Qld police commissioner bows out

QUEENSLAND'S police commissioner may have never risen to the top if it weren't for the Fitzgerald Inquiry in the late 1980s.

Bob Atkinson had a pivotal role implementing the inquiry's recommendations in the north coast policing region to help end the endemic corruption that toppled a premier and jailed a police commissioner.

After 44 years of service, he is retiring at a time when a shadow has again been cast over the service.

The firestorm over the 2004 death of Mulrunji Doomadgee on the floor of the Palm Island watchhouse continues to divide the community.

Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley was acquitted of manslaughter in 2007, but a coronial inquest in 2010 found there was evidence other police had colluded to protect him and, later that year, the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) also found serious flaws in the way he was investigated.

The then CMC head Martin Moynihan QC accused Mr Atkinson of presiding over a closed, self-protective police culture, and asked police to take disciplinary action against the six officers involved in the investigation.

But in a controversial move, police only recommended "managerial guidance".

Mr Atkinson admitted the service isn't perfect, but challenged the CMC to prove such evidence existed.

While Mr Atkinson has described Mr Doomadgee's death as a tragedy and expressed sorrow, he stands steadfastly behind the service's decision not to take tougher disciplinary action, saying it would have been unlawful.

"What happened there was appropriate," he told AAP.

"Different people have different views. One of the sad things about Palm Island is that many people are polarised in their views and will probably never reconcile and they will always hold the views they hold.

"We can't go back and change it.

"There were coronial inquests, court cases. It's all been exhausted and it's time to move on."

The government found the way police investigate each other was dysfunctional and made 57 recommendations for improvement to restore public confidence.

Mr Atkinson wouldn't be drawn on whether he believed the decision not to further discipline the officers damaged public perception of police accountability.

But he says the service will need to remain vigilant to ensure individual incidents or officers don't detract from its overwhelmingly good work.

He says he has worked to be approachable, creating an atmosphere which hadn't existed pre-Fitzgerald.

"I think what's really, really important is that if people (in the police force) think there is a need to say something, they have the opportunity to do that without being punished," he said.

Mr Atkinson said when he joined the service, aged 20, in Brisbane's bayside, he was drawn to the unpredictability of a job where one person could make a difference.

The majority of his first 20 years was served in small towns, where he lived beside stations and was on call 24/7, preferring the country lifestyle over the anonymity of cities.

People of his vintage know two police departments - pre-Fitzgerald and post-Fitzgerald - and it was the later in which Mr Atkinson thrived.

His major break came in 1990 when he was promoted to inspector and assigned a team of four in the north coast policing region to implement the recommendations of the Fitzgerald inquiry.

In November 2000 he was appointed commissioner, a promotion he said he'd never dreamed of.

In his formative years pre-Fitzgerald, Mr Atkinson said he could have easily plotted exactly where his career would have taken him.

Promotions were handed out on seniority before it changed to a merit system post-Fitzgerald.

"Had that not occurred, I guess I wouldn't be here ... I would have retired years ago ... up on the Sunshine Coast," he said.

"I would have probably made inspector and would have been very unlikely to have gone any further."

When asked about his greatest achievements, he was non-committal.

Any achievement in the police department - whether in providing security for major events, reducing the road toll or finding the perpetrators of murder, sex and kidnapping offences - was down to the work of the people in the organisation, not his leadership, he said.

He said he doesn't have plans for his retirement when he leaves the force on October 31.

"When I retire I'll deal with the future then, and whatever happens I'm very relaxed about the future," Mr Atkinson said.

"I've been fortunate to do this and I've been fortunate to be able to do this for 12 years. I'm very grateful.

"In a job like this there is a time. Hopefully I haven't stayed too long."

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