Rant 1 - Trifecta

Rant 2 - Security Contractor

Rant 3 - City Centre Manager

Rant 4 - Restricted Access To Council

Rant 1

When someone gets a trifecta, you would usually think they just won some money at the track betting on the result of first, second and third. If they get a quinella, you would be safe in thinking they picked first and second. Sadly, the NSW Police do not seem to be aware of this type of trifecta or quinella.

If you hear someone say I just got ‘The Trifecta’ after coming out of a police station, it usually means they were just charged with three offences. Although there may be some variation, the most common trifecta involves charges of offensive language, resisting arrest and assaulting police.

‘The Quinella’ in this situation is a better result than those at the track where you would usually win less money than getting a trifecta. Such a quinella is better because it only involves two instead of three charges. I will focus on ‘The Trifecta’.

A closer look at ‘The Trifecta’ reveals the use of a minor charge in every situation. The minor charge seems to be an attempt to justify the action of police to approach and arrest a person. Once the approach has been justified, the further charges seem to follow.

Even though a common response, resisting arrest can be something as minor as flinching when being grabbed unexpectedly. It can also be far more active. Assaulting police can also be as minor as trying to wave their arm off by pushing it or it can be very aggressive involving considerable violence. In relation to ‘The Trifecta’, either of these actions is usually extremely minor without any evidence of injury to police. It would be nice to be able to also say that a lack of evidence of injury to the accused was also common but my experience shows that there is often injury caused as the arrest is made. Wrist and arm locks or tight fitting handcuffs are often the preferred causes of injury to the accused.

Another feature of ‘The Trifecta’ is that there is usually a shortage of independent witnesses, if any exist at all. There are usually two or more police officers giving evidence against the accused with remarkably similar statements of events even though they are usually written months after the alleged offences occurred. There is most often also a complete lack of any recorded audio or video evidence of what transpired.

Here in lies a big problem with such practices as ‘The Trifecta’. Police officers will support each other similar to how a football team supports each of their players. Even though ‘The Trifecta’ is so well known, Local Courts have a tendency to accept the word of a police officer especially when supported by other police officers. A police officer is not issued ‘honesty’ upon graduating from the police academy and they are subject to human nature and peer group pressure like the rest of us. It is admirable that they support each other so solidly but it becomes a major problem when their actions adversely affect the lives of innocent parties.

The use of a minor charge presents some problems in itself for police when they find themselves being challenged in Court. The higher courts have repeatedly made it very clear that arrest for minor offences should only be used as a last resort. This is also reflected very clearly in the NSW Police Force Handbook. Neither the directions of the Court or the procedures outlined in the NSW Police Force Handbook are reflected in day to day life as they should be.

The reason behind the proposition that arrest in such situations should be used as a last resort is for the simple fact that a minor offence may result in the addition of additional offences. This is not justice particularly when someone is heavily intoxicated or they respond unexpectedly as a result of fear when placed in an unfamiliar and possibly frightening situation such as being arrested. A penalty notice could be used and the situation would be resolved without all the unnecessary drama associated with arrest.

The traditional trifecta is changing and many variations are now being seen. Regardless of the changing nature of ‘The Trifecta’, a minor charge as justification for the initial action by police will be common to all.

There are various references to the use of ‘The Trifecta’ throughout the legal community. Two notable references include the Supreme Court of NSW which addressed some of these problems in the case of DPP v Carr [2002]. The Australian Human Rights Commission addresses ‘The Trifecta’ in relation to the significant number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people imprisoned as a result of its use in one of their reports titled Indigenous Deaths In Custody 1989 - 1996. Links to both these items will be provided on the Big Rob’s Facebook page and the Big Rob’s website.

A link will also be provided to the NSW Police Force Handbook. This Handbook makes for a great read particularly for anyone who has had dealings with police and they would like to see if they were dealt with according to policy.

