Mr Strange’s new role will see him provide leadership to the free legal help service for people considering engaging with the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
He was appointed as the CMC’s Assistant Commissioner, Misconduct, in June 2010 and has acted as Chairperson on a number of occasions since that time, most recently after former Chairperson Ross Martin SC retired on grounds of ill-health [read related statement].
Under the Crime and Misconduct Act 2001, the Governor in Council may appoint a person qualified for appointment as the Chairperson to perform the role in an acting capacity during a vacancy in the office of Chairperson or any absence of the Chairperson.
Kathleen Florian, the CMC’s Assistant Commissioner, Crime, has been acting in the role of Assistant Commissioner, Misconduct, since April, while Michael Scott, the CMC’s Director of Crime Hearings and Legal Services, acts as Assistant Commissioner, Crime.
]]>This followed the CMC’s conclusion at assessment phase, based on available information (as provided in November 2012), that the matter then referred by the Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services did not involve official misconduct and therefore fell outside the CMC’s jurisdiction [read previous statement].
The CMC’s most recent assessment of all new relevant information has been finalised. The CMC will not comment on the source of new information.
The CMC has commenced a co-operative misconduct investigation with the Queensland Police Service (QPS) into allegations including official misconduct and fraud which arise from that information.
The CMC takes the position in all matters, whether at assessment or investigation phase, that everyone is entitled to the presumption of innocence and all allegations should be treated as unsubstantiated until a final outcome is reached.
No further comment will be made until the CMC, in collaboration with the QPS, has concluded its inquiries.
]]>As detailed in evidence before the PCMC’s public hearings, the CMC acknowledges the failure on its part to appropriately manage historical Fitzgerald Inquiry records.
The CMC will work with the PCMC on specific recommendations for action and reform as outlined in the Committee’s report, released today.
It is not appropriate for the CMC to make any further comment at this time.
]]>As detailed in the executive summary, released today, it is recommended that the CMC Chairperson will be one of four people to sit on an Implementation Panel [Recommendation 17], also including the Public Service Commissioner, to implement recommendations that the State Government chooses to adopt.
That said, the CMC takes the position at this time that it is not appropriate to make any detailed public comment.
As to the question of public release of the advisory panel’s full report, the CMC has only requested that sensitive information not be released publicly.
The CMC provided extensive material to the advisory panel during the review process. Some of this information was confidential in nature, as it related for example, to ongoing investigations or operational issues in areas such as our Witness Protection function.
Redacted copies of relevant correspondence from the CMC to the advisory panel were provided which removed this sensitive information.
]]>15.03.2013 – Update: The Governor in Council has approved relieving arrangements during a vacancy in the office of Chairperson or any absence of the Chairperson. This new standing delegation takes effect as of 15 March 2013. It authorises the appointment of Assistant Commissioner, Misconduct, Warren Strange, as Chairperson in an acting capacity, and further authorises two of the CMC’s four part-time Commissioners to assume the role if required.
11.03.2013 – Clarification: The standing delegation referred to below, authorised by the Governor in Council, has expired. Governor in Council approval is currently being sought to renew the terms of the standing delegation that covers acting arrangements in the absence of the Chairperson.
Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) Chairperson Ross Martin SC has announced a leave of absence, effective immediately, as the first step of ill-health retirement. This is a personal decision.
Assistant Commissioner, Misconduct, Warren Strange, in accordance with a standing delegation by the Attorney-General, has assumed the position of Chairperson in an acting capacity.
Copy of statement from CMC Chairperson Ross Martin SC:
You are all aware of circumstances of recent days as they have been made public.
What you may not be aware of are matters relating to my health. I would not ordinarily make them public, but circumstances compel me to.
I have not ever made public that I have cystic fibrosis. It has been a private matter, and nobody’s business but my own. Notwithstanding the troubles it brings, I have been able to craft what I hope has been a valuable career in public service at a very high level.
When I took this job, I took medical advice that as things then stood, I had every expectation of being able to complete my term. That was not unreasonable – I had, after all, been able to practise as a senior prosecutor for a very long time. I have been, to this point, physically well able to do my present job.
That has changed, and it has now ceased to be solely my business.
There has been a very recent marked deterioration in my health, illustrated by the fact that I have in fact been in hospital till yesterday morning for some 10 days.
I have left from time to time to attend to these and other pressing matters.
My primary specialist physician (who is not contactable at the moment) has in the course of this hospitalisation advised me that he has or will very shortly refer me to the lung transplant team at Prince Charles Hospital. Preparing for that operation, I am advised, is an enormous commitment.
My family have suffered my pursuit of a career for too long. They are entitled to as much of my time as I can give them. I don’t seek sympathy; I do seek to explain my actions today.
