I dont trust Yahoo,they cut off Austins powers and succumbed to mafiaboy
and the napoleonic code.
Still if you could pass this on to cryo baby eugene,I'd be grateful.TIA.
Subject: State filth
Legal fears stymie police
By John Silvester
March 17 2002
"I do not believe that police, acting in good faith, have been supported by
courts and the juries."
One of Victoria's most senior police officers said a dramatic increase in
civil litigation meant some police were increasingly uncomfortable
performing operational duties because of fears of being sued.
Retired Deputy Commissioner Neil O'Loughlin (pictured right) said a group
of lawyers had become parasites who saw the force as a "cash cow", and
continually searched for new ways to sue police.
He said millions of dollars that should be spent on street policing was now
being used to pay legal bills.
Since 1994, police have paid out $15 million in civil payments and $7
million in legal costs. There is now a backlog of 140 cases - the oldest
relating to an arrest in 1985.
The police department has budgeted to pay a minimum of $10 million on
pending actions. Increasingly police are settling cases rather than risking
big payouts and large legal bills.
"I do not believe that police, acting in good faith, have been supported by
courts and the juries," Mr O'Loughlin said. "We have made mistakes but we
have still been found liable when our actions have not been negligent."
Mr O'Loughlin, who retired on Friday after 41 years' service, said some law
firms had been touting for business, checking law lists for cases where
people have been charged with assaulting police and then contacting them
with the offer of a free legal consultation with the view of suing the force.
"We have had cases where people involved in unlawful demonstrations have
damaged property and when police have moved in they have ended up being
sued," he said.
He said in one case police were sued after a doctor filled out the wrong
form in certifying a mentally ill patient. The writ blamed police after
they did not take the man directly to the hospital.
"This sort of a thing is a nonsense. We are following the trends of the
American system."
Mr O'Loughlin said that when police won a case they often could not recover
their costs because the plaintiffs did not have the resources to pay. In
one recent action, police won their case but were left with $80,000 costs
because the plaintiff had no assets.
Mr O'Loughlin said some demonstrators went to protest meetings with a plan
to confront police and then sue. "Many of those who sue are not looking for
justice, only easy money," he said.
The chief executive of the Law Institute of Victoria, Ian Dunn, rejected Mr
O'Loughlin's claims.
"The law has not changed, it is just in the past police have not used
pressure-point tactics and would not strip search everyone in a nightclub,"
he said.
Police have been found liable in civil cases for using pressure holds
against demonstrators at the Richmond Secondary College and for
strip-searching patrons at the Tasty nightclub.
Mr Dunn said: "If police do not exceed their powers they are no more
vulnerable than they have ever been."
FROM http://theage.com.au/articles/2002/03/16/1015909912229.html
