Victoria Police and the Victorian Racing Integrity Commissioner (RIC) have agreed to a milestone partnership to help stamp out crime and consolidate racing’s integrity.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two bodies will allow the exchange of information between parties.
The partnership underlines efforts to ensure the integrity of Victoria’s $2.8 billion racing industry, which employs nearly 58,000 people.
“This agreement will be of benefit to both Victoria Police and the racing industry and help inform investigations by both parties,”
Mr Perna said. “The MOU not only helps both agencies gather relevant information, but leads to increasing public confidence in racing.”
The agreement builds on the RIC’s agreement in 2013 with the Australian Crime Commission.
Both agreements follow a recommendation made in the RIC’s 2012 Own Motion Inquiry into Race Fixing to identify the barriers to information sharing between police and racing bodies.
Under the agreement, there will remain some constraints on types of information that police are able to share, including telecommunication interception information.
The agreement also builds on other Victoria Police initiatives such as the creation of the Sporting Integrity Intelligence Unit (SIIU) in February 2013 and the entering of an interim information sharing agreement with the RIC in June 2013.
Mr Perna said the two MOU’s emphasise an increased focus on sports integrity which demonstrate Victoria’s commitment to protecting its sporting industry.
“Together with an increased focus on sports integrity and the creation of recent legislation addressing corrupt conduct in sport (The Crimes Amendment (Integrity in Sports) Act 2013), Victoria is well placed to protect its sporting industry.”
To contact the Office of the Racing Integrity Commissioner, please call 8684 7776, fax 8684 7778 or email enquiries@racingintegrity.vic.gov.au
Wednesday, 19 November 2014