August 2009 - The Police Association Victoria

22
Victorian on the Front Line
Fighting Trafficking and
Exploitation in Cambodia
Steve Morrish with the Cambodian Deputy Police
Commissioner after the signing of the Memorandum
of Understanding between the two organisations.
To step into the Phnom Penh,
Cambodia office of anti-human
trafficking and exploitation
Non Governmental Organisation
SISHA, is to confront the harsh
reality of the country’s criminal
underbelly head on. Yet talking
about paedophilia, people
trafficking, child abuse and forced
labour issues that universally shock
and sicken - is all in a day’s work
for the organisation’s founder Steve
Morrish and his team. Regrettably
Cambodia deserves its reputation
as a global hotspot for people
trafficking and sexual exploitation,
although in truth this is also a
regional problem. It is precisely the
country’s desperate mix of poverty,
underdevelopment, corruption,
and of course its troubled political
and administrative history, which
has created a society particularly
vulnerable to these crimes.
In January 2005, Steve Morrish,
the son of retired Detective Senior
Sergeant John Morrish, who at the
time was stationed at Footscray CIU
as a Senior Constable, travelled to
Cambodia on a two week holiday.
There he was confronted with the
harsh reality of extreme poverty
and terrible abuse against women
and children. After realising
that Cambodia’s lack of police
resources and experience was
allowing untold numbers of abuse,
assault and trafficking crimes to
go completely uninvestigated, let
alone acted on, Steve felt compelled
to use his policing skills to help
exploited people. Steve came back
to Melbourne and requested a a
one year work break without pay so
that he could return to Cambodia to
help others however this was denied
by Police Command. After an
eight year career with the Victoria
Police Force, working at Sunshine,
Preston, Regional 3 RRU, Northcote
and Footscray CIU, Steve resigned.
He is still disappointed at the lack
of support and understanding
by Command.
In March 2005 Steve returned
to Cambodia and after several
short assignments in Cambodia,
Thailand, Vietnam and India
investigating human trafficking
and child exploitation with various
organisations. He then founded
South East Asia Investigations into
Social and Humanitarian Activities
(SISHA). Although the Cambodian
authorities are attempting to
tackle the country’s trafficking
and exploitation problems, the
level of policing experience and
the systems necessary to do so
effectively, are simply not in place.
The initial idea behind SISHA,
an Australian registered not-forprofit
organisation, was to provide
additional assistance to fill in this
skill and resource gap. Failure
to do so would mean losing the
future - not to mention childhoods
of hundreds of boys, girls and
young women to prostitution,
drug addiction, abuse and
bonded labour.
Steve Morrish and former Western
Australia Detective Sergeant,
Dean Lague, with over 24 years
experience, spearhead the SISHA
investigation team which is made
up of six local male investigators
and two current serving
Cambodian police officers. Coming
face to face with some of the world’s
most flagrant paedophilia, as well
as abuse and trafficking cases,
the team covertly collects video,
audio, medical and documentary
evidence of these crimes before
submitting briefs of evidence to
the police and courts. Once search
and arrest warrants are issued,
the SISHA investigation staff work
closely with local police to execute
warrants, raid establishments and
rescue the victims from exploitation.
August 2009 The Police Association Journal
www.tpav.org.au