Crazed Queensland Australia Police Charge Man On Bicycle With Drunk Riding After Testing Less Than Limit Required For Pilots Of Airplanes Shortly After He Filed A Police Brutality Complaint

QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – A Noosa man who filed a complaint to the Crime and Misconduct Commission over an alleged assault by a police officer has been charged with drink riding a bicycle.

The drink-driving notice was served on Shaun West less than a week after a report of his complaint appeared in the Sunshine Coast Daily.

Mr West, 27, was originally charged on summons with obstructing police after a May 29 incident, which started on Noosa Parade. The ensuing events are the basis of his CMC complaint.

He alleges he was assaulted at the Noosa police station after being stopped by police for riding a bicycle on the footpath without a helmet and no lights.

Mr West said one police officer hit him and rammed his head into a wall of the station after he declined to repeat his name and personal details.

He later undertook a breath test, which he said showed a blood alcohol limit of .037.

“I can’t say that I was surprised about this (the second charge) but I can’t understand it,” Mr West said.

The commercial pilot wants to know how someone on an open driver’s licence with a reading of less than .05 could be charged with being in charge of a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.

Mr West has also changed his mind about pleading guilty to obstructing police after the Noosa Magistrates Court duty lawyer showed him the police brief of evidence.

He said the police would allege that he was aggressive and swore at police officers – claims he denies.

“I was going to plead guilty to that and cop a $50 fine to save everyone’s time and money,” he said. “But not after I read what they’ve said – it’s nonsense.”

Mr West has been remanded to reappear in court on July 10 and is seeking legal advice.

Under the Queensland Traffic Act regarding non-motorised transport it states: “Any person, who whilst he is under the influence of liquor or a drug drives or is in charge of any horse or other animal on a road, or drives or is in charge of any vehicle (other than a motor vehicle) on a road, or attempts to put in motion any vehicle (other than a motor vehicle) on a road, is guilty of an offence.” The CMC is yet to advise Mr West of how his complaint will be handled.

Police have declined to comment while the CMC matter is being investigated.

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Queensland Austraila Police Officer Chris Hurley Admits Killing Man

QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – The Queensland police officer accused of killing a man in custody on Palm Island says he has come to terms with the fact he caused the death, but strongly denies any intention to cause harm.

In an unexpected move, Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley took the stand at his manslaughter trial in the Townsville Supreme Court today to give his version of what happened on November 19, 2004, the day Mulrunji Doomadgee was found dead in a cell at the north Queensland island’s watchhouse.

Asked by prosecutor Peter Davis SC if he had come to terms with the fact that he had caused the death of the 36-year-old man, Snr-Sgt Hurley responded: “Yes”.

Despite earlier telling officers investigating the death he had fallen beside Mulrunji during a scuffle at the doorway of the watchhouse, Snr-Sgt Hurley today conceded he must have landed on top of him.

However, he described the incident as “a grey area” and said he had only changed his mind after hearing evidence from medical experts.

Experts have said the fatal injuries suffered by Mulrunji were likely to have been caused by a “complicated fall” in which Snr-Sgt Hurley landed on top of the deceased with his knee protruding.

Pathologist Guy Lampe earlier told the court Mulrunji died of internal bleeding after his liver was split in two and his portal vein burst as a result of the application of “moderate to significant force” to his upper abdomen.

“If I didn’t know the medical evidence or the evidence that’s been heard by the court this week I would sit here today and tell you I fell beside him,” Snr-Sgt Hurley told the court.

“I have to accept that because of what the doctors have said.”

However, he strongly denied intentionally injuring Mulrunji by performing a knee-drop on him.

“I can say with 100 per cent certainly and honestly that I did not do that,” Snr-Sgt Hurley said.

“I did not intentionally do anything to harm Mr Doomadgee.”

He also denied an accusation from Mr Davis that he lied about the incident to investigating officers.

However, Snr-Sgt Hurley said he could have covered himself with a lie if he had intentionally caused the injuries.

“I could have easily gotten myself out of this … if I’d been the type of person to do that I could have made up a lie,” he said.

