Rant 1 - Recording Conversations

Rant 2 - Ballina Assault

Rant 3 - Liquor Accord

Rant 4 - Crime Statistics

Rant 1

Before I get into the discussion about recording conversations, I want to make it very clear that I am not a lawyer. My comments are my own interpretation of the legislation and do not reflect the views of this radio station.

The applicable legislation covering the use of listening devices in NSW is the Surveillance Devices Act 2007. A link to the legislation will be provided on the Big Rob’s Facebook page and the Big Rob’s website.

Section 7, subsection 1 of the Act states that a person must not knowingly install, use or cause to be used or maintain a listening device:

a)   to overhear, record, monitor or listen to a private conversation to which the person is not a party, or

b)   to record a private conversation to which the person is a party.

Penalties can exceed $50,000 for a corporation and more than $10,000 and/or up to five years imprisonment in any other case.

Various exclusions exist in subsections 2 and 4 which are of no real relevance here.

The relevant information lies in subsection 3 of the Act which states that subsection 1 (b) does not apply to the use of a listening device by a party to a private conversation if:

a)  all the principal parties to the conversation consent, expressly or impliedly, to the listening device being so used, or

b)  a principal party to the conversation consents to the listening device being so used and the recording of the conversation:

i)   is reasonably necessary for the protection of the lawful interests of that principal party, or

ii)  is not made for the purpose of communicating or publishing the conversation, or a report of the conversation, to persons who are not parties to the conversation.

The recording of public conversations does not seem to create an issue so I will ignore that.

My interpretation of subsection 3 sees permission being given to record private conversations at any time in situations where you are a party to the conversation. This can happen if everyone agrees as outlined in subsection 3 (a), which will rarely happen when police are involved, or if you believe it is necessary to record the conversation to protect your lawful interests, or the recording is not made for publication, as outlined in subsection 3 (b).

Once police identify a person as someone who may record conversations, or someone who has done so in the past, an intelligence report is entered in the system that will follow you around for a very long time. This report warns other police officers that you may record them and you will find most future conversations with police starting with words similar to ‘I do not wish to be recorded’ if they have done an intelligence check on you or they have been told you may record them. I will go further into intelligence reporting next week.

In my opinion, this clear indication by police not to be recorded makes it illegal to record a private conversation with that police officer under subsection 3 (a). However, if we look to subsection 3 (b), we have two more options.

If you hold a reasonable fear that your lawful interests need protecting, which is a subjective test to be determined by a reasonable person, you can still record the conversation under subsection 3 (b) (i).

If you do not hold a reasonable fear that your lawful interests need protecting, you can look to subsection 3 (b) (ii). This basically allows us to record a private conversation to which we are a party any time we like regardless of other sections of the Act as long as we have no intention of communicating or publishing the conversation, or a report of the conversation, to persons who are not parties to the conversation.

It is my personal view that if you record a private conversation without any intention to publish it, and something unlawful happens during that recording, the recording would be valid as evidence for use in Court since you did not have an intention to use it.

This may seem quite technical on the face of it, and maybe even confusing to some, however it could be as simple as recording all private conversations you may be involved in as long as your intention is to not publish the material at the time you record it.

Police officers will advise you, tell you, warn you and maybe even threaten you, about recording conversations being a criminal offence. I have even had them standing over me when filming them in the street because they had an issue with the voice recordings. I guess they are not aware that filming them in public is not an offence. I will also look at filming and photographing police next week.

Big Rob’s Rant  is interactive while being broadcast. You can join me at facebook.com/BigRobsOz spelt B-I-G-R-O-B-S-O-Z or you can follow the Big Rob’s Rant links on the Big Rob’s website at bigrobs.com.au.

This is Big Rob on 92.9 River FM.

Rant 2

Alcohol-related violence is an issue which affects me professionally and personally every week. The nature of my business sees me dealing with a lot of intoxicated customers and other intoxicated persons in the street. At my busiest times, most of my customers are usually intoxicated. Since moving to Lismore, my eyes have been opened quite widely to just how much alcohol-related violence actually occurs.

My first experience with alcohol-related violence in this area was as a victim. I was doing security work in Ballina when set upon by two guys under the age of 18. One of them ‘dog-shotted’ me with a solid object which smashed my glasses and destroyed my left eye. He came from above and behind and I turned into it just as the blow was coming. My left eye immediately swelled closed and the blood began flowing. I will post a picture online taken within an hour of being hit.

