Power and Persuasion
Police Unionism and Law Reform in Queensland
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1321816600001549Keywords:
Police unionism, management practice and law reform, political sphereAbstract
In Australia, the role of police unions has assumed a prominence in contemporary debates surrounding the legitimate role of police in today's society. There is a perception that police unions in particular exercise undue influence over the political process, management practice and law reform. These perceptions are invariably grounded in “orthodox” accounts of policing that are based in part on the assumption that the police force, as an institution, is part of the “natural order of things”, that is, that the role of police is simply to “enforce the law as laid down by Parliament and the courts on behalf of the community”. Contemporary studies of policing have begun to challenge these views. Their observations suggest that the police are not merely passive instruments of the state but are actively engaged in influencing the processes of police administration and law reform. This body of work however does not specifically address the issue of police organisation and its impact on these processes. If we are to resolve contemporary concerns regarding police participation in the political sphere, a more adequate account of police practices and the institutions within which these practices have evolved is required.
References
a Thompson, E.P., Writing by Candlelight, (London, 1980); See R.Reiner, The Politics of the Police, (1985, Sussex); R.Haldane, The People's Force, (Melbourne, 1986); S.Egger & Findlay, M “The Politics of Police Discretion” in M.Findlay & R.Hogg (eds) Understanding Crime and Criminal Justice, (1988, Sydney); S. James, “Police Unions and Police Powers — A Recent Australian Experience” Unpublished seminar paper (1989, Sydney); R.White & C.Richards “Police Unions and Police Powers”, Current Issues in Criminal Justice, Vo1.4, No.2, 1992, pp157–174; Commission of Inquiry into Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct, Report of a Commission of a Inquiry Pursuant to Orders in Council [Fitzgerald Inquiry], Brisbane, June 1989; Report on an Investigation into a Memorandum of Understanding between the Coalition and QPUE and an Investigation into an alleged deal between the ALP and the SSAA [Carruthers Inquiry], Criminal Justice Commission, Brisbane, 1997.
Reiner distinguishes between “orthodox” and “revisionist” accounts. A “revisionist” account of the role of the police denies the “naturalness” of policing and asserts that the police are merely instruments of the ruling class, “maintaining [their] dominance … against the interests and opposition of the various sections of the working class who constitute the majority of the population”. Reiner, Politics of the Police, p.10.
Sallman, P., “Perspective on the Police and Criminal Justice Debate”, in C.Chappell & P.Wilson (eds) The Australian CriminaL Justice System — the Mid–1980s, (1986, Sydney), p.201.
example, For, M.Finnane, “The Politics of Police Powers: The Making of Police,” in M.Finnane (ed) Policing in Australia: Historical Perspectives, (1987, Kensington), pp88–113; M.Finnane, Police and Government, Histories of Policing in Australia, (1994, Melbourne).
Some research has addressed these issues. See J.Fleming, “By Fair Means or Foul? The Impact of Police Unionism in Queensland 1915–1932”, Honours Thesis, (1991, Griffith University); J. Fleming, “Shifting the Emphasis: The Impact of Police Unionism in Queensland, 1915–1925”, Labour History, No.68, May 1995, pp98–114. For a more general account of police organisation in Australia see, B.Swanton, Protecting the Protectors, Australian Institute of Criminology, (1982, Canberra).
Swanton, , Protecting the Protectors … p.6.
Fleming, , “Shifting the Emphasis”, pp102–103.
ibid, pp102–105.
ibid, pp 109–113.
Fleming, , “Fair Means or Foul”, p.50.
However, , individual senior police officers did contribute in some measure to the introduction of the Peace Preservation Act in Queensland in 1894. See, J.Fleming, “In the Name of Peace, The Enactment of the Peace Preservation Act, 1894”, Royal Historical Society of Queensland, Vol.16, No.3. August 1996.
See correspondence and official recommendations in Queensland State Archives (QSA), Col/200. Also QSA; A/44815 Memo from Cahill to all Sub-Inspectors re: Police Offence Bill, 1911; Morality legislation, see: Items 08138, 10202, 08537.
Amendments to the Jury Act, 1923 were initially called for by the Innisfail branch of the QPU. Police in Innisfail believed that as a general rule, jurors were well acquainted with the defendant and therefore the case was invariably prejudiced. Their complaints led to the removal of the Circuit Court to Cairns. At the 1927 Police Conference, requests were again made to the government to amend the Jury Act, “with a view to seeing that the ends of Justice are secured”. QPUJ, November 1926, p.4; May 1927, p.39.
Queensland Police Union Executive Minutes (QUEM), 16th December 1925; Mar.22nd, 1926.
15, Vic, No.4 Vagrancy Act, 1851. Queensland Statutes.
