About the Corruption and Crime Commission

The Corruption and Crime Commission was established on the 1 January 2004. Its jurisdiction covers the more than 115,000 Western Australian public officers in some 550 plus agencies that include government departments and boards, universities and local government.

The Commissioner is the Hon Len Roberts-Smith, QC.

The Corruption and Crime Commission has two main purposes:

• To combat and reduce the incidence of organised crime. While the Commission does not investigate organised crime itself, it can grant the Commissioner of Police exceptional powers not normally available to police to investigate organised crime. The use of these powers is authorised and monitored by the Corruption and Crime Commission Commissioner.
• To reduce the incidence of misconduct in the public service. The Corruption and Crime Commission's Corruption Prevention, Education and Research Directorate will work with agencies to strengthen their corruption resistance and minimise the risk of misconduct.

The Corruption and Crime Commission also has extensive investigative powers, including the power to compel a witness to attend a hearing, to produce documents, to obtain a search warrant on application to a judge, to intercept telecommunications and use surveillance devices, to use assumed identities, and to conduct integrity tests.

As a consequence of the above, the Commission has three main functions:

• the misconduct function;
• the prevention and education function; and
• the organised crime function.

Division 2 of the Act describes all of the Commission's functions, including its responsibility for progressing matters for investigations referred from the Police Royal Commission and the former Anti-Corruption Commission and from dealing with notifications of reviewable police action. These additional functions are incorporated in the three main functions listed above.

Misconduct occurs if a public officer acts corruptly, takes advantage of their position in order to obtain a benefit or cause a detriment, or commits an offence punishable by two or more years' imprisonment.

It also includes conduct relating to a lack of honesty or impartiality in performing a public duty or involving a breach of trust, provided that the conduct could also constitute a breach of any written law or constitute grounds for dismissal.

Under the Corruption and Crime Commission Act 2003, notifying authorities have an obligation to report suspected misconduct to the Corruption and Crime Commission. Complaints from the public are also valued.

A Parliamentary Inspector and a Parliamentary Committee have been appointed to oversee the Corruption and Crime Commission. The Parliamentary Inspector is responsible for investigating complaints against the Commission or its officers, and reports to the Parliamentary Committee. The Parliamentary Committee is made up of members from both Houses of Parliament. It monitors and reports to Parliament on the exercise of the functions of the Corruption and Crime Commission and the Parliamentary Inspector.

Malcolm McCusker, a QC and leading member of the WA Bar was appointed as the first Parliamentary Inspector.

The Corruption and Crime Commission differs from the agency it replaced, the Anti-Corruption Commission, in that it can hold public examinations, conduct integrity tests, run controlled operations, use assumed identities and is subject to investigation by a Parliamentary Inspector.