It was late at night in a spot with poor lighting and I was also pretty blind without my glasses so my good eye was not much use. The hit was so hard that it shook me and I actually dropped to one knee. I got back up straight away and started swinging. I connected with one guy so both guys took off. I was near my vehicle at the time of the assault so I locked it and moved the opposite way to where the guys ran and called police for assistance. I was just plain old Rob back then.

While I was on the phone, the guys started to throw objects at me from where they were hiding behind some fences. I moved further away from them and my car. They started throwing more objects some of which hit the car. One of the guys came back out of the shadows with a large piece of wood and did some more damage to my car before coming after me with the piece of wood. He swung it a few times and missed. I got hold of the wood and kicked him connecting with his ribs. He ran away again. I did not see his friend again.

I went after the guy even though I could not see much. I thought that he must have been so drunk that his vision was as bad as mine so I got lucky with the piece of wood. I did not want to let this guy get away. He came back at me with a stick. I ran back and grabbed the piece of wood. I disarmed him again and he ran away yet again.

This attack went on for over twenty minutes before I finally saw a police vehicle approaching. I directed them to where the guy was and they tracked down and caught the guy. Even though they did not get to a serious assault in less than twenty minutes, they did get him so I was somewhat happy.

I ended up unconscious in hospital suffering concussion. The eye specialist was called in and initially thought I had an exploded eye socket. It turned out that some other serious damage was done to my eye which is permanent but there were no fractures.

More drama unfolded in the following days. The police tried to tell me that because the guy was a juvenile, he would be dealt with by way of a caution under the Young Offenders Act 1997. I strongly opposed this course of action. They then told me that I would have to make a statement and give evidence in court like they were trying to put me off. This seems to be very common in this area. I agreed to make the statement and give evidence. The police finally agreed to proceed.

The juvenile that did all the damage was charged with multiple offences and ended up pleading guilty to a few to get off the most serious assault charge. I was happy with this result.

Being from Sydney, I never imagined I would have to wait so long for assistance while being attacked. I was shocked to think that police could even suggest such behavior warranted a simple caution and I was offended when police seemed to want me to decide not to proceed on the basis of it being such an inconvenience. This was an unprovoked and prolonged serious assault and prosecution was the only suitable option.

I started Big Rob’s about a year after this attack. The memories flowed back when I saw others involved in various violent altercations of their own. Witnessing excessive violence has become an unwelcome regular part of my life and I want it to stop. Alcohol is almost always a major factor.

This unnecessary violence is what drives me the most to challenge police and council and it is the reason I also try to personally help reduce the levels of violence I have the misfortune of witnessing every week.

You are listening to Big Rob’s Rant on 92.9 River FM.

Come and join me at facebook.com/BigRobsOz spelt B-I-G-R-O-B-S-O-Z or follow the Big Rob’s Rant links on the Big Rob’s website at bigrobs.com.au if you would like to make a comment.

Rant 3

A liquor accord is an agreement by various stakeholders to take certain actions in local communities to improve safety and reduce alcohol-related anti-social behavior, offences and violence. Local liquor accords aim to stop problems from occurring in the first place taking account of specific issues in an area.

The NSW Office of Liquor, Racing and Gaming is responsible for promoting the development of effective and sustainable accords across the state. Further information is available through their website at olgr.nsw.gov.au.

The Lismore Local Liquor Accord is the reason why there is a 12:30am lockout in effect around Lismore. They are also the reason why there are no shots available at all venues except non-member venues. The only current non-member venue in Lismore at the moment is Tommy’s.

Although trying to do good work, the Lismore Local Liquor Accord seems to be under the control of Lismore licensing police. Licensed venues seem more concerned about receiving infringement notices for various matters if they do not comply with liquor accord recommendations rather than participating voluntarily.

Even though portrayed as an organisation open to all stakeholders, the truth is that some individuals are not welcome. For example, even though I have to deal with so much alcohol-related anti-social behavior, offences and violence every week while operating my business, I was not welcome as a member. After considerable challenge to this, I was finally allowed to attend but was not allowed to vote and was not allowed to speak at meetings.

I still do not receive notices of meetings to advise me when they occur and never receive any other communication. There is no doubt in my mind that Lismore licensing police are behind this.

