Now there's a surprise

Publicly, the police have welcomed the findings of Dame Margaret Bazley's inquiry into police misconduct, with Police Commissioner Howard Broad immediately making an unreserved and unequivocal apology to victims and implement its findings. Behind the scenes, its a different story. The police hierarchy fought the inquiry every step of the way, taking "a particularly litigious approach" to the findings. And they were successful - an initial conclusion that the police's investigation of colleagues was sometimes inadequate was withdrawn (though it is still apparent if you read through all the sordid details).

All I can say is that this rather undercuts the police hierarchy’s claim that this was all the fault of a few bad apples and that there is no systemic problem of officers covering up for each other - because that's exactly what those at the top tried to do with this inquiry. And it calls into question their willingness to make the necessary changes to impose proper professional standards on the police and ensure that they can be held to account for any wrongdoing. No wonder they're being monitored by the State Services Commission and Auditor-General for ten years...