Improper statement-taking practices by Victoria Police identified during the hearings:
- Omitting a witness’ description of an offender.
- Omitting information which is contradicted by other evidence or is
otherwise perceived by police to be unreliable. - Speaking to witnesses to ‘fix up inconsistencies’ in the evidence,
and not disclosing that intervention. - Taking a replacement statement instead of a supplementary one.
- Signing a back-dated statement.
- Signing an acknowledgement in the absence of the statement
maker. - Making supposed ‘contemporaneous’ notes well after the fact.
- Failing to disclose information which may assist the defence.
