Armed Offenders Squad (Victoria)
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The Armed Offenders Squad was a unit of Victoria Police in Australia tasked with investigating non-fatal violent crimes. Subject to frequent complaints of police brutality, the squad was disbanded in 2006 following an investigation by the Victorian Office of Police Integrity.
The predecessor of the Armed Offenders Squad was the Armed Robbery Squad, a unit regularly accused of excessive force and violence. The 1979 Beach Inquiry found that the Armed Robbery Squad had committed "abuses... so grave as to warrant the most prompt institution of safeguarding reforms.".[1] In 1999 the Armed Robbery Squad, the Special Response Squad, and the Prison Squad were amalgamated to form the Armed Offenders Squad. At the time of its dissolution in 2006, the Squad was made up of 35 detectives.[2]
Internal culture
The Armed Offenders Squad had their self-created logo of two golden revolvers with the barrels crossed. When the Squad would submit printed evidence to the Victorian Prosecutor, they superimposed the golden-revolver logo on top of the official Victoria Police badge symbol in contravention of Victorian Police regulations.[1] All Squad members, including the squad's sole female member, adopted a uniform of black suits, white shirts, dark sunglasses and a team-issue black tie featuring the logo. The uniform was based on the clothes worn by the jewel-thieves in the film Reservoir Dogs.[1]
Understaffing meant that the Armed Offenders Squad rarely had a permanent supervisor, operating instead under a succession of acting managers and short-term appointees. The Office of Police Integrity's investigation found that "informal Squad culture ... gained such strength and impenetrability that the chain of command was effectively reversed, to the point where some Squad members considered themselves immune from managerial accountability or authority." When, in 2003, a newly appointed Inspector drew up a comprehensive and detailed action plan to improve the day-to-day operations of the squad, his proposals were ignored until he was transferred out, at which point they were permanently shelved. When interviewed by the Office of Police Integrity, a former Squad manager said: "I’d rather see someone out getting complaints for working... You’re going to accumulate complaints if you work... sure you won’t get any if you just sit around and do nothing."[1]
The Office of Police Integrity found that the Armed Offenders Squad were "contemptuous of the law", "divisive, insular, and exclusionary", and possessed an attitude of "elitist superiority within Victoria Police". Covert surveillance revealed that some members still identified with the disbanded Armed Robbery Squad, with Detective Mark Butterfield saying to a suspect "Welcome to the Armed Robbery Squad" before assaulting him.[1]
Armed Offenders Squad detective Graeme Head crashed his car in Mentone in 2001 after a night of drinking with Squad colleagues. When police arrived and attempted to give him a breathalyser test, Head fled the scene twice and was finally captured with the aid of police dogs. Tests revealed that his blood alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit. When Head was found guilty of drink driving offences two years after the crash, Assistant Commissioner Simon Overland said "a lot has changed in two years" and that the Squad had been reformed since Head's crash.[3]
In October 2005, Detective Inspector Bernie Rankin was appointed to head the Squad. Rankin, former head of the homicide squad and investigator of the Russell Street Bombing, was specifically tasked with reducing the number of complaints the squad was generating. On his appointment, Rankin held a meeting with the Squad members, telling them that their performance had to improve, and that the Inspector had to be notified when prisoners arrived for interrogation. He also warned them that video equipment would be installed in the interview rooms, although this was not arranged for more than two years. Briefings were moved from the informal setting of the Squad kitchen to a new operations room, and new administrative procedures were introduced to make sure that management was informed of the activities of the officers. After this period, there were fewer complaints made against the squad.[1]
Investigation
In July 2005, George Brouwer, the OPI's director, received a letter from a man claiming he had been punched, kicked, elbowed, thrown down a flight of stairs, choked unconscious, and strangled with a plastic bag over his head by three detectives from the Armed Offenders Squad.[4] Later that year the OPI began an investigation into the Squad, codenamed "Operation Air". An initial statistical analysis of complaints indicated an unusually high rate of allegations of violence against the AOS compared to similar squads. Investigators placed covert electronic surveillance equipment in the Armed Offenders Squad's interrogation room at the St Kilda Road Police Station.[1]