Turning to the specific issues that have arisen in recent days, the cloud hanging over the CMC by my continued presence will stand in the way of responding to the Callinan/Aroney review and to advancing a number of important reports that are pending.
The Attorney-General has spoken recently of Ministerial responsibility as an informing principle in regard to my position. There is force in that view. Whatever emerges from the forthcoming PCMC review will emerge, but a principle similar to ministerial responsibility has force in the present context whatever might emerge from that review.
That said, a CMC chair should not be too ready to resign lest the organisation’s independence be too readily undermined.
On the other hand, the CMC chair’s position has powerful statutory entrenchment to defend its security against political whim. That security should not be clung to by an incumbent when circumstances make it inappropriate to do so.
Absent the circumstances relating to my health, I would of course be giving careful thought to those matters. I am pleased the part time CMC Commissioners do not, on the information presently available, believe it would be appropriate for me to resign.
In this highly unusual, and likely never to be repeated, collection of circumstances, but of course for health reasons, I have decided to take leave to progress as quickly as possible the process of ill-health retirement. I no longer have the resources of health to continue to perform the job with the vigour that is necessary, and as soon as I became conscious of that, I have decided to leave.
I will not be coming back. I wish my successor and the CMC generally the very best in its vital work.
I thank my staff for their dedicated, largely unsung, devotion to the virtues of fighting crime and of integrity. I thank them for the support I have received in the past year.
Most importantly, I thank my family for their love and patience with me.
]]>If you have any enquiries about these sessions, please contact us on (07) 3360 6060 or email MisconductPrevention@cmc.qld.gov.au.
Please subscribe to receive email updates when new misconduct information and updates are released.
There are currently no lunchbox information sessions scheduled.
]]>The alert follows this month’s Supreme Court convictions of two high-end offenders on the basis of evidence provided by CMC investigations. One offender posed as a teenager in a bid to groom online victims just months after being released from jail on child sex offences and the other, similarly an internet-based predator, moved on to commit contact offences against a 13-year-old boy.
The two male offenders, from Spring Hill and Browns Plains, were separately sentenced to jail terms of five and six years respectively.
They were among 11 CMC criminal paedophilia targets charged with a total of 191 offences relating to possessing, distributing and producing child exploitation material during 2011-12, and the first two people in Queensland to be charged with a new Commonwealth aggravated networking offence (introduced in 2010 and carrying a maximum penalty of 25 years imprisonment).
Detective Inspector Lance Vercoe, Operations Coordinator, CMC Crime Operations, said the two cases underlined the value of the Cerberus team, a multidisciplinary unit dedicated to investigating criminal paedophilia, with a specific focus on ‘niche’ areas of networked or recidivist extra-familial offending.
‘The Cerberus team casts a particular spotlight on internet-based criminal paedophile networks on the premise that every image and video shared represents a crime scene,’ Detective Inspector Vercoe said.
‘Our priority is to infiltrate these insidious networks, which are global in reach, and move in on offenders before they start grooming children to generate new child exploitation material or take the next step to committing contact offences.
‘The reality, of course, is that while the CMC and the Queensland Police Service, who we work in close partnership with, proactively target these offenders, we rely on parents to maintain open communication with their children about the dangers associated with social networking sites and online forums.’
Detective Inspector Vercoe said parents should not overreact and ban internet access, but talk openly with their children and reinforce the most important message that they never talk or share personal information or images with strangers.
‘Most children understand that it’s not safe to talk to adults who are “strangers” in a park, for example, but online they may not realise the hidden, criminal identity of paedophiles who are often posing as children,’ he said.
‘Sadly, this is typical of the type of offending we see by internet-based paedophiles. They know the language children use and how to impersonate them and what starts out as an innocent conversation can quickly escalate to the point where victims are divulging personal details or sharing photos and video streaming.’
On this point, Detective Inspector Vercoe said one of the two high-end offenders jailed this month had posed as a 13-year-old boy in a bid to groom victims on social networking sites, ultimately persuading a 12-year-old girl to provide naked images of herself.
The target, a 38-year-old Spring Hill man, was arrested by Cerberus investigators outside the State Library of Queensland on 16 February 2011. He was identified using free WIFI connection to share child exploitation material, just four months after being released from jail on child sex offences.
Detective Inspector Vercoe said the Cerberus investigation provided evidence that between December 2010 and February 2011, the offender had accessed approximately 1,150 child exploitation images and videos and shared up to 40 child exploitation files with a network of other paedophiles. He had been released from jail on 15 October 2010.
Appearing before Brisbane’s Supreme Court on 1 March 2013, the Spring Hill man pleaded guilty to five charges, including using a carriage service to access child pornography material, using a carriage service to make available child pornography material, an aggravated offence of making available child pornography material on three or more occasions to two or more people, knowingly possessing child exploitation material, and using a carriage service to cause child pornography material to be transmitted to himself. He was sentenced to five years imprisonment.
