THE Office of Police Integrity grilled Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon in a private hearing over her free Qantas trip and demanded she issue yesterday's embarrassing apology that she should not have accepted the flight.

Ms Nixon was officially summoned to a confidential OPI session on Thursday, where director Michael Strong made it clear to her that she had breached the police internal code of conduct on accepting gifts.

She was told that unless she apologised and agreed to make a repayment there would be a protracted investigation into the free flights fiasco — a controversy that would cloud her last few months in office.

The Age can reveal that the OPI began its investigation after it received a complaint from Qantas, which had provided the trip for Ms Nixon and her husband, John Becquet, a former executive with the airline.

Ms Nixon and Mr Becquet were guests with VIPs and media on the first flight of the airline's new A380 super jumbo from Melbourne to Los Angeles on October 20.

Four days later, Ms Nixon denied her position had led her to receive the offer, saying she had taken the flight to accompany her husband. "At no stage was this travel undertaken by me as part of my role as Chief Commissioner, nor was I representing Victoria Police," she said.

But Qantas told the OPI the offer was made to Ms Nixon because of her position as Chief Commissioner.

Qantas contacted the OPI after it received a series of complaints from former executives asking why they had not been offered the same flight.

Days after she defended her trip, Ms Nixon volunteered to pay for the flight at the discounted rate appropriate for former executives and spouses — about $3000.

But she has now agreed to repay a greater figure that will be negotiated with the airline. The money will then be donated to charity. The OPI and Ms Nixon negotiated the settlement deal and the exact nature of her public statement early yesterday, before the statement was released.

Ms Nixon announced on November 5 she would retire in March next year and would not seek a third contract. The Age believes she made the decision before she was called before the OPI.

While the initial invitation for the flight was made verbally to Mr Becquet, it was formalised in a letter to Ms Nixon addressed to her as Chief Commissioner at the Victoria Police Centre.

The junket included free accommodation at the Sofitel in Beverly Hills and private tours of galleries and museums.

On her return, Ms Nixon publicly stated she had told Police Minister Bob Cameron before she left for the trip that she was taking leave to accompany her husband on the flight.

Yesterday, Ms Nixon expressed regret over her actions and admitted she had made a mistake. "I have come to understand that Qantas regarded me as a guest in my own right, and not merely as the partner of my husband," she said.

"I should have given the offer more careful considering. I probably should have sought independent advice. At the time, I did not believe that my conduct contravened the Victoria Police Code of Conduct. As I now appreciate, my acceptance of the free travel was inadvisable. I accept that the free travel involved a gift of more than token value within the meaning of the code."

She admitted that her conduct had "not provided a good example for Victoria Police members to whom gifts and gratuities may be offered".

"I very much regret that this has occurred," she said. "I accept that there is an urgent need for Victoria Police police in this area to be clarified and, if necessary, strengthened. Victoria Police will work with the OPI and the State Services Authority to achieve this objective."

Qantas yesterday declined to comment. The Victoria Police is a major Qantas client.

Mr Strong said he was satisfied that Ms Nixon had publicly acknowledged that her acceptance of the free travel involved a gift "of more than token value" within the meaning of the force's Code of Conduct, which therefore contravened the guidelines.

"She has acknowledged a lack of judgment, for which she has given reasons," he said. "She has acknowledged that there is a need to clarify and, if necessary, strengthen policy in relation to gifts and gratuities offered to police members. OPI will work with Victoria Police to ensure that this occurs."

He said he was satisfied the complaint had been resolved in the public interest.

Police Association secretary designate Greg Davies said: "It's a sad day for the Victoria Police force when there's a cloud over the office of the chief commissioner.

"Clearly, the OPI has come up with evidence that has shown exactly what occurred and the chief commissioner has admitted what took place.

"This is the very reason the Police Association has continually called for a broad-based, anti-corruption commission."

When Ms Nixon resigned, Premier John Brumby said: "We couldn't have wanted for a better chief commissioner."

Police Minister Bob Cameron said yesterday the Brumby Government retained confidence in Ms Nixon.

Source: The Age 15.11.2008

Webmaster:  "The Police Union keeps calling for a broad based, anti-corruption commission but the call continues to fall of deaf ears."

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Penny drops too late to spare Nixon, Brumby humiliation

FINALLY, Christine Nixon gets it — she should never have taken up the Qantas offer of a free, luxury trip to Los Angeles.

The fact that the penny didn't drop earlier reveals a damning lack of judgement by the person Premier John Brumby described only last week as Victoria's best-ever chief commissioner.

That cap no longer fits.

Yes, she has many impressive achievements to point to, but Nixon finishes her eight-year term fingered by the Director of Police Integrity as having breached the Victoria Police code of conduct.

In her humiliating statement yesterday, Nixon conceded that by accepting Qantas' largesse, she had given a bad example to the force she leads.

This affair also reflects poorly on Brumby and his young Police Minister, Bob Cameron.

Brumby showed a lack of leadership. When Nixon's freebie was exposed, he backed her, rather than take the tough decision to make it clear that public office holders in Victoria are required to meet higher standards than this. Former Labor premier John Cain, former police commissioner Kel Glare and Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu all said Nixon had done the wrong thing. But not Brumby.

Cameron showed a lack of judgement. When Nixon told him of her plans, he wished her a happy holiday, rather than make the more difficult decision to advise her against accepting the gift.

But it is Nixon who emerges most tarnished.

