Police clearance required

your child is never safe and should be always safeguarded as there are thousands of predators still not caught and without criminal records and they range in all walks of life from Magistrates, politicians, clergy, blue collar workers, you never know who is safe. Trust what I say I deal with these type of people regularly.

I gather that you are against the police check seeing that you put the responsibility back on the parents. I would doubt that the police check would take any responsibity from them anyway.

However, do you agree with or don't agree with the idea of police checks?

Phil

And then there are the parks where gangs of mid teenagers roam all hours of the night as I experienced recently on the central qld coast.

In a holiday or caravan Park I think its rediculous and I dont agree because it proves absolutely nothing except that they havent come to police attention "YET"
I feel caravan parks advertising police clearances could have some parents lured into false senses of security and children being our most precious things in our lives need to be protected at all times and there is no room for complacency.
A police check is nothing more than an appeasment and you might as well just ask people at the door "are you a predator" because with or without one I dont feel its going to make a difference they come from all walks of life and you never know who they are often the least suspect.
It s not about putting responsibility back on to parents, that very statement infers that a police check would alleviate some of that. Parents have a responsibility at all times and should never leave it to anyone else to deminish that responsibility let alone a piece of paper.
I'm sorry if my comments offend but as I said I know firsst hand how devious and calculating these animals are and how there are many and only a small few are tagged so never be complacent especially because of some piece of paper.

Too true re the parents responsibility. Like the one who drives over their own child. Tantamount to murder. I never excuse them.

But about the checks. It may be worthwhile even to just keep the ones we know out. We had a couple of kids pop into our tent once. They didn't know us. We could have been anyone. Not a parent in sight.

Phil

I think you'll find that the vast majority of children are abused by someone they know. Generally those people do not have a criminal record. The screening of people who enter the park will do little to reduce such abuse.

Blam.

So many creeps exist among us just waiting for their ideal opportunity. They may only offend once, but that one time will be enough to ruin someone's life forever.

mmmmmmmmmmmm that should be "lives" and not "livers" - although too many laws could result in a bad bile taste in one's mouth.

The "20 year old" kid straight out the academy is 20 by virtue of his birth date and nothing else, I don't see the age aspect as having anything to do with his right to carry out his job. If he was 40 and searched your car, would that be better?
If this 20 year old turned up and saved a loved a one from serious harm or injury, would you consider his age to have any relevancy at all?

And, if you think a copper who pulls you over automatically know's you have 32 years in the military and deserve a bit more respect than others then I don't know what to say about that one.

These types of comments about Police officer's are outright ignorant. You show none of the common sense and respect for society that a mature, well rounded, ex military officer might. Policing isn't too far removed from being a soldier from time to time and I for one would think they share some type of common purpose.

If you judge police purely on the rare and odd contact most of us have being a roadside stop for a minor infringement etc...open your eyes to what's going on the world mate.

Only the bad people need to be concerned about the powers of Police and other agencies. For the rest of us, they are just a an inconvenience from time to time that keeps this great country from turning to crap.

Gday,
I must be one of those bad people you talk about I guess then, as Im a bit concerned about some of the powers of Police and other agencies and some of the laws we are supposedto try and abide by.
I got a speeding fine the other day when I accidently crept over the speed limit by 8kmh while trying to merge into traffic.

Cheers

I could've written war and peace for you Andrew(WA) but with those outstanding skills you show for reading between the lines have just convinced me that I didn't need to.....but....what utter crap....give the police in society too much power and we are no better than extremist regimes in other parts and this great country will suffer. I've seen the results of excessive police powers in other countries and frankly I don't like it. That doesn't make me a bad or less well rounded person just a little wiser and pragmatic then some who would give their freedom up too easily. What absolute rubbish it is to say that "only bad people" need to fear excessive police powers it is something that we should all be afraid of and such powers will result in the country turning crap IMHO/

You were talking about Police powers in Australia with particular reference to age, now you're comparing them to other countries. I wasn't.

My "outstanding skills" used to provide a reply to your comments, from the other side of the fence, were based on what you said, (read your thread again) and now your making the terms a bit broader to justify the comments.

If it gives you any comfort, Police are not the final say in this country, it's the courts..that's the big difference between us I guess the countries you refer to as a police state, and I agree, no of us want that but you weren't talking about other countries in the initial thread. Further, there are numerous avenues of recourse you can take if you have a complaint..plus, all states have independent watchdogs over the coppers as far as I know..

