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Who’s policing the NSW police? | ABC News Daily podcast

Channel: ABC News (Australia) Published: 2026-05-31 18:11
ABC News (Australia)

This is an ABC News Daily podcast segment about alleged misconduct inside the NSW Police Force and the weaknesses of the system meant to police police. Reporter Dylan Welch argues that NSW police misconduct is both widespread and under-enforced, with internal investigations often handled by police themselves and only a tiny fraction leading to charges.

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Detailed summary

The episode centers on Dylan Welch’s Four Corners investigation into alleged police abuse and misconduct in New South Wales, with Sam Hawley guiding a discussion about accountability, body-worn cameras, and the watchdog system. Welch opens with a stark framing: NSW Police is now the national leader in legal payouts and one of the most complained-about agencies in the country, setting the tone for a critique of police oversight rather than a market thesis in the usual sense. Welch’s core claim is that the current accountability framework is too weak because police are still largely investigating police. He says Four Corners examined hundreds of public-record cases, but that many more complaints never become public because they do not get past internal police review. …

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Main takeaways

  1. NSW police is presented as a high-cost, high-complaint force with weak consequences for misconduct.
  2. The main structural criticism is that police often investigate police, which invites bias and limits transparency.
  3. Two cases are used as proof points: Brad Kelson and Jodie Nott, both involving severe force and later legal consequences.
  4. Body-worn video is treated as important evidence, but also inconsistently used and sometimes manipulated or muted.
  5. The LECC is portrayed as underpowered: it monitors complaints, but rarely runs its own investigations.
  6. There is a historical comparison to the Wood Royal Commission, with the suggestion that past reforms have not fully solved the problem.

Market read by horizon

Short term

Near term, this is a reputational and political overhang for NSW Police rather than a tradable market setup; the immediate risk is escalation if the report triggers more complaints or ministerial scrutiny.

  • Immediate focus is the ABC/Four Corners report and whether it forces fresh scrutiny of NSW Police leadership.
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  • The most actionable near-term catalyst is public reaction to the broadcast and any follow-up from the LECC or government.
  • The key tactical risk is reputational pressure on NSW Police if more body-cam cases surface or if the force again declines to explain its discipline process.
Mid term

Over the next few months, the likely path is continued scrutiny of NSW police conduct, with reform pressure centered on mandatory body-cam use and stronger external oversight. The story only shifts if authorities publish clearer discipline outcomes or materially change the internal-investigation model.

  • Over the next few weeks or months, the issue will hinge on whether complaints lead to reforms in body-worn camera policy and complaint handling.
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  • A base-case reading is continued political and media pressure without immediate wholesale structural change.
  • Confirmation would come from new oversight measures, more mandatory camera use, or clearer external review powers for the LECC.
Long term

The structural implication is that self-policing in law enforcement has persistent limits, and periodic external commissions may be needed to reset accountability. The transcript frames this as a durable governance problem, not a one-off scandal.

  • Structurally, the transcript argues NSW police remains in a fragile accountability regime where internal discipline is too closed and too discretionary.
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  • The lasting implication is that repeated royal-commission-style interventions may be required if institutional culture does not change.
  • The deeper thesis is not about one scandal but about whether self-policing can ever be an adequate model for law enforcement oversight.
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Key claims (9)

1:30
BEARISH public accountability NSW Police Force

NSW Police paid out $40 million in legal payouts and court costs last financial year, making it the national leader in legal payouts.

Presented as the central statistical frame for the segment’s accountability critique.

2:45
BEARISH public accountability NSW Police Force

Hundreds of public-record misconduct cases were reviewed, but many more complaints never become public because they are handled internally.

Welch explains that the visible record understates the scale of the issue.

3:05
BEARISH oversight regime NSW Police Force

Police investigating police creates objectivity problems, especially when senior officers review junior officers in the same station.

This is the episode’s central institutional criticism of the complaint process.

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Speakers

HOST Sam Hawley GUEST Dylan Welch

Interview (6 Q&A)

1:25
police payouts

Last financial year, the New South Wales Police Force paid out 40 million dollars in legal payouts and court costs. What does that reflect about the force's current state?

The NSW Police are now the national leader in legal payouts. That same year there were 478 civil suits filed relating to NSW police misconduct, equivalent to two cases every working day. The force has also become the most complained about police agency over the last decade, with complaints rising about 70% over the last 5 years. Only about 2% of misconduct findings led to charges against an officer.

4:00
Brad Kelson case

What happened in the Brad Kelson case that shows police misconduct?

Brad Kelson was unlawfully arrested in 2021 in Sydney after witnesses said they saw him push his partner. Police escalated the situation, with officer Mark Davis slamming Brad's face into a metal bench, throwing him into a police truck, and later kneeing him five times while he was pinned down. Brad ended up with 10 to 12 broken ribs and a punctured lung, spending four days in intensive care. The charges against him were thrown out, and a magistrate found evidence of collusion where officers copied each other's statements including an identical spelling mistake.

8:25
Jodie Noach case

Can you briefly tell me about the Jodie Noach case?

Jodie Noach was a woman naked in the middle of a psychotic episode who was terribly assaulted by two young police officers in Emu Plains. The officers emptied both cans of pepper spray on her face repeatedly, sprayed her genitals, dragged her by her hair along the bitumen cutting up her back, kicked her in the head, and stomped on her. She later died of cancer 18 months after the incident. The two officers, Nathan Black and Timothy Trouch, pleaded guilty to common assault and were sentenced to jail.

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Where this transcript pushes against consensus

  • Welch argues police investigating police is inherently flawed, but the LECC head defends the hybrid model as cost-effective and reasonably effective given resources.
  • The episode implies a broad culture of brutality and impunity, but much of the evidence is case-based and may not prove the entire force shares that culture.
  • The claim that body-worn video is inconsistently used is persuasive, but the transcript does not quantify how often this causes misconduct to go undetected.
  • Welch suggests another major commission may be needed, but does not explain what specific reform would succeed where prior ones did not.

Topics

NSW Police misconductPolice accountabilityLaw Enforcement Conduct CommissionBody-worn camerasBrad Kelson caseJodie Nott caseWood Royal CommissionPolice cultureInternal investigationsUse of force

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