In the second case that resulted in a successful prosecution, Detective Inspector Vercoe said a 27-year-old Browns Plains man was convicted of sodomising and indecently dealing with a 13-year-old boy who he had targeted via an internet chat forum.
The Cerberus investigation also provided evidence that the man – who was arrested on 23 February 2012 with close to 3,800 child exploitation images and videos in his possession – shared more than 1,450 images and videos with up to 94 contacts in an online paedophile network between November 2011 and February 2012. He further transmitted more than 850 child exploitation files via two internet messaging programs over the same period.
Appearing before Brisbane’s Supreme Court on 19 March 2013, the Brown Plains man pleaded guilty to eight charges, including sodomy, two counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16, using a carriage service to access child pornography material, two counts of using a carriage service to transmit child pornography material, an aggravated offence of making available child pornography material on three or more occasions to two or more people, and knowingly possessing child exploitation material. He was sentenced to six years imprisonment.
Detective Inspector Vercoe said one of the biggest challenges for law enforcement in tracking high-end offenders stemmed from ever-changing technology and criminal intent of offenders who constantly devise new ways of contacting each other, share information about law enforcement methodologies and cover their tracks through use of encryption and evidence wiping software.
‘Our message is simple: parents are the first line of defence in protecting their children from internet-based paedophiles who will stop at nothing to get what they want.
‘These criminals prey on the vulnerability of children and if they fail to engage one, they’ll move on to another and another until they get a bite.
‘Once they get a bite and manage to elicit personal information and images/video streams from their victims, they use blackmail to obtain further explicit material, for example by threatening to send information or images to teachers or friends.
‘It should come as no surprise that children simply don’t have the emotional capacity to deal with this and may be too embarrassed to tell their parents or even friends, which is why we’re urging parents to maintain open lines of communication.’
The CMC’s Cerberus team works closely with the Queensland Police Service’s Taskforce Argos, regional child protection investigation units, and interstate and foreign law enforcement agencies.
It is also supported internally by the CMC’s Forensic Computing Unit, which acts once offenders have been apprehended, interrogating computer systems looking for evidence to substantiate charges and identifying information which may lead to the identification of potential victims or other paedophiles.
Since its establishment in 2002, the CMC, as a result of criminal paedophilia investigations specifically targeting internet-based offenders, has charged 121 offenders with a total of 1,090 charges. Further, as a result of broader criminal paedophilia investigations often in partnership with the QPS and other interstate and international law enforcement agencies, the Cerberus team has charged another 60 offenders with a total of 7,471 charges.
Read more about how to protect your children.
To request an interview with Detective Inspector Lance Vercoe, contact CMC media officer Siobhan Barry 3360 6344 / 0407 373 803.
]]>The CMC concluded, at assessment phase, based on available information (as provided in November 2012), that the matter did not involve official misconduct and therefore fell outside the CMC’s jurisdiction. This assessment outcome was provided to the Department on 7 December 2012.
The CMC is currently assessing all new relevant information as to whether it requires any further action by the CMC.
It should be noted that an assessment process is separate to an investigation and the CMC takes the position in all matters that everyone is entitled to the presumption of innocence and all allegations should be treated as unsubstantiated until a final outcome is reached.
No further comment will be made at this time.
]]>The CMC has not commented on this matter beyond confirming, as first placed on the public record, that a complaint had been received and was undergoing assessment to determine if it reasonably raised a suspicion of official misconduct and, if so, how it should be dealt with.
All relevant parties have now been advised of the outcome of the CMC’s assessment and the matter is closed.
]]>After the Fitzgerald Inquiry, its records were transferred to the then Criminal Justice Commission (CJC). Since 2005, the CMC has progressively transferred those records to Queensland State Archives.
In February 2012, the CMC modified the restricted access period for some documents from its original 65-year minimum period to 20 years following the close of the Inquiry in 1989. The intention was to provide appropriate public access to documents that were uncontroversial. It was intended that the only documents to which public access would be provided were to transcripts of public hearings and exhibits publicly tendered to the Inquiry.
However, as a result of an administrative oversight by the CMC, other documents (not public exhibits and transcripts tendered to the Inquiry) have been potentially accessible from February 2012 to 4 March 2013.
Having discovered this oversight, out of an abundance of caution and as a temporary measure, the CMC has immediately instituted a 65-year restriction on all documents. The CMC has further determined it is in the public interest to review the issue of access to all Fitzgerald Inquiry records (which number in excess of 19,000 items) and how the administrative error occurred.
