Police.......just want to have fun too...
Independent police polling highlighted their efficiencies, and congratulated themselves on a job well done. Their culture of looking after each other in difficult times put many Queenslanders off the good work they did in towns and cities around the state.
This has created a mentality of ‘them and us’ which has persisted from the days when police were used to squash anti-war demonstrations and street marches, such as the one against the South African's Springboks Rugby team playing matches in Brisbane in 1971.
Orders delivered by the then Premier of the day, Joh Bjelke-Peterson, declared a state of emergency that delivered all power to the Police Commissioner. That gave newspaper cartoonists plenty to draw about back then.
Recently, the ghost of Joh had returned, with police acting badly.
One newspaper cartoon depicted two football teams, Morningside verses Wynnum, in police uniforms. The score was 59 - 72 playing for a side bet. Their prize was to ‘street check’ two old ladies who stood outside a high barbed wire fence from the game being played. The winner would curry favour with senior police, who were competing to clock up the highest tally of random ‘street checks’.
Another cartoonist sketched five off duty cops jumping out of a slow moving van and doing a quick run once around their vehicle, completely starkers, during peak hour traffic. Any civilian carrying on like those fellows would be arrested and charged immediately. Not so in this case - senior police waited on a report before action could be taken or charges laid.
Officers were sketched wearing one glove, knee pads, a bucket hat and, for the ladies, a short tie. These were the latest suggestions coming from grass roots police with a flair for fashion or the ridiculous. Those suggestions would be taken seriously if it meant boosting police moral.
But wait, there's more. LP recollected a cartoon of Blitz and his handler, looking forlorn, with their heads sticking out of a large dog box. The caption read, "We were only doing our job".
Blitz and his handler had been suspended from duty for fifteen months for ‘overzealous police work’. That team of crime fighters accounted for twenty-three percent of all arrests made by the dog squad’s sixteen members. It all came to a head when Blitz took down a workman by mistake and bit him on the leg.
Blitz’s hard work had landed him in the dog house at the Oxley police complex. His handler was suspended indefinitely and had to explain why his and Blitz's arrests were higher than the average.
Blitz was now off duty and being fed tinned rations. His handler had to account for every morsel of dog food given to his crime fighting partner. That cartoon prompted senior police to handle Blitz's case proactively, to achieve an outcome in line with public opinion.
Next was a cartoon of the Premier of Queensland in bed with the Police Commissioner. The Government’s Criminal Misconduct Commission was the overseer, fighting corruption within the public service and police departments. Seeming to be above the law, ready to prosecute breaches of the law, all were accountable to his inquiry's judgment, including the Police Commissioner.
Another cartoon depicted senior police as snails, slow to investigate an indigenous death in custody on Palm Island, which resulted in rioting that burnt down the only police station, barracks and court house on the island.
The Commissioner had to explain why proper police procedures were overlooked at watch houses throughout the state. This resulted in pay outs of hundreds of thousands of dollars to victims of police brutality. That cartoon was not very funny.
Queenslanders could be heard to say that the ghost of Joh had returned. In his day it was not uncommon for brown paper bags filled with cash to land on his desk or that of high ranking police. In return, they would turn a blind eye to illegal activity. It just seemed normal at the time. That’s how they did business in Queensland.
Even with bad press, the police had the full support of the government of the day and the Commissioner retained his position, no matter what the CMC signed off on. He felt confident, from internal polling, that sixty-three percent of Queenslanders were happy with his boys and girls in blue. That could also mean that more than a third of Queenslanders had a not so pleasant experience with his police force, which would not improve their public image.
Tony Fitzgerald echoed those views also, saying "The culture of the past has returned since I headed the Royal Commission into police corruption in Queensland in 1987.”
These views, of a southerner from over the border, were not welcome in Queensland. His comments were quickly rebuffed by the Premier in support of her police force.
Those cartoons jogged LP's memory of how small local football clubs raised money for the upkeep of their fields and clubhouses back in the early seventies. Cops would turn a blind eye to some illegal activities in return for a jug of beer or the odd carton which came their way.
That knowledge came in handy one particular time at an Aussie Rules football club trying to raise cash to support their players. Club organisers put on an ‘invite only’ night for blokes. A lady with the stage name Lana would be performing her highly publicised routine, while the audience enjoyed beer and prawns.
The stage act that everyone paid money to see was banned in Queensland, being classed as lurid. If vice squad officers knew where she was performing, they would raid the venue, arrest her and everybody else.
Although the legal age limit for alcohol was twenty-one at the time, that didn't faze bar staff serving any young bloke that placed their money on the bar mat.
LP asked Donny, "What's the chances of been raided?" to which he replied, "None, look over there." Two coppers were standing at the bar’s back door, being handed jugs of beer with glasses.
"Stick your head out of that window and tell me what you see." said Donny. LP looked out into the darkness to see two police vehicles in the streetlights, blocking Wilston Grange football club gate entrance. The two officers walked over to join their fellow constables for a few drinks while still on duty. It looked like no-one was coming in or out until the performance was over.
"I see what you mean; if they were arresting anyone tonight, they should arrest themselves first" LP replied.
LP turned around as loud music signalled the beginning of the performance. He was about see why Lana’s act was banned.
Back then, police made up their own rules of behaviour and this persisted up until the royal commission into corruption within the police force that brought down senior police and politicians, sending some to jail.
Their belief that they were untouchable and the culture of payoffs and bribes continued during the inquiry of 87’. One blatant example was the Vanuatu Gala Ball.
This wasn’t the kind of event that the name suggested. Topless waitresses served beer and prawns. Entertainment was provided by well endowed women mud wrestling, which could be seen by surrounding neighbours in broad daylight.
Northy Street, where the Ball was held, was listed as ‘Do not enter, road works in progress’ on police computers. Local police closed off the road until the charity fundraising function finished. This only reinforced that nothing had changed.