Law Enforcement Conduct Commission Act 2016

As soon as practicable after the Commission receives (or becomes aware of) a misconduct matter, and at any time during the course of the investigation or oversight by the Commission of a misconduct matter, the Commission may decide to do any one or more of the following—

subject to sections 45 and 46, to investigate, or take over the investigation, of the misconduct matter,

subject to section 45, to refer the misconduct matter for police investigation or other action or Crime Commission investigation or other action,

to refer the misconduct matter to the Commissioner of Police or the Crime Commissioner for information,

if the subject of a police misconduct matter is a member of the NSW Police Force involved in a critical incident, to refer the matter to the Commissioner of Police to be investigated (except as provided by section 113 (6)) under Part 8,

to refer the misconduct matter to another body or person under section 162 for investigation or other action or for information,

if the misconduct matter is referred for police investigation or Crime Commission investigation, to oversee the police investigation or Crime Commission investigation under Part 7,

if the misconduct matter is referred to another person or body under section 162, to oversee any investigation or other action taken by the person or body with respect to the misconduct matter,

to attempt to deal with the misconduct matter (being a complaint) by an alternative dispute management process under section 48,

to take no further action with respect to the misconduct matter.

A decision under subsection (1) may be made in respect of the whole or any part of a misconduct matter.

The Commission is to take into account any misconduct matters management guidelines or recommendation of the Commissioner of Police in deciding how to deal with a misconduct matter concerning a police officer, administrative employee or the NSW Police Force, or of the Crime Commissioner in deciding how to deal with a misconduct matter concerning a Crime Commission officer or the Crime Commission, but its decision is determinative of the matter.

Additional information from the complainant and other persons under sections 40 and 41, and any existing information relevant to the misconduct matter to which the Commission can readily obtain access, may be used in deciding how to deal with a misconduct matter.

The Commission may decide to investigate any matter relating to a misconduct matter under subsection (1)—

even though it has referred the misconduct matter or part of the misconduct matter for police investigation or Crime Commission investigation or to another authority under section 162, and

before the commencement of a police investigation or Crime Commission investigation, during the progress of a police investigation or Crime Commission investigation or after a police investigation or Crime Commission investigation of the misconduct matter.

The Commission may notify the Commissioner of Police or Crime Commissioner of any decision the Commission makes to investigate a misconduct matter under this section during a police investigation or Crime Commission investigation of the misconduct matter.

On being so notified, the Commissioner of Police or Crime Commissioner is to discontinue the police investigation or Crime Commission investigation, respectively.

If the Commission decides to take no further action with respect to a misconduct matter, the Commission must notify the complainant of the decision and the reasons for it.

Except as provided by section 113 (6), the Commission must postpone the making of a decision under this section about whether it should investigate a police misconduct matter if the subject of the misconduct matter is the conduct of a police officer in relation to a critical incident until the conclusion of any critical incident investigation (within the meaning of Part 8) of the incident.

The making of a decision under this section is not an investigation of the misconduct matter to which the decision relates.

The Commissioner of Police or Crime Commissioner may investigate or otherwise deal with any notifiable misconduct matter pending the making of a decision by the Commission under this section.