The review will also seek to determine whether any inappropriate access has occurred in order to ascertain associated potential for harm.
While it is not appropriate to comment further as this review is underway, it appears that an inherent problem in the archiving of Fitzgerald Inquiry records – a process that has occurred over a protracted period, from 2005 to 2010 – stems from the quantity of material involved, as well as the way it has been gathered, described and handled by the Fitzgerald Inquiry, the CJC and the CMC over the years.
The CMC’s review of the material is aimed at ensuring that only appropriate material will be made available for public access. No further detail can be provided at this time.
]]>The move follows the introduction of a new major crime ‘general referral’ that enables rapid response to requests for assistance from law enforcement agencies for use of the CMC’s special investigative powers (coercive hearings) in suspected homicide, manslaughter, grievous bodily harm and torture cases.
In a recent submission to the Crime Reference Committee – a statutory body that includes community representatives – CMC Assistant Commissioner, Crime, Kathleen Florian underlined shared concerns that vulnerable people are susceptible to becoming victims of violence because of their impaired capacity to speak out to protect themselves and remove themselves from danger.
The submission specifically defines vulnerable victims to include children aged under 16, elderly people aged over 70 and those in a position of particular vulnerability because of a physical disability or mental impairment.
According to QPS statistics, close to a quarter (21 per cent) of 55 suspected homicides reported to police last year involved vulnerable victims, with related investigations often proving particularly complex and challenging to overcome with conventional law enforcement powers.
The Crime Reference Committee approved the CMC’s submission on 30 January, bringing the organisation’s suite of major crime general referrals to eight (read more about how crime matters come to the CMC).
The CMC’s power to investigate major crime, which encompasses organised crime, criminal paedophilia, serious crime and terrorism, has always been referral-based – either by standing ‘general referrals’ that target areas of major crime or ‘specific referrals’ granted by the Crime Reference Committee on a case-by-case basis.
While general referrals enable the CMC to act immediately, there is still a requirement to notify the Crime Reference Committee as soon as practicable after the commencement of an investigation. The committee also has the authority to end an investigation or impose limitations on use of the CMC’s powers.
Ms Florian said the latest general referral would improve the CMC’s timeliness, efficiency and effectiveness in assisting police with related investigations – something she said was invaluable given that time was critical, particularly in homicide investigations.
‘The CMC focuses its crime-fighting efforts on the types of major crime that are most likely to cause serious harm to Queenslanders,’ Ms Florian said, adding that the CMC carefully considered the public interest and legislative obligations when using its special investigative powers, including coercive hearings that compel witnesses to give evidence.
‘We already have similar authority to move quickly when it comes to investigating suspected major crime involving established criminal networks, outlaw motorcycle gangs, weapons-related offences, money laundering, criminal paedophilia and terrorism.’
Ms Florian said suspected homicides and other violent crimes involving vulnerable victims were more likely to occur at a private location, such as within a household.
As a result, she said there was often limited scope for eyewitness accounts, with investigations frequently involving a small ‘pool’ of suspects who often knew or were related to each other and may subsequently be reluctant to assist police with their inquiries.
That said, she stressed the general referral applied to offences against vulnerable people whether or not they knew or were related to the suspect.
QPS Assistant Commissioner, State Crime Operations Command, Mike Condon said the benefit of this general referral was that it included suspected offences dating back to 1970, with 15 ‘cold cases’ involving vulnerable victims remaining open since that time.
Assistant Commissioner Condon said the ability to secure the CMC’s help would assist with cases such as baby murders and in progressing long term cold cases where the vulnerable were victimised.
‘In the case of investigations involving vulnerable victims, conventional laws and powers are often not enough,’ Assistant Commissioner Condon said.
‘The use of the CMC’s coercive hearings can cut through a lot of issues by securing and testing the evidence of reluctant or uncooperative witnesses, identifying new lines of inquiry and eliminating unproductive lines of inquiry.
‘This helps us focus our efforts on the most promising lines of inquiry.’
The Crime and Misconduct Act 2001 gives the CMC investigative powers that are not available to the QPS, including coercive hearings, without creating an alternative police service. Instead, the CMC’s effectiveness depends on its partnerships with the QPS and other law enforcement agencies, its multidisciplinary approach to investigations and use of its special powers.
In the past financial year (2011-12), the CMC conducted coercive hearings over 145 days in Brisbane, Bundaberg, Mount Isa, Rockhampton and Cairns, calling 132 witnesses to give evidence in relation to 20 major crime investigations including murders, drug trafficking, fraud, weapons-related offences and outlaw motorcycle gang activity. Over the same period, it undertook 26 major crime investigations, resulting in 76 arrests and 396 charges.
For further detail about overall performance, view the CMC’s Annual Report 2011-12.
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