A major Four Corners investigation has raised serious questions about police accountability in New South Wales, revealing that public complaints against officers have surged by nearly seventy per cent over the past decade. The force's own figures show the number of complaints rose from 3,130 in the 2017 financial year to 5,248 in 2025, while civil lawsuits against police reached 478 last year, averaging two every working day.
The cost to New South Wales taxpayers has been staggering, with forty million dollars paid in settlements and associated court costs in the last financial year alone. The investigation highlighted multiple cases where officers were accused of serious assaults on members of the public, only for internal investigations to find no wrongdoing despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Among the most disturbing cases examined was that of a woman who had just been released from remand and was found naked on the street in a psychotic state. Police were sent to help her, but instead what followed was described as a sustained fifteen-minute assault in which officers kicked her in the face, stomped on her, dragged her by her hair along the street, and sprayed pepper spray in her face and genitals.
Another case involved Brad Kelson from Casino in northern New South Wales, who was unlawfully arrested by police. During his detention at a police station, he sustained ten to twelve broken ribs and a punctured lung, spending four days in intensive care. When the case went to court, all charges against Kelson were thrown out and the judge found that police officers had colluded, copying each other's statements and providing a version of events that suited their narrative.
The investigation found that while New South Wales has a police watchdog, it examines only about eighty cases per year, compared with approximately 1,500 instances where police investigate themselves annually. Investigative reporter Dylan Welsh, who spent months working on the story, said it revealed a deeply troubling pattern where officers accused of serious misconduct were effectively cleared by their own colleagues.
The findings have intensified calls for reform of police oversight in Australia's most populous state, with advocates arguing that the current system of self-investigation is fundamentally flawed. The New South Wales police force has not yet provided a detailed response to the investigation's findings, though authorities have previously maintained that the complaints process is rigorous and transparent.