With such a heavy police influence, the liquor accords and the police position regarding how to deal with issues in the Lismore entertainment precinct and local community are very much aligned. This is not necessarily a good thing and it seems to pose a problem when police are often heard to state how good a job they are doing and how the crime statistics are showing a drop in various crimes. There is almost certainly a bias issue.

It also seems unusual that an organisation whose purpose is to reduce alcohol-related anti-social behaviour, offences and violence in the local area would not openly welcome, or actively seek input from, owners of unlicensed businesses who operate late at night in the CBD. These businesses not only have to deal directly with a lot of related problems, they could also provide some invaluable information to assist the Lismore Local Liquor Accord to reduce or stop many problems.

Real differences can be made when everyone works together.

This is Big Rob bringing you Big Rob’s Rant on 92.9 River FM.

I am still posting on the Big Rob’s Facebook page at facebook.com/BigRobsOz spelt B-I-G-R-O-B-S-O-Z or you can follow the Big Rob’s Rant links on the Big Rob’s website at bigrobs.com.au if you want to post your views.

Rant 4

Crime statistics are often an important source of information used to make decisions in relation to police staffing requirements, police operations, council’s allocation of resources and even business decisions.

We recently saw the NSW Recorded Crime Statistics portray a situation where violent offences decreased in the Richmond-Tweed area. The stated figure was a reduction of 4.2% over the period from January 2007 through to December 2011. A police spokesperson stated the primary reason for the decrease was a lot of ‘good work’ driving down ‘alcohol-related assaults’.

The assault figure, when broken down into its three sub-categories, shows a decrease in non-domestic violence related assault of 7.0%, an increase in domestic violence related assault of 2.5% and an increase in assault police of 4.5%. The overall figure looks so positive because the largest category showed such a large decrease.

If consideration is given to these figures, many would find it very difficult to believe that domestic violence related assault and assault police would increase while non-domestic violence related assault could decrease. It should also be noted that domestic violence related assault must be reported as required by legislation and assault police matters are nearly always reported and prosecuted as police take such things very personally. These figures would be considered fairly reflective of a true position.

When considering non-domestic violence related assault on its own, many interesting points can be raised in relation to why the figure is useless. One point that immediately comes to mind is the ‘linking program’. I will discuss this program in more detail next week, but for our purposes tonight, the program is one that punishes licensed venues based on the amount of ‘linked’ incidents. The program clearly works as a major disincentive for the operators of licensed venues to report assault matters to police for fear of being ‘linked’. This alone would result in a major decrease in the assault figures.

Another point that could be raised is whether the admission rates at NSW emergency departments reflect a similar decrease in the amount of assaults being seen each week. When I made an enquiry some time ago, the assault admission rates had remained the same or increased at all NSW hospitals. This certainly did not support the police position that this figure is declining.

Consideration as to the reporting rate should also be had. Almost every weekend I see individuals assaulted who refuse to report those assaults to police for various reasons. Some of the assaults that go unreported have been quite serious. I have been told many reasons including victims being too scared to report, they do not want the hassle of going to court or they could not be bothered wasting their time because police won’t act if they do report. A reducing reporting rate is a figure I would certainly support as more reflective of what is happening at least in the Lismore area.

A final point I would like to put forward is one I touched on earlier tonight. Police seem reluctant to act possibly because of the amount of time and paperwork involved to prosecute someone for assault. I have heard them try to put individuals off by emphasising how they would have to make a statement and give evidence in court. Police may imply the individual would have to go with them immediately to make the statement.

I have even heard police telling people that they are too intoxicated to be able to make a statement and they could come to the station at a later time. This is usually unlikely to happen as the person may not completely remember the events. What is common to many of these situations is that the victims details are not recorded for follow up. If they do not follow up the matter themselves, another assault may go unreported.

Between the ‘linking program’, the hospital admission rates, reporting rates and police attitudes, some considerable doubt exists as to the accuracy of the reported crime statistics. It seems decisions are being based on very poor information which may result in a reduction of resources being allocated to our area at a time when greater resources are required or, alternatively, a more efficient use of existing resources.

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I am still posting on the Big Rob’s Facebook page at facebook.com/BigRobsOz spelt B-I-G-R-O-B-S-O-Z. You can also find me by visiting the Big Rob’s website at bigrobs.com.au and following the Big Rob’s Rant links. Join me to share your views.