QSA; Col/159, Item 1309, Vagrants, Gaming and other Offences, 1916–1930, Det-Sgt. Smith to Commissioner Ryan, 21st Jun. 1926.
QPUJ, May 1927, p.2.
QPUJ, May 1927, pp2–6.
Sec 2 of the Vagrant Act, 1851 did in fact ask that a person arrested for “having no visible means of support or insufficient lawful means [of support] … give a good account of his or her means of support to the satisfaction of such justice…”. The problem for the police, as pointed out in a CIB report to the Commissioner of Police in September 1927, was that if “an accused person has a small amount of money in his possession at the time of his arrest he cannot be convicted …”. It then becomes the responsibility of the police to prove that the accused is “living on the proceeds of thieving or prostitution”. QSA; Col/159, Police Correspondence.
QPUJ, May 1927, p.39.
QSA; Col/159, Item No. 29787. Report compiled by Detectives Driscoll and Sproull.
QSA; Col/159 Item No. 06921, 125M. Commissioner Ryan to Under-Secretary Gall, 14th Sept. 1927.
QSA, Col/159, Item No. 08417, Talty to Home Secretary, 1st May 1928.
QSA; Col/159 Commissioner's memos to Home Secretary forwarding QPU recommendations: 17th May, 1928; 15th Jul.1928; QSA; A/11974, Item No. 05404 Letter from Talty to QUEM, 28th Jul.1928. Home Secretary, 10th Jul.1928;
Costar, BJ, “Labour, Politics and Unemployment, Queensland during the Great Depression”, Ph.D Thesis, University of Queensland, 1981, p.p21–29.
Higgins, EM, “Queensland Labour: Trade Unions versus Premiers”, Historical Studies, Australia and New Zealand, Vol.9. No.34, May.pp.140–155.
Kennedy, KH, “William McCormack: Forgotten Labour Leader”, in DJ Murphy & RB Joyce (eds) Queensland Political Portraits, 1859–1952, (1978, St. Lucia), p.362.
Costar, , Labour, Politics and Unemployment, … p.6
In 1926, Queensland's unemployment rate stood at 8.4 per cent. Second only to Tasmania's 13.9 per cent. Official Year Book of the Commonwealth of Australia, No.21, 1928, p.389. These figures are based on trade union returns but serve to indicate the general trend of unemployment in this period.
Higgins, , “Queensland Labour…” p.155.
Moore himself had no ministerial experience and his Attorney-General, NF MacGroarty and his Minister for Mines, Ernest Atherton, had no political experience whatsoever. Only W. Barnes as Treasurer had Ministerial experience. Costar, “Labor, Politics …” p.48; C. Bernays, Our Seventh Political Decade, 1920–1930, (1930, Sydney), pp.60, 283.
QUEM, 27th May 1929. The new Home Secretary was J.C.Peterson who had defected from the Labor Party in 1921.
Costar, B., “Controlling the Victims: The Authorities and the Unemployed in Queensland during the Great Depression”, Labour History, No.56, May 1980, p.1.
Cribb, MB, Ideological Conflict: The 1927 and 1948 Strikes” in Murphy, DJ et al. , (eds) Labor in Power, 1925 – 1957, (St. Lucia, 1980), pp382–396; KH Kennedy, “The Anti-Communist Pledge Crisis” in DJ Murphy et al, (eds) Labor in Power, 1925 – 1957, (St. Lucia, 1980), pp.369–381.
Within six months of taking office, the CNP had passed The Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act (1929). The legislation abolished preference to unionists, ended compulsory unionism and allowed the government to remove employees from the jurisdiction of the Court. Further under the new legislation, the government could exclude, at its discretion, any category of workers from the provisions of the Act, provoking a member of the Australian Workers' Union to remark that the Act was “one of the most reactionary measures that ha[d] ever been introduced into any parliament in Australia”. Costar, “Politics and Unemployment”, pp.52–54.
Costar, , “Controlling the Victims” pp.12–13.
example, For, see personal letter from Moore to Ryan, 23rd Jun.1932. Cited in QSA File, A/4153, Ryan's Personnel File. Queensland Police Museum.
QPUJ, Dec.1929, p.28.
Courier, Brisbane, 21st Apr. 1930. In NSW, the Inspector-General had advised the Bavin government “to incorporate the consorting provisions already enacted in New Zealand and Western Australia, so that any person who habitually consorted with reputed thieves or prostitutes would be deemed idle or disorderly”. In September 1929 the government introduced the Vagrancy (Amendment) Bill. The rationale for the Bill was, as put by the Colonial Secretary, “to give the police powers that they have sought for some considerable time, to deal with street solicitation and persons who consort with criminals”. K. Seggie, “Aspects of the role of the Police Force in New South Wales and its relation to the Government, 1900–1939”, Ph.D Thesis, Macquarie University, 1989. In reality as McCoy has shown, the legislation with its “draconian Consorting Clause” was primarily introduced to counteract razor-gang violence and drug trafficking. AW McCoy, Drug Traffic: Narcotics and Organised Crime in Australia, (Sydney, 1980), p.107.
