Reynolds Report Highlights State's Failures
The Weiss Independent Review into paedophile policeman Paul Reynolds shows yet again how perpetrators groom not just their victims but the community. (Weiss Independent Review into Paul Reynolds – Final Report June 2024 (police.tas.gov.au)The distinction being however that it is understandable how vulnerable children can be groomed but how and why a whole regional police force allowed Reynolds to abuse unhindered, is another question.
Ms Weiss outlined the background to the Report in her foreword:
“On 13 September 2018, Paul “Beau” Reynolds (Reynolds), a then-Senior Sergeant Tasmanian Police Officer died by suicide. What was known to a small number of Tasmania Police, including the highest echelons of policing at the time, was that Reynolds was being investigated for grooming, sharing explicit images with and procuring teenage boys, including coercing them to take photos of themselves naked and of their penises. He was afforded a full police funeral, the investigation into sexual misconduct closed without being finalised, and the file relating to his death placed in a police file room in Launceston. It was not until 2022, when Coroner Simon Cooper (Coroner Cooper) conducted an inquest into the death by suicide of four Tasmanian Police Officers including Reynolds, that his file was re-opened. Coroner Cooper’s Findings, Recommendations and Comment (Coroner’s findings) were released to the public on 1 September 2023. The findings regarding Reynolds rocked the general and policing communities. Coroner Cooper found – and for the first time made public – that one of the most likely factors contributing to his death was allegations of criminal conduct on the part of Paul Reynolds in relation to children which had emerged and were being investigates.”
Based on material uncovered in the Review, Ms Weiss found that Reynold’s grooming and sexual abuse of teenage boys stretched over a 30-year period, ceasing only when he suicided in 2018. She also said, “It is important not to categorise his conduct as ‘historical’. Despite awareness and vigilance to grooming and sexual abuse in sport being more prevalent in recent years, Reynolds’ offending took place in modern times, utilising modern technology to groom and coerce his victims.”
Allegations relating to Reynolds’ inappropriate interactions with teenage boys were twice formally reported to Tasmania Police. The first report was in 2008, which resulted in the allegations being unproven, and the second report being in 2018.
In the 2008 report, in conversations including senior police officers, Reynolds was described as a paedophile and two specific examples of inappropriate behaviour were discussed. Interstate police officers were present and they reported their concerns. Local police officers including an Assistant Commissioner asserted that the conversation had been misunderstood. No action was taken. Reynolds was not even spoken to.
A second report in 2018 from another Tasmanian police officer was acted upon, a search warrant was issued but the investigation was halted when Reynolds took his life. Most concerningly, despite the knowledge on the part of the police hierarchy that Reynolds that on the basis of the evidence before them, Reynolds had been a prolific perpetrator, he was granted full police funeral including a guard of honour.
Weiss’s report provides a thorough analysis of grooming behaviour and the red flags which were clear to many in the community and in the police force. The fact that the behaviour was allowed to continue unchecked in an organisation which should have had a most thorough understanding of how paedophiles operate is particularly disturbing.
Ms Weiss noted that police culture has changed significantly since the 1980’s, when the first accounts of grooming and sexual abuse by Reynolds as told by Review participants stem. In particular, the ‘Blue Code of Silence’, as it has been referred to by participants, has diminished, in part due to the evolution of the Professional Standards Command but also due to awareness and accountability within Tasmania Police ranks regarding the absolute unacceptability of criminal conduct such as that of Reynolds.
Ms Weiss also noted that Tasmanian Police complaints mechanisms have changed. We know from our own experience that when we first opened our office in Tasmania and we were supporting our clients in reporting child sex abuse to the police, there was no Tasmanian Police specialised child abuse complaints unit and no centralised reporting system. In addition, survivors were referred to their local police stations to report. For obvious reasons, particularly in small communities, this was an impossible undertaking for many survivors. In addition, if a survivor made a complaint at one police station there was no capacity in the system to discover if a complaint had been made against the same alleged perpetrator at another Tasmanian police station which meant that survivors were regularly turned away by police because of a lack of evidence.
The Tasmanian Commission of Inquiry into Child Abuse showed very clearly how complaints of child abuse in Tasmania, whether in schools, in child protection, in hospitals or in youth detention were ignored or brushed aside in favour of the perpetrators.
Clearly if it was so difficult to report an ordinary member of the public for child abuse offences, how much more so would Reynold’s victims have felt it impossible to report a serving police officer in the local community.
Much of Reynolds offending was also associated with sporting activities where Reynolds could be sure of contact with teenage boys and Ms Weiss weaves an analysis of this aspect of grooming and offending into her report and recommendations.
Key recommendations in the report include the establishment of a dedicated management team to deal with sexual abuse complaints outside of the established professional standards command. In addition, the strengthening of the Integrity Commission is recommended.
The Tasmanian Government announced yesterday that all recommendations would be implemented. (Tasmania government commits to recommendations from Paul Reynolds review | The Mercury)
Angela Sdrinis
Director
Angela Sdrinis Legal