Salvo says the army has no abuse culture ALMOST 500 complaints of child abuse have been laid against Salvation Army officers but the organisation has never gone to the police, an inquiry in Melbourne has heard. About 50 officers have been named in abuse claims by children who were in Salvation Army homes but a senior army officer says nothing has been proven against them because the organisation takes a "non-adversarial" approach to such claims. Its territorial legal secretary, Captain Malcolm Roberts, on Thursday denied there was a culture of abuse in the Salvation Army but said the group was ashamed of the treatment children had endured under its care. "This should not have happened and this was a breach of the trust placed in us," Capt Roberts told the Victorian parliamentary inquiry. Capt Roberts said the Salvation Amy had never conducted an internal investigation into claims of abuse. He said the sexual abuse complaints arose from the children's homes the Salvation Army ran up until the 1980s. There were no records of complaints arising from abuse in the church, he said, adding that the organisation's record-keeping methods were not as rigorous as they could be. Since 1997 the Salvation Army has received 474 abuse claims, 470 of which arose out of its children's homes, relating to a period of 30 to 40 years. Thirty-seven of the officers named in the claims are dead, three or four have been jailed and two are still active officers. Capt Roberts said the two serving officers were very young at the time of the incidents in which they'd been named. "They were very young officers 25-30 years ago in homes and they are still working but there's been nothing that's been proven against them," he said. Our process doesn't require a victim to prove anything. He said the Salvation Army had never reported any of the allegations of abuse to police because the claims were made by wards who were now adults, who had the responsibility to go to police. Capt Roberts told the inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations that the Salvation Army did "everything to encourage" victims to go to the police. "Our policy is to encourage, to take by the hand, to help prepare statements," Capt Roberts said. We've got a policy of mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse. Our view is when people are adults those adults should have the responsibility of reporting to the police. The organisation has paid out approximately $15.5 million to claimants, including legal costs, with a further $4 million available for future claims. Counselling was provided to claimants where necessary, Capt Roberts told the inquiry. He said he could give no explanation as to why alleged perpetrators named in the inquiry were not held to account when complaints were made. Individuals were responsible for the abuse and it was not a failure in the culture of the Salvation Army, he said.