She says that when Qantas first issued an oral invitation

to her and her husband on March 18, she believed "the offer was made because of my husband's past connection with the airline (he used to work for Qantas) and his interest in the A380".

But the alarm bells didn't seem to start ringing even when the offer was formalised in writing on September 17 in a letter addressed to Nixon as chief commissioner.

Only now does Nixon concede that the public office she holds influenced Qantas' decision to make the offer, "and also influenced aspects of the flight arrangements made thereafter".

In other words, only now does the chief commissioner see that she was a prize catch for a private company's promotional campaign.

After arriving in LA, she compounded her error of judgement by telling a reporter: "The plane was just magnificent."

On her return to Melbourne, she made things worse still by defiantly telling waiting reporters that she believed she had done nothing wrong. "I don't think I've compromised Victoria Police at all," she said. "I was very aware of what I was doing."

That was on October 23. It took until yesterday for Nixon to finally get it and fully recant. Too long. Way too long.

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Politics and the top cop 08.11.2008

BEING the Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police sounds like a terrible job. In the aftermath of Christine Nixon's announcement to step down as Victoria's top cop, her political masters have been full of praise, but her colleagues in crime fighting have been less complimentary. The upper echelons of the police force seem to be drenched in personal animosity and rivalry.

Some of Nixon's critics really deserve to be ignored. In the wake of her resignation, the Victorian Police Association chose to emphasise that the most important thing the next chief commissioner should possess is a birth certificate from Victoria. Fair enough — unions are paid to look after their members first. But they could at least pretend not to have naked self-interest as their only focus.

Nevertheless, in March Nixon will leave Victoria Police with a mixed record at best. High-profile corruption scandals, the gangland killings, internal police reforms, her approach to domestic violence and community-based policing strategies have dominated the discussion about her successes or otherwise. The Government's effusive praise of Nixon, however, ignores the increasing problems of basic law and order that have developed under her stewardship.

Yes, in aggregate, crime has gone down in recent years. Since 2001, when Nixon was appointed Chief Commissioner, the total crime rate has dropped by nearly 25%.

But the word "crime" is so broad as to be almost useless. If we look closely at the official police statistics, the Nixon legacy is much less impressive. Since 2002, crimes against the person — that is, homicide, rape, sex offences, assault and abduction — have jumped from fewer than 36,000 to nearly 43,000 incidents a year.

Instead of tackling this dramatic increase in violent crime, Victoria Police has been focusing on aggressive "blitzes" against utterly banal offences like jaywalking — that ridiculous crime committed by nearly everybody every day.

Show me someone who has never jaywalked and I'll show you someone who has never left the house. Sure, the police should try to enforce every crime on their books, but they should also be a bit sensible about it.

The State Government could quadruple the number of police on the streets and still not successfully eliminate the scourge of jaywalking.

Can they really justify deploying Victoria Police's limited resources on Swanston Street at 8am on Monday mornings when there is a violence problem on King Street at 4am every night?

Criticising the police force's periodic jaywalking crackdowns might seem petty, but it actually raises some important questions about the rule of law in Victoria. Jaywalking is the sort of crime that most police would ignore, except for those times when there is a "blitz". Enforcing one of the State Government's most ridiculous social regulations does little more than annoy otherwise entirely law-abiding pedestrians.

Victorian police are proud that there has been an increase in the rate at which crimes are being solved. But much of this is because of cultural changes that have encouraged individuals to report cases of domestic violence and rape that have historically gone under-reported.

It is, of course, wonderful that Victoria's thugs are being identified and caught after they assault someone. But from the victim's perspective, it would be better not to be assaulted at all — no amount of detective work will encourage bruises to heal quicker.

The vast majority of Nixon's highly publicised drop in overall crime rates is found in the category of crime against property — you are certainly less likely to be burgled or have your bike stolen than you were five years ago. But again, Victoria Police cannot really take too much credit for the increased use of bike locks, or the prevalence of storefront security guards, or for the increased popularity of home alarm systems.

If we look even closer at the crime statistics, the true state of Victorian crime becomes more worrying. Over recent years, crimes against the person have increasingly been seen in public, rather than private, locations — on public transport, in open spaces, on streets and sidewalks; the sorts of places that require regular patrolling.

It is these crime patterns that form the basis of the recent panic about violence in the city — a rare occasion in politics when there actually is fire where there is smoke. The 2am lockout may have been inept, ill-considered and unpopular, but it was actually trying to tackle a

genuine problem: there just

aren't enough police on the streets to prevent crime.

Unfortunately, Nixon has chosen to emphasise that the violence in the city has been "booze-fuelled" — a description that tries to shift the blame for the sharp increase in urban violence off the police and on

to Melbourne's bars and pubs. No matter what fuels violence, it still needs to be dealt with by the police on the street. Liquor licence changes will never be a substitute for more cops.

But since 2002, patrol hours have decreased by nearly one-quarter. The numbers of sworn operational staff have declined as a percentage of the total police force. It seems that much of the State Government's increase in police resources has been absorbed by administrative staff and bureaucrats. No wonder the Police Association, when it is being more sensible, has argued that Victoria's police force is understaffed by at least 3000 officers.

With a rising rate of assaults and urban violence, Christine Nixon's biggest legacy may

simply be making law and order a political issue once again.

Chris Berg is a research fellow with the Institute of Public Affairs and editor of the IPA Review.

Source: The Age  08.11.2008