Perverted cops in South Australia

And the "regulator" is of course taking years to do anything about it

MALE police are stripping distressed female prisoners, who are then put in cells under CCTV, a practice being questioned by the independent police complaints body. In a letter to Police Commissioner Mal Hyde, obtained by The Advertiser, the Police Complaints Authority says it has "long-standing disquiet" over the practice, which has been labelled "violent and disturbing" by civil libertarians.

It has only come to light after a mother of three complained about being stripped by up to four male officers and put into a padded cell at Christies Beach police station. She believes her complaint would have been "swept under the carpet" if not for a letter on her behalf from former Supreme Court judge Ted Mullighan. "Lee" - not her real name - told The Advertiser she continues to be haunted by the November 2006 ordeal, and that she is still waiting on a complaints authority ruling.

The Advertiser has also learnt of two teenage girls who claim to have been subjected to the same treatment at Christies Beach but say they are too afraid to lodge an official complaint.

Lee - who gave evidence at the Mullighan inquiry about being sexually abused in foster care as a child - said being stripped by male officers was "like being raped all over again". She was held inside a cell naked for about an hour after being picked up on a warrant for failing to attend a court hearing over a minor theft from a shop in the 1990s - a warrant which took police 13 years to execute despite Lee living at the same address the entire period. "I can't put words to what they have done to me, it's just inhumane," Lee said. "Nobody is game enough to talk about this sort of thing because they are the police, they've got a badge and they are allowed to do whatever they do - it's not right."

Complaints authority investigator Helen Lines outlined some of her concerns about the stripping practice in a letter to Mr Hyde dated June 22 this year.

"I first assessed the conduct of the police officers who were the subject of the complaint in June 2008," Ms Lines wrote. "That assessment was coloured by the long-standing disquiet I have felt about the practice of placing police prisoners in padded cells and of forcefully stripping them before such placement. "These practices are contemplated by SA Police general orders. "I decided that rather than focus on the actions of the individual officers who are subject of (the) complaint, I would focus on the practice of using padded cells to confine distressed prisoners to prevent them from harming themselves with their clothing."

The 25-page letter also contains excerpts from the letter written by Mr Mullighan, who chaired the Children in State Care Commission of Inquiry in 2006-07. Mr Mullighan wrote that, despite her traumatic and abusive upbringing, Lee had managed her life well, stayed out of trouble for most of her adulthood and had raised three children largely on her own. Another woman has told The Advertiser her 14-year-old daughter was also stripped by two male officers at Christies Beach and held in a padded cell in late 2007.

"She was worried the video footage that they took of her was going to be used in the officers' station to have fun with or whatever, which was pretty bad thing for a teenager to have to think ... she actually sat there with her hands over her private parts in her cell trying to hide herself," said the mother, who did not want to be named.

SA Council of Civil Liberties spokesman George Mancini said he was appalled at the "humiliating and violent" practice and said police had a "very high duty of care" to distressed prisoners who were deemed at risk of self-harm. "This goes back to the 19th century when we were dealing with people in the mental asylums ... this is not the proper way to treat people and it is obviously violent and disturbing," Mr Mancini said. He described the stripping practice as "inhumane" and counterproductive. "Surely the only way to reduce that sort of behaviour is to take action against individuals and then publicise it so that other officers know that they will be subject to public scrutiny if they behave that way," Mr Mancini said.

Under current laws, Police Complaints Authority investigations are private and only complainants are given access to findings.

Lee said Ms Lines - who has been examining the case for more than a year - was "horrified" when she watched a video of the incident in which she was stripped after becoming agitated when told she would have to spend a weekend in custody on the arrest warrant and that her children would be put into state care. Yesterday, an SA Police spokesman said police could not comment on Lee's case because it was still before the complaints authority.

Original report here. (Via Australian Politics)



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