Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (NSW)
A short factsheet on the LECC: the body overseeing serious misconduct and maladministration by the NSW Police Force and NSW Crime Commission, and why it is not a prosecuting authority.
Learning outcomes
- State the LECC's establishing Act and its core function overseeing NSW Police Force and NSW Crime Commission conduct.
- Explain why the LECC is not a prosecuting authority, and what it does instead when an investigation discloses an offence.
- Distinguish the LECC's police-and-crime-commission-specific oversight from ICAC's public-sector-wide corruption jurisdiction.
Act: Law Enforcement Conduct Commission Act 2016 (NSW).1
Established: 2016 Act, replacing the Police Integrity Commission Act 1996 (NSW).
Purpose: The LECC oversees the NSW Police Force and the NSW Crime Commission specifically — detecting, investigating and exposing serious misconduct and serious maladministration by their officers, and independently overseeing (including in real time) investigations those agencies conduct into their own officers.
Powers conferred under the Act
The Act creates a Chief Commissioner together with a Commissioner for Integrity and a Commissioner for Oversight. The Commission can hold hearings and compel evidence in the course of its investigative and oversight functions, including real-time monitoring of police-conducted misconduct investigations rather than only after-the-fact review.
Is it a prosecuting authority?
No. The Commission has no power to commence a prosecution or to itself impose disciplinary sanctions on an officer — it can only investigate and make recommendations. Where an investigation discloses a possible offence, the matter is referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions or another appropriate prosecuting authority rather than prosecuted by the LECC itself.
How it relates to the other NSW integrity bodies
The LECC's jurisdiction is deliberately narrower than ICAC's: it is limited to the NSW Police Force and the NSW Crime Commission, while ICAC's corrupt-conduct jurisdiction runs across the public sector generally. The LECC's own conduct is in turn overseen by the Inspector of the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission — a separate statutory office created within the same Act, mirroring how ICAC's own conduct is checked by a separate inspector.
Self-check
- Have I limited the LECC's jurisdiction to the NSW Police Force and NSW Crime Commission, not the public sector generally?
- Have I stated the LECC's function as investigation, oversight and referral, not prosecution or discipline?
- Have I distinguished the LECC from ICAC and named the office that oversees the LECC itself?