Journal Archive
Only a secret tape-recording of a conversation with the Police Complaints Authority saved Allan Vilcins' career from irreparable damage. In order to safeguard their careers and reputations, will all police now have to record their every interaction with the Authority?
Condemned by a phone call
Senior Constable Allan Vilcins suffered so intensely at the hands of the Police Complaints Authority last year that he was medically treated for stress.
Never did he imagine, that from a seemingly normal, five-minute telephone call, he would later face humiliating accusations of aggression and belligerence.
And those accusations didn't come from the usual source: a vengeful criminal determined to even a score. They came from a PCA staff member to whom he spoke during that telephone conversation.
Vilcins had rung the PCA in early January last year to enquire about the progress of a complaint. He had issued a male cyclist with an infringement notice in November '96 for failing to wear a bicycle helmet. The cyclist alleged that Vilcins had been ill-mannered and aggressive.
In late January '97, PCA chief, Tony Wainwright, outlined his "determination" of the matter in a letter to then Acting Deputy Commissioner John Murray. He counselled against "the commitment of any personnel and other resources" to investigate further any alleged misconduct by Vilcins.
But it was a second letter from Wainwright to Murray which detailed the PCA staff member's accusations about Vilcins. And, when copies of Wainwright's letters reached Vilcins, it was the first he knew of his manner being called into question.
To Vilcins, the telephone call had been "just a normal conversation between two people". It was the same as I talk to anybody," he says, "(and) the person's manner was fine as well."
Based solely on what had been reported to him by the PCA staff member (whom Vilcins has requested the Police Journal not to identify), Wainwright wrote:His (Vilcins') behaviour towards my staff was certainly consistent with the attitude of which Mr ------- (cyclist's name also withheld at Vilcin's request) complained.
Wainwright's final paragraph invited Murray to "discuss the matters raised in this letter with S/C (Senior Constable) Vilcins,".
So, whether unintentionally or by design, the PCA staffer's accusations damned Vilcins by giving credence to those of the cyclist.
But any extra credibility by which the cyclist's allegations may have been bolstered was bound to be short-lived: the PCA staffer's accusations were without any substance - and Vilcins had proof.
Because of previous interaction with the same staffer two years earlier, he took elaborate precautions when he entered into the telephone conversation: he tape-recorded the entire exchange.
"We just spoke in general regarding the complaint of the person riding the pushbike," Vilcins says of the conversation. "At the end, we just said goodbye and I thanked the person for helping me. Because I was tape-recording the conversation, I was even more polite and courteous."
Wainwright failed to afford Vilcins any opportunity to defend himself against his staffer's claims before accepting them as fact and informing the commissioner's office. This was a source of great anger to both Vilcins and the Police Association.
"This incident was an extremely disturbing one," says Police Association president, Peter Alexander. "It is a concern for our relationship with Tony Wainwright as the PCA - and his staff."
"Allan Vilcins has been able to show that many of our concerns about the PCA are rightly held. And our concern now is: was it a one-off? Has it occurred before and, if so, what terrible injustice may have been done to any one of our members?"
When Vilcins finally played his tape-recording to Wainwright, he noted his unanimated response. "He really didn't have any reaction - he didn't show that he was astounded by anything," Vilcins recalls.
But while he may have shown no emotion, Wainwright was nevertheless forced into the embarrassing position of apologizing to Vilcins last May. In a two-page letter he wrote:I am satisfied that your language and manner were neither aggressive nor belligerent as had been reported to me. I apologise unreservedly for the use of those words and the making of that observation.
In another letter to Vilcins in July, however, Wainwright failed to guarantee that the incident wouldn't recur. Instead, the strongest assurance he offered was that "the likelihood of another such case is minimal".
But "minimal" falls well short of satisfying the Police Association. "There should be no chance of it happening," Peter Alexander insists. "It certainly put Allan Vilcins through something he didn't need to go through."
Police officers au fait with the case, and Vilcins himself, are now asking how the PCA staff member's transgression will be handled by those duty-bound to act.
"If I fabricated evidence to obtain a conviction against a member of the public," Vilcins explains, "I'm sure my superiors would recommend my dismissal- I believe the person should be removed from the Police Complaints Authority, and that Mr Wainwright should be removed for his inaction over the matter."
Wainwright declined to speak to the Police Journal after he was afforded the opportunity in late March. From the same letter he wrote Vilcins last July, however, it seems that the most he has ever done is simply discuss the matter with the staff member concerned.
Moreover, Wainwright assured Vilcins that he would never again have to interact with the same staff member in whatever future dealings he may have with the PCA.
"Since then," Vilcins says in near-disbelief, "two letters written to me from the Authority both have this same person as the contact if I have any further enquiries."
Vilcins' experience has left him with "absolutely no confidence" in the PCA. He rates its credibility as "zero".
"Had I not tape-recorded the Police Complaints Authority member," he says, "my career would have been jeopardized. Had it been someone else who didn't tape-record the conversation, that person would never have been able to prove his or her innocence."
Vilcins advocates a "clean-out" of the PCA and welcomes the pending enquiry into its operations to be headed by retired District Court judge, Iris Stevens.
Peter Alexander sees the enquiry as "very important". "It's an opportunity to restore faith in the PCA," he says.
"There is certainly a lack of confidence in its methodology of handling complaints about our members, and there's a great sense of dissatisfaction right across the police department.
"Our members should always contact the Police Association prior to any contact with the PCA. In the members' interests, we have to be there."
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