not be the person made responsible for disciplining the other six police officers involved in the alleged cover-up or protection of Hurley.

<< Sgt Hurley knew (hell, he's the one who told me) that he was responsible for ensuring the health & welfare of a person he'd taken into custody. He knew Cameron was hurt, no medical attention was provided... Guess what? Negligence causing death is Manslaughter for everyone but Qld/WA/NT Police apparently... >>

This is pretty damning stuff Custard. It is just unfathomable as to how Hurley has got off scot-free. He alone owned the responsibility for Mulrunji’s wellbeing while in his custody, he injured Mulrunji, he failed to get medical assistance, he was obviously highly negligent at best and a murderer at worst.

The multiple inquiries and court cases should have been about whether a conviction of murder or manslaughter was appropriate, not whether he was guilty or innocent of any wrongdoing!

<< …confidence in the "Rule of Law", if there is no confidence (and there isn't), then there is no regard for the law. Everyone is equal before it mate, if the police aren't subject to it, noone is >>

Trouble is; the police aren’t subject to the rule of law to anything like the same extent as everyone else is, and the rest of society is subjected to it in a very unequal manner, with our indigenous brothers really getting the raw end of the deal.

I very strongly share your outrage over this, Custard.

Cheers.

<< The police are being seen to be protected. Respect for the law and for rigorous transparent legal process has gone out the window completely for the indigenous community and for a lot of ‘mainstream’ society as well. >>

I quote myself from the first post in a general thread that I started on 18 December 06, titled: Palm Island outrage.

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=319

I actually read the transcripts and findings of the Coroner(s) & Courts, and guess what? Hurley changed his evidence on several occasion, (1) that he had not hit Mr Doomadgee after taking him into custody (2) that he had not been affronted/angry about Mr Doomadgee assaulting him and most damningly, (3) that he had in fact fallen on top of Mr Doomadgee (causing the injury that led to his death - undisputed finding), instead of, as he had asserted earlier (under oath to the Coroner and also to the police investigatory team) falling on the ground beside Mr Doomadgee (he VERY clearly recollected falling on the floor beside him at first, right up until the Medical evidence made that position untenable).

Contrary to popular opinion, the QCA did NOT find that Mr Hurley's actions DID NOT cause Mr Doomadgee's death (in fact they found the reverse, that the effect of his falling knee first on top of Mr Doomadgee - albeit accidentally - was the cause of death), but that the Coroner erred in originally finding that the punches thrown by Sgt Hurley were the cause of death. However, the Coroner found that on the basis that Sgt. Hurley "so very clearly recalled" falling "beside" Mr Doomadgee and his obdurate and continued self-serving denial that he had fallen on top of him (at that point) which position was maintained right throughout the Coronial investigation under oath.

Det. Sgt Rogerson of the NSW Police Service was found guilty and jailed for deliberately misleading both a police investigation of his actions (a disciplinary board) and then under oath, in order to escape prosecution for his actions (http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/1992/25.html). The Charge he was found guilty of was "attempting to pervert the Course of Justice", which is at s.140 of the Criminal Code 1899 (Qld). When will Hurley be charged with this? The evidence is clear cut, unequivocal and absolutely damning...

Here (http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/compose-message-general.asp?discussion=3778) is the decision of the Court (QCA) from 2009, where at [5] that Mr Hurley contended the decision of the Coroner (based ENTIRELY upon his earlier testimony that he had not fallen on top of Mr Doomadgee) that Mr Doomadgee's death was caused by something other than the fall, at [12] the Court discusses the difficulty inherent in this, being that ANY CORONER the matter was remitted to would be forced to reach the conclusion that Mr Doomadgee's death was caused by Sgt. Hurley falling upon him knee first (ie. the inescapable conclusion is that Sgt. Hurley did commit Homicide - the lawfulness or otherwise would be for him to prove). This despite the following from the Coroners findings ([22], Page 8):

"I have considered carefully whether or not Senior Sergeant Hurley
fell onto [the deceased] at this time. Senior Sergeant Hurley told
Sergeant Leafe he had not. He repeated this version to every
investigating police officer and the investigating officer from the
Crime and Misconduct Commission. He told all of them that he had
fallen to his left hand side, with [the deceased] to the right hand side."

That is the clincher, there is no denying that Sgt Hurley maintained his, self-serving position that he fell "beside" Mr Doomadgee until the medical evidence made that position untenable. The true reason why the QCA found that the "Coroner's findings" were not supported by the evidence are at pages 15-20 [39]-[47], which can be summarised to the effect that Mr Doomadgee's death could not possibly be caused by the punches admitted by Sgt. Hurley, but could only be caused by the fall (as was at that time denied by Sgt. Hurley).

That this has not resulted in a retrial is incredible.