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Comment by skissane | Hacker News Reader

The state of New South Wales, Australia, has an independent "Law Enforcement Conduct Commission" whose explicit job is to investigate law enforcement misconduct (across all major state law enforcement agencies), and to refer cases to prosecutors. Some other Australian states have similar agencies. There is also a federal equivalent, the "Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity", although it does not appear to have been as effective as its state-based equivalents in uncovering law enforcement misconduct.

Maybe the US could copy the idea?

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NSW also employed the Fixated Persons Unit (a terrorist task force) to arrest a journalist who was critical of John "Pork" Barilaro. So far, there's been no word from the "Law Enforcement Conduct Commission" on whether the arrest was lawful (hint: it wasn't) and nobody has been punished for it (yet - there is the defamation case on-going but the terrorist task force isn't involved in it)

For those interested, they captured footage of the arrest itself.

This is obviously only one side, but here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXtq4a8829g

> NSW also employed the Fixated Persons Unit (a terrorist task force) to arrest a journalist who was critical of John "Pork" Barilaro

A guy who worked for a YouTube comedian as a producer, and who allegedly was following a politician to public events and harassing him there, was arrested and charged with stalking. The "Fixated Persons Unit" has a broader mandate than purely terrorism offences, its mandate also extends to stalking and harassment of a "public office holder or internationally protected person, or other person/s nominated by the commissioner of police"

> So far, there's been no word from the "Law Enforcement Conduct Commission" on whether the arrest was lawful (hint: it wasn't)

LECC is unlikely to investigate an arrest while there is a pending criminal prosecution. For them to do so might be seen as interfering with the Court process.

I don't know if the arrest was legal or not. But the police unit which carried out the arrest is irrelevant to the question of its legality.

Heh. Victoria has the IBAC: https://www.ibac.vic.gov.au

They don't allow anonymous whistleblowing though, and all Tor traffic is blocked too.

It's all pretty much in line with "We say we're fighting corruption, but in reality Hell No... we have things in place to ensure it can't be stopped".

> They don't allow anonymous whistleblowing though

Their website [0] says: "Complaints can be anonymous", "You can provide information anonymously"

> and all Tor traffic is blocked too

They also accept complaints by email, snail mail, and fax. One could use an anonymous emailer to contact them (Mixmaster, Mixminion, etc) over email.

> It's all pretty much in line with "We say we're fighting corruption, but in reality Hell No... we have things in place to ensure it can't be stopped".

I think it is more likely that the blocking Tor is most likely caused by the thoughtless cookie-cutter implementation of government cybersecurity "best practices", combined with a generous helping of technological cluelessness, as opposed to any nefarious motive. Hanlon's razor is apposite.

[0] https://www.ibac.vic.gov.au/reporting-corruption/report

> Their website [0] says: "Complaints can be anonymous", "You can provide information anonymously"

They say this, but the actual anonymity is based on them actually knowing who you are (after some back and forth)... then not disclosing it.

That's not really being anonymous, just a make believe fantasy version.

Good luck with that!

Look at their PDF complaint form [0] – saying who you are is optional. First question is whether you want to be anonymous, and if you answer "Yes", it tells you to skip all the questions about who you are.

Their complaint form doesn't support your claims about them.

[0] https://www.ibac.vic.gov.au/docs/default-source/complaint-fo...

Again, did you miss the "(after some back and forth)" piece in my previous comment.

If you're in any way unsure, then go and try it. After a while, you'll find out you're not anonymous, and are relying on them to provide anonymity. eg it's a fantasy

> Again, did you miss the "(after some back and forth)" piece in my previous comment.

I didn't miss it. How can there be any "back and forth" if you fill out the form anonymously? They can't contact you for back and forth because you aren't giving them any contact details for that.

If you print the PDF form out and snail mail it, they can't find out who you are, unless they engage in some kind of forensic investigation (tracing the printer, DNA testing, etc). Or you could fill it out electronically and email it to them using an anonymous remailer.

> If you're in any way unsure, then go and try it. After a while, you'll find out you're not anonymous, and are relying on them to provide anonymity. eg it's a fantasy

Did you try?

But whose job is it to investigate misconduct by these Comissions?

In the case of the NSW Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC), its conduct is inspected by a separate agency known as the Office of the Inspector of the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (OILECC). And OILECC's conduct, in turn, is reviewable by the NSW Ombudsman. And all three (LECC, OILECC and the Ombudsman) are overseen by a parliamentary committee.

and how's that working out for these unfortunate folks?

Who are "these unfortunate folks"? Kristo Langker?

As I said above, LECC isn't going to investigate the arrest of Langker while Langker's criminal prosecution is pending. In the event that Langker is acquitted or the prosecution otherwise discontinued, it is possible then that LECC will investigate. We can't judge LECC based on this episode because legally it is too early for it to be involved.

no, you said it was "unlikely"

all this aside, how about some sympathy for innocents caught up in this unconstitutional dragnet? does the 4th amendment even exist anymore once the feds get involved?

What are we talking about here? The article about the FBI seizing $900K from a safe deposit box? Or Australian police arresting the producer of a YouTube comedian? I said, with respect to the second, that LECC was unlikely to investigate while the criminal case was still pending. That has absolutely nothing to do with "the 4th amendment" – the US constitution does not apply in Australia.

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