Despite the extraordinary circumstances of a criminal defence barrister becoming a human source against the very people she represented, neither the SDU officers who registered her, nor their superior officers, sought legal advice as part of the registration process.
The absence of such advice in the face of serious and obvious risks became a recurrent theme in Victoria Police’s management of Ms Gobbo.
A compelling explanation is that Victoria Police did not want to be told they could not use Ms Gobbo in the ways they intended. While Victoria Police’s use of Ms Gobbo as a human source occurred many years ago, the systemic repercussions are still being felt.
Court proceedings, and the various inquiries established to examine the events, have cost many millions of public dollars.
Public confidence in police has been undermined. Given the systemic failures identified by the commission, it is critical that Victoria Police assures the Victorian government and community that it has taken and will continue to take steps to prevent past mistakes being repeated, including in its response to the Commission’s recommendations.
It is encouraging that the chief commissioner of Victoria Police has commented publicly that the organisation will heed the commission’s recommendations and take whatever steps necessary
to learn from its mistakes.