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Rant 2

Lismore City Council is a strange council. They seem to be more concerned with protecting their jobs than they are with serving the community. It is unclear if this extends to Councillors looking to be re-elected but it is certainly evident in the higher ranks of Council. No-one seems to want to accept responsibility for a problem and then fix the problem regardless of how difficult the solution may be.

One interesting example involves the Lismore City Council security contractor. There have been various issues in recent years involving this contractor yet they are still the current security contractor.

My involvement with the security contractor and their staff was very minor until an incident I did not like occurred in the street. One of the large male security officers was handling a petite female very aggressively. She had been involved in an altercation with another female but her actions did not warrant how she was being handled. I asked the security officer to ease up and he became more aggressive towards her and also very aggressive towards me. He threw her down on the ground and placed his knees and all his weight on her back and neck. He then held a baton torch in a very aggressive manner directed at me while also abusing me after releasing the female.

Since the security contractor seemingly did not want to deal with the matter, I decided to escalate the matter to Lismore City Council. I also decided to make some enquiries. These enquiries revealed some interesting points.

Lismore City Council was seemingly in breach of the Local Government Act for failing to call for tenders for contracts which had expired. One of these expired contracts was the security contract. A link to a story appearing in the Northern Star will be posted on the Big Rob’s Facebook page and on the Big Rob’s website.

Another point that became apparent was the under payment of staff by the security contractor. It appears that this issue may have now been rectified going forward but all staff, current or former, have still not been paid all their past entitlements. Lismore City Council was made aware of this issue prior to running the tender process.

Instead of just fixing the problems, the Office of Premier and Cabinet had to be contacted to force Council to call for tenders. I will give you one guess as to who the successful tenderer was.

As the months passed, it was clear that there was some animosity between the security contractor and myself which was flowing through the staff. They refused to assist with any issues in my shop including problems where the trouble commenced on the street and safe haven was sought in my shop by victims. This resulted in at least one major verbal altercation between security officers, police and me.

Months later, the security officer who was so aggressive and pulled out his baton torch was back on the streets as aggressive as ever. Even though Lismore City Council excludes the use of batons by their security contractor, the security officer was never reprimanded about the baton torch because it was also a torch. It was not until he pulled out an extendable baton on a 17 year old male in Woodlark Street Lismore one night and a photo was taken of him holding the extendable baton that he was reprimanded. A link to the photo will also appear on the Big Rob’s Facebook page and the Big Rob’s website.

There was then an issue with the misuse of Council CCTV cameras to watch businesses and members of the public. Both of these issues seem to have also been ignored by this Council. These were ignored even though one of the security officers took it upon himself to monitor one of my businesses, contact police making allegations that I was operating illegally and then abandoned his Council duties, which I help pay for, to go ‘undercover’ for the police to try and help them issue an infringement notice against me. This matter is before the Court on 23 July if not withdrawn sooner.

A link to some images from Council CCTV cameras will also be posted on the Big Rob’s Facebook page and the Big Rob’s website.

The amount of money being wasted on a security contractor to provide street security services when everyone knows security officers have no additional power to any of us in public places is absurd. It would be far more prudent to utilise this money to fund beat police who would actually work as a deterrent to street crime and they actually have additional powers when required.

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Rant 3

One of Lismore City Council’s most interesting issues is the one surrounding the City Centre Manager. The City Centre Manager is a position that reports to the Lismore Business Promotion Panel who secures funding from the special business rate variation levy. This is an additional levy on businesses in the CBD with its purpose to improve the CBD. In simple terms, the City Centre Manager works for the businesses in the CBD.

It makes no sense when the City Centre Manager alienates various business owners who she is supposed to work for and focuses on a select few that she has formulated strong bonds with.

Council’s decision to provide the contract to a marketing firm also raises some questions. The contract was not tendered for reasons unknown and a business management specialist was not selected. The position should be filled by someone with a very strong business mind as opposed to someone who specialises in positive spin.

