Iemma in crisis on riot cop backflip

THE crisis over Middle Eastern crime engulfing the NSW Government widened yesterday when the Police Commissioner was forced to back down over his sacking of the commander in charge of rounding up Lebanese "revenge attackers".

Commissioner Ken Moroney, facing a rebellion for sacking Detective Superintendent Dennis Bray, reinstated him yesterday with reduced responsibility.

In an embarrassing backflip, Mr Moroney bowed to union pressure and put Detective Superintendent Bray back on Strike Force Enoggera, three days after he had summarily dismissed him.

The move is the latest in a series of crises that have beset the police force and the state Government over the failure to arrest significant numbers of Lebanese gang members who attacked property and individuals in the wake of last month′s race riots in Sydney′s south.

It came as Opposition Leader Peter Debnam repeated allegations that the Government had encouraged police to "go soft" on ethnic crime because of Labor′s political "indebtedness" to the Lebanese community.

Premier Morris Iemma has become increasingly enraged by Mr Debnam′s allegations, describing them as "a lie". He challenged Mr Debnam yesterday to provide evidence of his claims and put them to the Independent Commission Against Corruption. Mr Debnam refused to do either. "It′s a matter of actually locking these thugs up and it′s a question of police resources and of political commitment," he said.

Strike Force Enoggera has been a political disaster for Mr Iemma, with the police lurching from one position to another.

On Friday, Mr Iemma and Mr Moroney announced a quadrupling of its numbers to 100 and the sacking of Detective Superintendent Bray. But NSW Police Association president Bob Pritchard said yesterday that Detective Superintendent Bray had asked for more forces but they had been slow in coming.

A spokesperson for Mr Moroney denied this, saying: "The Commissioner offered equipment and resources on at least three separate occasions, but was assured that no more were necessary."

Mr Moroney removed Detective Superintendent Bray after a TV network broadcast a security video showing about two dozen men of Middle Eastern appearance bashing and kicking a bystander. Detective Superintendent Bray had the tape in his possession for five weeks, while Mr Moroney repeatedly said more whites had been arrested than people of Middle Eastern descent because there was video footage of the former but not

the latter.

When the existence of the video was revealed, Mr Moroney sent Detective Superintendent Bray back to his unit in Blacktown, in Sydney′s west, without asking for his side of the story.

The sacking prompted officers on the taskforce to demand his reinstatement and an apology and to threaten industrial action in the week of Australia Day, with concerns there could be a flare-up on the beach at Cronulla, in Sydney′s south.

Mr Moroney met with Detective Superintendent Bray yesterday and asked him to rejoin Enoggera. While he did not apologise, Mr Moroney said Detective Superintendent Bray was "a very credible detective, a very experienced detective".

Mr Moroney tried to downplay his actions by saying the officer he had assigned as taskforce leader, Detective Superintendent Ken McKay, would remain and Detective Superintendent Bray would report to him.