VICTORIA Police has launched a scathing attack on the Catholic Church, accusing it of deliberately impeding its investigations into child abuse.

In a submission to the parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child abuse by churches, signed by Chief Commissioner Ken Lay, police recommend that some of the church's actions to hinder investigations be criminalised.

The submission lists a number of ways in which the church has hindered the criminal justice process, including dissuading victims of sexual crimes from reporting them to police, failing to engage with police and alerting suspects of allegations against them, ''which may have resulted in loss of evidence''.

It says the church moved or protected known or suspected sexual offenders. While the submission notes the church has recently improved co-operation with police, in some cases it has been reluctant to provide information even when a warrant was issued.

Police also say the typical delay in reports of sex offences within the church means more reports of alleged offences from the 1990s and early 2000s are expected in coming years.
Another submission, by lawyer Vivian Waller, who has represented more than 70 abuse victims, says that now-Cardinal George Pell refused to listen to a boy who was raped in Ballarat in 1969 soon after the event. But Father Pell was in the room when the victim told another priest what happened. Both times the victim tried to tell his story he was badly beaten, though not by the now Archbishop of Sydney, the submission says.

The inquiry into the handling of abuse by religious and other organisations was established in April after years of campaigning by victims, advocates and media, and particularly after a series of articles in The Age revealing the extent of abuse within the church and the mishandling of allegations by church-appointed officials.

Confidential police reports detail the suicides of at least 40 people sexually abused by Catholic clergy in Victoria and say it appeared the church knew about a shockingly high rate of suicides and premature deaths but had ''chosen to remain silent''. The Age also reported earlier this month that a senior police investigator had told victims of a suspected Catholic paedophile of his ''grave'' concerns that his investigation into their alleged abuser was being derailed and that ''pro-church police members'' might have interfered in his inquiry.

The Catholic Church has consistently acknowledged past mistakes but maintains it has improved its protocols for dealing with victims since 1996, when it established its national Towards Healing internal inquiry process.
But police, in their submission, are particularly critical of this and the Melbourne archdiocese's equivalent process, the Melbourne Response, in which victims may not be legally represented, saying it appeared to be a ''de facto substitute for criminal justice'' and detrimental to prosecuting suspected sexual criminals.

The Melbourne Response states on its website that in the past 14 years the church has compensated 300 people as victims of sexual abuse and identified 86 offenders, of whom 60 were priests. Yet not one complainant was referred to Victoria Police, the submission says.

''Some of the offenders may be laicised, however this is rare. In many cases offenders are moved to other positions within the church which have a limited opportunity for offending, or provided with counselling,'' police say.

''The inquiry process restricts the ability of victims to have the offender brought to account through the criminal justice system, and promotes the culture of secrecy which prevents more victims speaking out.''
Police say the system's independent commissioner and assessors are not trained or resourced to deal with the allegations and do not have the benefit of recent changes to the way in which police typically interview victims of sexual assault to reduce trauma.

''Indeed, we are aware of circumstances where victims have been required to confront alleged offenders where they have been required to repeat allegations in the presence of these alleged offenders,'' police say.

''Victoria Police has offered to provide this briefing to the Catholic Church on two occasions but these offers have not been accepted to date.''
In its submission to the inquiry, the church says it has removed its opposition to mandatory reporting of clergy and church workers suspected of abusing children - apart from the sanctity of the confessional.

It says it would support reporting all allegations if police guaranteed to respect the victim's right to privacy.

Justice Philip Cummins proposed extending mandatory reporting in his report of the Protecting Victoria's Vulnerable Children inquiry, and Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart said in a statement yesterday that clergy should operate under the same rules as doctors, nurses, teachers and police.

He said all serious crimes should be reported to police but that there was a tension between calls to report all abuse allegations and the wish of some victims to keep their experiences private and unreported to police.

A system should be set up in which all details except those that identify the victim are reported to police, on the basis that police powers of compulsion are not used to discover the victim's identity, the church says.

The submission, from Victoria's four diocesan bishops, acknowledges that the church was slow to believe victims, underestimated the often devastating harm, took too long to respond effectively, believed offenders' denials or that they could be cured and at first favoured a legal response rather than a pastoral one.

The independent commissioner for the Melbourne Response, Peter O'Callaghan, QC, told The Age last night: ''I will respond to the police submission by providing written submissions to the parliamentary committee. It is therefore inappropriate to make comment, save to say that there is much in the police submission which is seriously misconceived and quite wrong and which I will correct and refute in my submission to the committee.''
Church spokesman Father Shane Mackinlay said: ''We are reviewing the police submission and many others. Facing The Truth [the church's response to the inquiry] addresses many of the matters raised by the police.''