Geelong custody officer dragged person across floor by hair

Michael Varker took Victoria Police to the Fair Work Commission after he was fired for allegedly using excessive force toward a person in custody at the Geelong Police station on August 25, 2020.

But earlier this week Fair Work Commission deputy president Val Gostencnik dismissed the application, ruling there was a “valid” reason for Varker’s dismissal, and there was “no substantive procedural unfairness” in the way he’d been treated.

The Commission heard the ex-custody officer demanded the person, named in the document as Person X, take off a plastic bracelet and a “verbal exchange” ensued.

“There does not appear to be any other basis for Mr Varker’s apprehension that Person X was going to spit on him or his colleagues or otherwise embark upon an assault,” Mr Gostencnik ruled.

“What is visible to me is the violent grabbing of the hair of Person X, yanking to dislodge Person X from the chair and then dragging Person X by the hair across the floor.”

Varker didn’t deny using force and told the commission it was “necessary” to process the cellmate in a safe manner.

He said he was concerned the person would become “violent or aggressive”, was behaving in a “physically agitated manner”, was a “sovereign citizen”.

The ex-custody officer also alleged the person had sworn at him and his colleagues, was a known drug user and he’d witnessed them spit blood at the wall.

“(Varker) said that the method of head control by using the hair is regarded as the most effective and safest way to control a person in these circumstances,” it was submitted.

Mr Gostencnik acknowledged Person X’s past behaviour in custody “signalled a need for preparation” and risk assessment.

“The fact a person in custody may have acted inappropriately on previous occasions, does not absolve Mr Varker of his responsibilities to behave appropriately and treat that person in custody with dignity and respect,” he ruled.

Claims put forward by Victoria Police that Mr Varker had failed to render assistance were not proven.

But Mr Gostencnik ruled a separate allegation of excessive force put forward by Victoria Police only warranted a “warning and some retraining”.

Mr Varker became a custody officer in 2016 after more than 30 years in law enforcement, including stints with Victoria Police and the Australian Federal Police.

He spent time with anti-bikie and drug squads and crime investigation units, as well as leading a team of the nation’s air marshals.

When approached by the Geelong Advertiser on Friday, Mr Varker said the Fair Work decision was a “f—ing joke”.

“I’m innocent,” he said.

Mr Varker also came under fire for a skull face mask worn on the job against uniform guidelines and “vile and racist” Facebook posts made throughout his employment with Victoria Police.

But the Commission found they “could on no account be mistaken as official Victoria Police or Victorian Government views” and did not link him to law enforcement.

“They are unmistakably the ignorant and racist views which he holds but which he lacks the insight and emotional intelligence to not express,” Mr Gostencnik said.

In 2018, Varker told a Victoria Police magazine he decided to apply for the custody role at the suggestion of his daughter.

“I think law enforcement is in your blood, so you sort of gravitate back towards that,” Mr Varker said.

“My passion has been law enforcement for 32 years, so it’s pretty hard to get it out of your system.”

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