Page 830 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 13 March 1991
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Mr Duby: How do you know that it is written in plain Serbian?
MR CONNOLLY: For those who speak Serbian I am sure there is plain Serbian and bureaucratic Serbian. These little documents, in the range of community languages, are basically held in police vehicles and, when a crime is first reported and the police first attend, the victim is given a copy. Perhaps one of the most important parts of this document is at the back where a police contact officer is identified. It says, "Your police contact number", and "Please keep this information. It will enable you to make direct contact with the police handling the matter. For any inquiry please contact ...", and there is provision for a telephone number and a report number and an officer is identified.
There is a real problem at the moment. The police, as a matter of routine, are not required to report back to the victim, and if the victim tries to find out what has been happening in a prosecution it is often difficult. The police operational arrangements are directed to law enforcement and crime detection. Matters are passed up and down the force into different areas, and it can often be very difficult for a victim to find out who the officer dealing with their problem now is and what is going on.
This very simple method that is being employed in South Australia is basically to put the onus on an individual police officer to be a contact or case officer for an individual victim, and be always a point of contact, so that the victim has a police officer that they contact and that police officer then chases up any information. The result of a comprehensive survey done in South Australia last year on the effectiveness of the victim program - because it has been in force now for some years in South Australia - was that the community was very satisfied with that.
From speaking to people involved in the program and police in South Australia, I understand that it has the added benefit that over time the individual who has been the victim of a crime comes to know police officer Brown or Smith as an individual, and this is a very effective program of community policing, which is the goal of the Australian Federal Police. This program would be very helpful because it personalises the contact between an individual officer and a member of the community. So, that is something that could be done very simply.
The declaration then provides that the person has a right to:
be advised of the charges laid against the accused and of any modifications to the charges in question;
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