Police failure to act on information re Carl Williams murder

FORMER Victoria Police chief Simon Overland is at the centre of an extraordinary failure by the force to act on crucial information about the murder in custody of gangland boss Carl Williams.

Victorian Ombudsman George Brouwer has ordered a review of the force’s record-keeping and management of intelligence information after Mr Overland was warned by an interstate integrity body about alleged links between the murder and a potentially corrupt association between public-sector officers and a criminal identity.

Read more: The Australian, October 10, 2012

Extracts from the report:

Poor record keeping practices

42. Accountability requires that government agencies are able to demonstrate and justify their decision-making. In this regard, the failure of an agency to maintain adequate records compromises the agency’s functions, undermines its credibility and impacts negatively on the public’s perception of it.

43. My investigation identified major deficiencies in the record keeping practices of Victoria Police in relation to the management of this significant intelligence information.

44. I consider that the failure of Victoria Police to keep basic records about the actions taken in response to intelligence information received from the head of an interstate integrity body, detailing serious corruption allegations, is an indictment on its record keeping practices.

Read the full report. Investigation into an alleged corrupt association October 2012