OZ police in racist and pornographic email probe

ABOUT 100 Australian police are being investigated for circulating racist and pornographic emails via the internal police email system, and one officer involved in the scandal has committed suicide, a top official said yesterday.

The investigation in Victoria state follows a citizens’ group report last week that police in Melbourne targeted, taunted and beat African teens, accusing the department of having a “culture of racism”.

Police chief commissioner Simon Overland acknowledged at the time that some officers were racist but said they were a small minority, and in announcing the email probe yesterday he noted the material involved offensive themes, including pornographic and sexist material. The officer who committed suicide was not responsible for racist material, Overland said.

Overland said none of the content was illegal but that all of it was offensive and in breach of department policy.

“It’s a mix of racist and pornographic and otherwise offensive material,” he told reporters. “There are varying degrees of involvement and varying degrees of seriousness.”

The Age newspaper reported that the investigation centred on a image of a non-Caucasian man being tortured.

Two officers received a Section 68 – notice that the commissioner has lost confidence in the officers and giving them a chance to explain why they should not be dismissed – for introducing the material into the police system.

The other officers are being questioned for further circulating the emails, sometimes adding inappropriate comments of their own.

“It’s extremely disappointing that people would behave in this way,” Overland said. “They’ve let us down and they’ve let themselves down and we’ll have to deal with it.”

Overland confirmed that a police officer who committed suicide this week was one of two given the Section 68.