Well I called every man and his dog today.

Here is the sort of people I was calling...

****************************************************************
Police Traffic Office will give me details, but I need date and 
location of accident.  If it was Bankstown, ph 707-5234.

Police (general) are on 281-0000

RTA is on 132213.  Send a court order to RTA Freedom of Information,
P.O. Box K198, Haymarket to get his new address.  Quote as much 
info as possible.

Hurstville Police are on 375-8599

Con D Csorba from Hurstville was police officer in charge of
car crash.  He is in Monday 7am-3pm.

Crash happened at Hillcrest Ave, Penshurst on 4/1/95.  Reported to
Hurstville Police on the same day.

Linda on 132-200 is checking with Meters guys to determine if silent 
  numbers can be divulged.  Link is broken in 6 months, although
  microfiche is available.  She says that we need to go to the police 
  to get the info, and to contact my local MP.
  
Ombudsman is on 286-1000

Privacy committee are on 252-3843 (also 1800-023-985?)
State Goverment member for Hurstville is Maria Ficarra, ph 580-9349.
  Address is M.P. Georges River, Level 2, 2A Green Barks St,
  Hurstville 2220.
Federal Govt is Leo McLeay on 554-3808
BIL lives in Mortdale.
*******************************************************************

Ok, the good news is that the accounts people were able to link the
old number to a new one, but the new one was a silent number.  The
first guy said that a letter from a judge or magistrate was all
that was required to get the details.  I rang back later to get the
address to send the letter to, but the person on the phone this
time said (after she called me back), that they only give the info
to the police.

RTA said that they would give out the info with a court order.

The police on the other hand (Hurstville) said that they wouldn't 
give the info out, not even with a court order (?!).  But then
she said that if I contacted the police officer that handled the
case, he might be able to help (I have to wait until Monday for
that).

I really don't believe that in this democracy of ours that we can 
have people break the law and the law is on the side of the offender,
and I figured it was just a matter of getting the right man for the
job.

So I contacted the sheriff, which is separate from the court, and
they only know how to reclaim property, they don't know how to 
trace people or get court orders.  So I rang the local courthouse,
but they said that they didn't really know, but that I could make
an appointment to see the Chamber Magistrate, and maybe he would
send out the letter.

I decided to contact a different courthouse, to see if I could
speak with someone who had been very helpful last time, but she is
also away until Monday.

I decided to contact the Ombudsman, because although I don't know
who they are, they sound like people worth contacting.  I asked
a couple of questions, one who was in charge of this "privacy"
rubbish, and they gave me the number for the "privacy committee"
I think they called it.  Also they told me to contact my state
or federal MP, and gave me numbers for both.

I rang the privacy people, and the bitch there said that it was
up to the RTA if they gave out the info, but I wasn't allowed to
go to the telephone company because that has nothing to do with
car crashes.  She was real bitchy about it, and was obviously
someone with a lot to hide.

Then I contacted the state MP, and AT LAST I had someone who would
help me!!!  She said that if I sent in a letter detailing what it
was that happened, she would ask the police to investigate the
matter.

What really scares me is that I have to rely on my MP like that.
I would have thought our beauracracy was geared in favour of the
victim, and it was just a matter of finding the right beaurocrats.
I was lucky that I got a friendly state MP (amazing that I got to
talk to her personally), but I would shudder to think what would
happen if I got some crabby MP.  BTW, the Ombudsman thought it
was pretty useless to go to the local government (council).  Strange
that the local courts handle local issues but the local council
doesn't?  The other thing that was strange was that the local court
had never heard of a "court order", or at least they seemed to think
that it was something done "not by our courts".

WHAT THE HELL BEURACRACY DO WE HAVE HERE?  Let me have a guess..

We have three levels of government, local, state and federal.

Each of the three levels of governments makes up laws, all of
which are available from a government printer, wherever that
happens to be.

We have five levels of courts:
1. local courts
2. small claims tribunal
3. civil court
4. criminal court
5. supreme court

We have 2 levels of police force, NSW State Police and Australian
Federal Police.  So long as you don't commit a criminal offence,
all you have to do is make it over the border and you'll be 
essentially free from prosecution.

We have an ombudsman, who doesn't really do much.

Now the people elect the government, the government makes the 
laws, the people who break the laws get caught by the police,
tried by the courts, then the police assist in enforcing of
the ruling.  Isn't that the way it's meant to work?  Is there
something somewhere that lists the rights of a victim?????!!!!!

I am going to draft a letter to the MP now, and get my BIL to
provide the documents and sign it, and then depending on what
the specific policeman says on Monday, get him to send it in.
Also I will contact my other Monday contact.  Also I will get
my BIL to make an appointment with the chamber magistrate.

BTW, do you reckon in that name of the policeman, that "Con"
is "constable"?  I know it can be someone's first name.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out.  Any advice, or
secret contacts most welcome.

BFN.  Paul.

P.S. The other guy owns the car that caused the crash and so once
we have the new address, the car should be able to be reposessed.

P.P.S. Anonymous addresses sent to me via the devil dialer or 
some other mailer set up to use fake addresses would be great.
@EOT:

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