3 Apr 2017

Inquiry into police handling of officer conduct ending

From Morning Report, 7:18 am on 3 April 2017

A decade of independent scrutiny into how police treat sexual assault victims and investigate their own officers' behaviour is about to end.

Ten years ago today a Commission of Inquiry led by Dame Margaret Bazley published a scathing report describing disgraceful conduct by officers over 25 years and a wall of silence protecting the men that women complained about.

The Inquiry, triggered by Louise Nicholas, made 60 recommendations for change, 47 for police,12 for the IPCA and 1 for government. .

The Office of the Auditor General has been reporting every few years on progress. The last of those reports will be this year.

National Rape Crisis spokeswoman Andrea Black told Morning Report progress has been made but there's still a long way to go in how sexual assault cases are handled.