One of Victoria’s top police officers says he is concerned to hear the sister of a missing transgender woman was told to call the fire brigade to search her apartment, saying it is not “proper process”.
Angela Pucci Love, the sister of 28-year-old Bridget Flack who died in 2020, gave evidence on Monday at a coronial inquiry investigating the deaths of five transgender and gender-diverse young people who died of suspected suicide between 2020 and 2021.
Pucci Love told the court she felt frustrated in the early days of the police investigation into Flack as a missing person. She said she spoke to seven different police officers over the first 36 hours of her sister’s disappearance.
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“The feeling I had was it wasn’t anyone’s problem,” she said.
“I don’t believe [Victoria police] understood the level of risk … I remember saying by nature she’s more vulnerable in public. She is more vulnerable to assault.”
Within the first few days of the search, Pucci Love said an officer told her “nothing else could be done”. On one occasion, she said an officer suggested she call the fire brigade and say smoke has been seen to get them to search her flat.
Neil Paterson, an assistant commissioner at Victoria police, said the proper process would be to have permission from the next of kin and determine the method to gain entry into the residence.
“That would concern me because I wouldn’t want Ms [Pucci] Love to arrange that, I would be wanting the police to arrange that,” he said.
Det Sen Const Dan Garside who led the investigation into Flack’s case from 4 December, said Pucci Love’s testimony about being told to call the fire brigade was “pretty hard to listen to”.
“It’s a sister trying to find her sister,” he said.
A Facebook page created by members of the LGBTQ+ community, which amassed more than 6,000 followers, helped raise awareness of Flack’s disappearance and coordinate searches. Police did not participate in the searches in a formal capacity, the court heard.
Flack was last seen by a friend on 30 November in Carlton. Her disappearance made national headlines and members of the LGBTQ+ community discovered her body near a billabong in Kew, in eastern Melbourne, two weeks after she was reported missing.
It was understood she died between 30 November and 11 December, the court heard.
Paterson said improvements could also have been made to the ground search to ensure that members of the LGBTQ+ community did not find Flack deceased, noting the discovery of a dead body can lead to “experiencing some form of trauma”.
Pucci Love described Flack as “smart, artistic and creative from the outset” and a “beautiful friend” who was fiercely loyal.
Flack first told Pucci Love and her husband she was affirming her gender as female in January 2019.
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2023-11-27 02:44:31
Original from www.theguardian.com
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