The NSW Police Force has mismanaged hundreds of unsolved homicides, failed to catalogue multiple high-profile cases and left files to collect dust on senior detectives’ desks, an inquiry has heard.

The investigative practices of the force between 1970 and 2010 have been exposed during the Special Commission of Inquiry into more than two dozen suspected gay hate deaths in Sydney.

Despite relying on a tracking file as a “live document” to keep recording unsolved homicides and suspicious deaths, the inquiry on Thursday was shown that the last matter added to the file was recorded in August 2016.

Unsolved homicide squad Detective Chief Inspector David Laidlaw said the official record management system used by his team since it was established in 2004 was “still a work in progress” when asked why no data had been recorded for the past seven years. 

The court also heard that more than a dozen matters reviewed and sent to him to assess had languished on his desk. 

“They have been sitting on your desk for over 12 months?” Commissioner John Sackar asked the chief inspector and 38-year veteran of the force.

“Well then, why hasn’t somebody said something instead of sitting quietly leaving files collecting dust on the desk?”

Det Chief Insp Laidlaw conceded the backlog of cases did require urgent attention but said nothing had been done to solve the “resource issue”. 

“Has it ever occurred to anyone in the NSW Police Force that a specially funded project needs urgently to take place by way of audit of all unsolved cases?” Justice Sacker asked.

“These are all people’s lives and people’s family’s lives,” he said.

The inquiry heard that prior to 2004 there was “no system in place” for the management or review of unsolved homicides.

Officers subsequently identified more than 400 potential cases between 1970 and 2000.

A total of 201 cases were identified for reinvestigation but Det Chief Insp Laidlaw was unable to say where the list could be found or whether anyone had been tasked with the reinvestigations.

Just 76 cases were found to have been reviewed in the years from 2009 to 2017.

Counsel Assisting James Emmett SC said that at the current rate it would take 22 years for detectives to review all unsolved homicides on file. 

“At the rate of 76 every nine years, it would take decades to get through – to review all of the files or even half the files,” he said.

When asked whether NSW Police follow current recommendations to review cold cases every two years, Det Chief Insp Laidlaw said it would only be “in an ideal world” that cases would be reviewed every five years. 

“But we don’t have the resources to do it every five years,” he said. 

The head of the homicide squad was forced to admit the systemic and notoriously poor management of files for unsolved murder cases was an ongoing issue within the force.

Detective Superintendent Daniel Doherty said he was aware of ongoing issues with tracking down exhibits and records before his promotion to lead the Homicide Squad in 2019.

He conceded the longstanding issue was “notorious” in the force and well known among officers even when he was appointed commander.

The inquiry was told issues of poor record-keeping continued under Det Supt Doherty’s leadership, with evidence not archived properly and left in various police and non-police premises with no record to indicate movement.

“The mis-labelling of records or exhibits was always an issue,” Det Supt Doherty said.

By Samantha Lock and William Ton in Sydney