The Official Year Book of the Commonwealth of Australia details state crime statistics for the period 1926–1930. No.25 1932.
Police Commissioner's Annual Reports to Parliament; Queensland Parliamentary Papers, (QPP) 1926–1932.
QSA; Col/159; A/44815, Vagrants and Gaming Act, 1908–1932. Both files contain numerous newspaper reports that highlight unemployment and rising crime rates throughout 1930 and 1931, Brisbane Courier, 2nd Jul. 1930.
Brisbane Courier 3rd Ju1.1930.
The Telegraph newspaper reported Peterson's (Home Secretary) visit to NSW, “for the purpose of observing the good results of the Consorting Act”. On his return, Peterson told the Truth newspaper: “It is my intention to introduce an Act on similar lines to that of NSW, arming the police with powers to cope with the inevitable influx of undesirables … We in this state are realising of late that much of our crime is perpetuated by the Southern dregs of “crookdom” driven here by the NSW Statute and we are left without legislation to deal with them.” Truth, 7th Dec. 1930. Cited in QSA; A/44815.
The absence of law books had been on the agenda of every Police Union Conference since the formation of the QPU.
Police Commissioner's Annual Reports to Parliament, Criminal Statistics and CIB data, 1925–1930.
QUEM 1927: 27th May; 22nd Jul; 29th Aug; 12th Dec; 1928: 11th Feb; 12th Mar; 9th May; 22nd Hun; 3rd Jul: 25th Jul; 1929: 9th Aug; 26th Nov.
While the union's concerns appear to have had some validity, the number of dismissals in relation to the number of persons “brought before the court” was relatively small. See corresponding figures in Police Commissioner's Annual Reports to Parliament 1925–1930.
QPUJ, Jul. 1928, p.18. See pages 19–21 for detailed examples of these cases.
QUEM 30th May 1927; 12th Mar.1928; 27th May 1929; 1st Jul.1929;11th Dec.1929. QPUJ, May 1927, p.52; QPUJ, May 1927; p.38.
QUEM, 4th Jul.1929; QPUJ Nov. 1929, p.12.
QPUJ, Dec.1929, p.13.
QUEM, 4th Jul.1929.
Branches in Cairns, Cloncurry and Innisfail were particularly vocal in this respect.
QSA; Col/159. See particularly Item No. 14038, 161X, Licensing Officer's Office, Brisbane to Inspector Meldon, Roma Street.
J.O'Hara, , A Mug's Game, (1988, Kensington), pp.111–118; P.Grabosky, Sydney in Ferment, Crime, Dissent and Official Reaction, (1977, Canberra), pp.118–124.
Commissioner's Annual Reports to Parliament, QPP, 1930.
Commissioner's Annual Reports to Parliament, QPP, 1931.
QSA; Col/159.
QSA; Col/159.
QUEM, 18th Feb.1931.
Queensland Parliamentary Debates, (QPD), Vol. CLIX, 1931, p.668.
ibid, p.961.
QPD, Vol.CLX pp.1502–1504.
ibid, pp1887ff.
The Opposition was referring to a series of wage cuts implemented by the Moore government through the Arbitration Court from August 1930 to May 1931. See Costar, “Labour, Politics and Unemployment”, p.55.
QPD, Vol.CLX, p.1434.
ibid, pp.1742–1751.
ibid, p.1417. The Opposition particularly objected to the powers extended to police to intervene at political “public meetings”.
ibid, pp.1423–1788
ibid, p.1901.
ibid, pp.1901–1904; 22 GEO V No.27 Vagrants, Gaming and Other Offences Act, 1931, S.44.
ibid, pp.1909–1910; 22 GEO V No.27 Vagrants, Gaming and Other Offences Act, 1931, S.58(1), (2).
The Opposition's request for an amendment to this clause was agreed to: “ … if such person .. is found not guilty … any fingerprints or photographs taken in pursuance of the provisions of this section shall be destroyed in the presence of the said person so concerned”. 22 GEO V No.27 Vagrants, Gaming and Other Offences Act, 1931, S.43.
22 GEO V No.27 Vagrants, Gaming and Other Offences Act, 1931 passed through parliament on 10th Dec. 1931.
Fleming, , “By Fair Means or Foul”, p.66.
See amendments to Vagrants, Gaming and other Offences Act, 1933 (24 Geo. V. No.28); 1938 (2 Geo. VI. No.18) and Part V of The Racecourses Acts and other Acts Amendment Act of 1936, 1 Edw. V111. No.24.
QPUJ, Mar. Apr.1932; QPUJ, May 1932, p.32.