It always concerns me the day after an event when the media reports the event as a success when there is no way they could know any quantifiable results by deadline. This seems to be the norm under this City Centre Manager. Everything she touches is reported as a success either that day in social media, the next day in the general media or in the following days, weeks or months in Council reports. This is the case even though many businesses report poor results following many events but they do not receive any media attention.

A very good example of this was the Mother’s Day weekend sale. The weekend was reported as a huge success by the City Centre Manager even though many businesses reported the Saturday sales as a disaster. It is more likely the Saturday was a disaster because the CBD was effectively shut down by CSG protestors on one of the biggest days of the year for CBD businesses. A good City Centre Manager would have been aware of the importance of this day and prevented such a protest on that day.

There were various rumours circulating that the protest was initially scheduled for the weekend of Mardi Grass but it was moved back a week out of fear of no-one showing up because all the ‘regulars’ would be at Mardi Grass.

Another major City Centre Manager disaster is the CBD markets on the footpath in Magellan Street. This was an idea that has very little support from CBD businesses. At a recent well attended business open forum, 95% of businesses did not support such CBD markets. They are considered competition when allowed to operate as they have been operating.

As rare as it is to see the City Centre Manager frequenting most shops in Keen Street, it is common to see her helping the markets. The markets are a private organisation that competes with local businesses. They do not contribute to the special business rate variation levy that pays for the City Centre Manager and promotion of the CBD but seem to get considerable support and funding from it. They are also handed a prime location with free access to power in Magellan Street. I would love free power.

The idea for the market was to bring more people to the CBD to spend money in existing businesses. It was meant to include local farmer’s products such as coffee beans and eggs without any end products such as cups of coffee and cakes. It was never meant to be more competition for those businesses in the CBD.

After initially starting and operating later on a Thursday, then operating without approval for a few months, they were then moved to earlier times to take advantage of more people being around. It now seems the CBD was bringing people to the markets and this was being facilitated by Council and the City Centre Manager.

If The Square was not enough competition for the CBD, and now the large Goonellabah development, we are now importing more competition into the CBD itself. I am certain the City Centre Manager can put a positive spin on this. Alternatively, she could just ask for those speaking the truth to be banned from Council buildings and blocked from accessing all Council social media to protect her spin from challenge.

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Rant 4

In relation to being banned from Council buildings and blocked from accessing all Council social media and services, this has happened to me and has been in place for many months.

Initially, I was restricted in my access to services as Lismore City Council said they could not keep up with me so they would only answer up to four questions a month.

I was later removed from Council’s social media sites but I was quickly reinstated. I was told that the City Centre Manager complained about the reinstatement and I was again removed. I have never been shown to be in breach of any Council policies.

I was then banned from attending Council’s Magellan Street office because the City Centre Manager allegedly said she felt intimidated by me. I have since secured a recording where she states she believes I am intimidated by her.

In response to being banned from the Magellan Street office, I wrote a letter advising Council and Police that I may or may not record conversations of which I was a party to protect my lawful interests in future. Council’s reaction was to ban me from all Council buildings or speaking to Council staff. I will discuss recording conversations next week.

The way the ban was put forward meant that I could not enter such places as the Council library, the tip, public toilets or even swimming pools. This has since been clarified by the General Manager to include only Council’s Goonellabah office and their CBD office except for public meetings. Other restrictions were to remain in place.

There are some people out there who believe I was restricted as a result of aggression or violence. It is safe to say that the only reason that I am restricted is because I am persistent and I speak my mind.

I am often asked by others to check something or submit something on their behalf because they are scared of repercussions from this Council if they do it themselves. I consider such a fear to be unforgiveable on the part of Council. To make ratepayers feel so uncomfortable is unforgiveable and to restrict those who do not feel uncomfortable amounts to nothing more than censorship and discriminatory treatment.

I have often challenged Lismore City Council to present any document that shows any of my submissions being vexatious, frivolous or threatening. To date, they have never done so.

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