From a recent read of Jack Herbert’s book it appears that allegations were made during the Commission of Inquiry about a couple of police officers getting a bit of a start before examinations being conducted.  Initially I was told by someone who had read or heard of some things in the book that I had been involved in this malpractice. I was mystified at this suggestion because of my track record of involvement with examinations and quickly bought the book.

I was pleased to find no reference of any involvement of myself with police examinations but merely that Jack had forgotten his telephone list when he hurried off to London and had to go through me to speak with his contact here.

My involvement with the examinations was from 1960 to 1971, and during that time I was responsible for their administration which involved arranging for their supervision throughout the state. The question papers for the five examinations were always set by the Inspector in charge of the Legal Section/Administration Branch and in my days they were Palethorpe, Low and Germain. They used to do all of their work on the papers at their residences and I used to cut stencils containing the question papers on a Saturday morning.

Part of the stencil-cutting process involved checking the titles of Acts, references to various sections and references to the Queensland Policeman’s Manual to make sure that answers to the questions existed. On another Saturday morning nearer to the examination dates I used to run the questions off in the gestetner room at the Commissioner’s Office after being escorted to and from the room by the Inspector. The papers were kept in the strong room of the Legal Section and the Inspector was the only person who had a key to this room.

Still closer to the examination dates sufficient copies were placed in special envelopes with spares being allowed for the larger centres. The envelopes were sealed by means of wax which was melted by an electric soldering iron which was ‘borrowed’ from the Radio and Electronics Section. The seal contained the words ‘Queensland Police Force’ and was always used by the Inspector who made sure that at least five perfect seals were put on each envelope.

The envelopes were sent out by registered post and by name to the various supervisors throughout the state, kept in a safe place and on the morning/afternoon of the two examinations were to be opened in front of the candidate/s after first showing the intact seals. I am confident that some former Queensland police officers who may read this article will recall the late Sergeant Tom Molloy parading around the Lang Park Police Youth Club showing the seals on the unopened envelope.

It was common for a Constable to sit under the supervision of his or her Sergeant and also in a small centre, where there was no police officer superior to the Constable or Sergeant, for the Constable to sit under the supervision of the local head teacher. (Permission for this to be done was always obtained from the Education Department.)

Before the arrival of Commissioner Ray Whitrod in the latter part of 1969, I had never heard of any malpractice in connection with the supervision of examinations in this state. Probably I would be the last to be told anyway but I suggest now that some readers may have heard of some members getting a start or hints from supervisors, particularly in country areas.

Why I mentioned Mr Whitrod is that he, no doubt because he had been told of some alleged malpractice, decided that in future all candidates had to sit at district headquarters stations under the supervision of independent Inspectors sent from Brisbane or nearby centres.

It is known that some district officers were peeved at this action. Also it is known that several Inspectors took advantage of being able to get a trip out of Brisbane and regularly put in their bids to go to centres long before the examinations were held.

Before the introduction of independent supervisors who usually brought the answer papers back with them to Brisbane, the answer papers were sent to the Commissioner’s Office by registered mail and when they were all received, they then went off to the Commissioner’s Inspector for marking purposes. Two names which come to mind are Mr Harry Reinke and Mr Allan Duncan who used to spend several weeks marking papers so that the results could be dispatched the day they were received from the Inspector.

During my time on the examinations I had two propositions put to me. One was a large sum of money by a Constable in exchange for some start on his examination and the other was from a very senior officer for assistance for two of his members who had been away on investigations which meant that they could not study. Both propositions were declined and I informed my Inspector about them.

I have no trouble in saying that no-one ever got any start from me—not even the name of an Act to study—and that could be said about my late brother-in-law who just scraped in to qualify for Constable first class but who was killed in a police vehicle accident before he could put up his stripe.

In case someone is wondering how I sat for examinations during my involvement with them, I mention that I still did all of the administrative tasks but was then relieved of any involvement in cutting the stencils, running off the question papers, and the like.

Unfortunately during or just after the Commission of Inquiry, the examination system as we then knew it, went out—just like the height-weight ratio for recruits—along with the bath water.

While it was not a perfect system, it forced those who wanted to advance to study and through that develop as police officers. I have heard it said that by cutting out the examination system some de-skilling occurred.