Greens' Woodruff demands more powers for review of Paul Reynolds

Greens leader Dr Rosalie Woodruff said the Commission of Inquiry had revealed police failures to investigate Senior Sergeant Paul Reynolds over a 10-year period, when concerns about his conduct with children were raised.

"We wrote to [police minister Felix Ellis] asking for a inquiry independent of Tasmania Police, with wide scope and full powers to compel people to appear, to gather evidence and refer to prosecution," she said as parliament resumed on Tuesday.

"Instead, the commissioner of police responded, not you, she announced it would be a review, not an investigation, she wrote the narrow terms of reference herself, and won't investigate the funeral decision, and there are no powers to compel witnesses to appear."

The review by barrister Regina Weiss lacked strength to get to the bottom of police mishandling of the Reynolds case, and would not be independent from the police service, she said.

Dr Woodruff also said the review should be allowed to probe the decision to provide Sergeant Reynolds with a police funeral with honours after evidence of his crimes was found at his home.

"Police are dictating the direction that the review is taking - will you step in and order a proper investigation?" she asked.

Police Minister Felix Ellis said the commission of inquiry had revealed that there were times that the police failed to offer victim-survivors the support needed, and that the decision to give Sergeant Reynolds a police funeral was wrong.

"We want to make sure that all government institutions, including Tasmania Police, are rebuilding the trust of the community after the findings of the commission of inquiry," he said.

He said police protocols had already been changed to ensure the decision to provide a police funeral to a suspected paedophile is never repeated.

"The decision to grant a police funeral was previously at discretion of the police commissioner, now they will be required to take into account any police standards investigation when they make a decision."

He said the review was being carried out by a respected barrister who had experience prosecuting some of the worst crimes against humanity in the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

"The review will be completed in a trauma-informed way, and will identify whether there has been any misconduct by Paul Reynolds in his handling of matters reported to him or investigated by him.

"It will also investigate whether he used his powers to groom young people, and commit child sex abuse in course of his career, and whether there has been any misconduct by police officers involved in the investigation.

"This will include while he was stationed at the Deloraine division and in Prosecution Services," Mr Ellis said.

Sergeant Reynolds committed suicide on September 13, 2018, the day after officers from Tasmania Police Professional Standards Command visited his home and found images of child abuse on his personal mobile phone.

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