THE NSW Police advised the YMCA that there were concerns about the association holding public information meetings with parents affected by allegations against employee Jonathan Lord.
An internal police memo sent by Detective Senior Sergeant Glyn Baker of the child abuse squad said the "YMCA was difficult to control" and the association was "running scared".
Det Sgt Baker was giving evidence on Thursday, the fourth day of a national inquiry into how the YMCA handled allegations of child sexual abuse against Lord, who is now in jail.
He said both comments, which he wrote in a memo when he was handing over the Lord case to another officer in 2011, referred firstly to the fact the YMCA had directed parents to Miranda police when in fact the Kogarah joint-investigation response team were handling the case - and this was causing confusion.
The "running scared" comment, he said, was his opinion that the YMCA was trying to manage a very difficult situation.
The commission heard that police set up a hotline and a helpline in conjunction with the NSW department of Family and Community Services about a week after the allegations against Lord were made.
It was another week before the YMCA was informed of the helpline.
Liam Whitely, who was in charge of child services at the YMCA, contacted police for a meeting.
Det Sgt Baker said they advised the YMCA there was legislation around protecting the identity of victims and revealing Lord's name.
In answer to Justice Peter McClellan, who is chairing the Royal Commission, Det Sgt Baker said that even though there was no suppression order in place at the time, police also had a duty of care to Jonathan Lord who was on bail.
He agreed with Justice McClellan that if Lord's name had been revealed in the sense of allegations more people might have come forward.
Justice McClellan asked if the police should not have offered the YMCA help by attending the meetings because the association rightly saw itself as having a responsibility to parents and children.
Det Sgt Baker said they were managing a major criminal investigation at the time and the helpline/hotline was in operation.
He repeated that police advice was not that the YMCA shouldn't hold the meeting, "the advice was, it was their choice".
"We never told the YMCA, we never told them not to give his (Jonathan Lord's) name, we provided advice and guidance.
"Our advice was that should they reveal his name they might have difficulty managing the situation."
Evidence to the commission earlier this week heard that the YMCA told parents, on police advice, they could not discuss details of the case.
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