Over 100 Australian Policemen Being Investigated for Racist e-Mails

Following racist e-mails circulated in an internal police e-mail system, a scandal that caused death of one officer, nearly 100 Australian policemen are now under investigation, said media reports.

Chief Commissioner Simon Overland said that the police ethical standards department found several e-mails, all too shocking to be released publicly, reports said.

Though he didn’t confirm the subject matter of e-mails, Overland revealed that some were ‘extremely serious, some offensive’, said reports.

He also raised questions on suitability of some officers to their jobs in Victoria state, reports said.

“If the Victorian public were aware of the nature of that material, I believe that it’s of such a nature that it would cause significant concern,” Overland told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio as per reports.

He made it clear that those introducing the material into the police e-mail system would be sacked, reports said.

Confirming suicide by a police officer earlier this week, Overland was quoted as saying, “A tragic event has happened. It’s deeply, deeply regrettable and we need to learn the lessons but it doesn’t mean that I can or should avoid my responsibilities around the good order and governance of Victoria Police.”

It may be mentioned that Tony Vangorp, 47, tendered his resignation on Friday and returned to the police station Monday night and shot himself.

Overland declined to confirm if the e-mails targeted Indians or Africans, the two minority groups which in recent months criticized police conduct, reports said.

Overland last week acknowledged a small minority of police officers were racist, in response to a report that said police suffered from a ‘culture of racism’.

(Based on media reports)