And you go on to say other things that only a minder reader might knowing before you telling them...a statement with no broader explanation. Ok, war and peace might have made it clearer but my comment is a response to yours.

So as a matter of interest, What powers to you think the Police currently have that they shouldn't, or don't need in today's society? And how do those powers affect your freedom specifically?

Bare in mind, those very powers that affect you, also affect the coppers, so they are no different nor immune in-fact their day to day business is one of the most highly audited and accountable occupations.

Patrol22-your absolutely 100% right.
Its great in principal giving Police and Judiciary greater and more arbitrary powers such as proceeds of crime confiscation and mandatory jail for "assaulting" a police officer-
BUT-it ALWAYS gets abused eventually-proceeds of crime laws used to punish people they cannot convict, in WA within a week of the mandatory jail for police assault coming there was 2 mentally ill people charged.
Stop and Search rules in WA. It wont take long til an a-hole cop uses it to punish someone cos he doesnt like them for some reason.

All of these things are against our legal principals of "innocent til proven guilty" and "a hundred guilty people should go free before one innocent person is punished".

Look at the family last year here that were having a family dinner out in Perth that ended with a son tasered and father a broken arm and all arrested for assault. The police were adamant they were guilty right up to the court date when security footage appeared showing they had absolutely NOTHING to do with the fracas.

Police have a difficult job and plenty of kudos to them-but they have sufficient powers to deal with pretty well all situations now.

I would like to know how this ended up to be a 'police-bashing' thread when it initially raised the idea some caravan park required a police check? That's the authority responsible for the caravan park, not the police, requiring that.

And of course police checks will only reveal those caught and convicted of relevant offences, if the operator of the park deems that to be necessary and sufficient, so be it. Stay somewhere else if you don't like it. Of course, it they want to be extra careful they might start requiring all prospective users to have psych evaluations, make sure they don't smell, know how to park their van, not swear loudly, not steal from others, don't watch their damn television at full volume just because they've lost their hearing and those around them have not.... the list could go on..

Generally speaking, police like everyone else have a job to do. If people are worried about their society being more and more policed, well that is not the police's fault, it is our representatives, the government, pushing more and more responsibility onto the police because other things aren't working. Seems to be the default response, here in Victoria anyway, let the police deal with it.....

Chad-hence the purpose of a follow-up. Its a response to a specific post rather than the thread.
"police bashing"???

Yeah fair enough I suppose, guess I was reading the thread as a whole rather than multiple conversations that followed.

Following this initial follow up, I suppose I should have discussed the taste of liver then.

haha-touche!

Lady i was seeing lost her property bought with inheritence money when her mum died after her husband got busted (she never said what for) - she had no knowledge of what he was up to and the property certainly was no proceed of crime
- thats what happens

Exactly folks....I wasn't 'police bashing' per se but just pointing out that we cannot and should not give police too many powers.....remember that "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely".
For what it is worth I don't have a problem with the vast majority of coppers.....they do their jobs magnificently....but like in every profession there are those who abuse their position and that is why we must be careful in giving police unbridled powers. Oh and I fully understand the courts play but bottom line here is you have to have money and lots of it to effectively the utilise the courts.

Everyone says that, they all end up in court. Haven't heard of any being found dead in the gutter yet.

I was thinking along the same lines as you Bob.
Most of the people on this site would actually have a limited observation of the types of people who frequent caravan parks.
Don't take that as an insult folks. It is just that like minded people do like minded things & tourists usually end up near tourists.
In the last 25 years of entering caravan parks in my occupation & not as a tourist, I can honestly assure you they can attract more than their fair amount of the lowest scum in town.
It is almost the bottom of the barrel when you become a permanent in a caravan park by force & not by choice. The next step down from there is a torn blue tarp & a smelly damp mattress along the edge of the mangroves.
If you do not believe me it is probably because you have not seen.

Landy,

I tried to locate the article online to copy here but I'm not clever enough.

The requirement isn't for staff, it is for "long-term residents", so that "the Shire can ensure, as far as practicable, both new and existing tenants are of good character and therefore the excellent reputation of the park and it's residents can be maintained."

Paul

Thanks, no problem. I trid to find it yesterday and came across an ad for an assistant manager atg the caravan park.

Cheers.