He said he felt “emotional and upset” after Mulrunji was found lying dead on the floor of the watchhouse cell, although he initially believed the death may have been caused by a heart condition.

“I was upset because at that time he was the exact same age as me (36),” Snr-Sgt Hurley said.

“I was just very distressed about it because I knew he had a partner, she’d come up to the station with the young one.”

Snr-Sgt Hurley earlier told the court he had arrested Mulrunji because he had sworn at police liaison officer Lloyd Bengaroo as he walked down a street heavily intoxicated.

Snr-Sgt Hurley also testified that he had difficulty restraining Mulrunji as he attempted to force him from a police van into the watchhouse and that they fell hard onto the floor after tripping on a step at the doorway.

However, he said that after the fall Mulrunji showed no signs of being seriously injured, even though he needed to be dragged by the wrists into the cell.

“I thought he was foxing it, I thought he just didn’t want to go into the cell,” Snr-Sgt Hurley said.

Mr Davis and defence barrister Bob Mullholland QC finished calling evidence today and the jury is expected to hear their closing statements on Monday.

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Australian Loophole Allows Up To 200 Convicted Child Molesters To Be Removed From Sexual Offender Database

AUSTRALIA – Up to 200 convicted paedophiles will have their names scratched from the NSW child protection register after a sex offender exposed a legal loophole in court.

Police have already notified 26 convicted paedophiles that they are no longer being tracked, The Daily Telegraph reports.

A successful Supreme Court challenge by Wollongong man Ajan Khanna revealed that current laws do not require convicted paedophiles who only received a suspended jail sentence to be added to the database.

Khanna, 33, received a 12-month suspended jail sentence after being convicted of committing an indecent act on a six-year-old girl while staying with her family in Melbourne.

He fought attempts by NSW Police to place him in the register, and Justice Paul Brereton agreed with him — ruling the law only required those who had been given “supervised” sentences be placed on the register.

Now Khanna, along with up to 200 other paedophiles who have been given suspended sentences, will no longer be tracked by police.

Police Minister David Campbell has vowed to close the loophole with new legislation to be introduced next week.

“It is the strongly held belief of this Government that anyone convicted of a registrable offence should be on that register regardless of what any judge thinks,” he told the Telegraph.

Campbell said the ruling was an “awful precedent”, and said he would work to make sure the names of paedophiles removed from the register would be reinstated.

“NSW has the toughest and longest-standing register in the country and the highest rate of compliance,” he said.

BraveHearts executive director and child protection campaigner Hetty Johnston slammed the decision, and said a suspended jail term was not a light sentence.

“There is no sexual offence against a child which is insignificant,” she said.

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‘Excessive Force Used’ In Custody Death By Queensland Australia Police Officer Sgt. Chris Hurley

QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – The trial of a Queensland policeman charged with the manslaughter of a Palm Island man in 2004 started in Townsville today with the prosecutor claiming that excessive force from the officer, probably using his knee, almost split the victim’s liver.

Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley, who appeared today in a grey striped suit, has pleaded not guilty to the unlawful killing and assault of Mulrunji Doomadgee at the island’s police station 2½ years ago.

In the Townsville Supreme Court, prosecutor Peter Davis, SC, said that on the night of November 19, 2004, Hurley arrested Mr Doomadgee on a Palm Island street and took him away in a police van.

When they arrived at the station, Mr Doomadgee allegedly hit Hurley as he was led out of the vehicle.

Mr Davis alleged that Hurley retaliated with a punch. As the officer tried to get Mr Doomadgee through the station’s back door, the pair fell to the floor.

“The accused person is guilty of manslaughter because he unlawfully killed Mr Doomadgee and he did that by deliberately applying a compressive force to Mr Doomadgee’s body,” Mr Davis said.

The prosecutor said medical evidence would show that “the particular type of injury suffered by Mr Doomadgee could not have been suffered by him just falling on the floor”.

He said that by administering some force “most probably with [Hurley's] knee”, Mr Doomadgee’s “liver was virtually cleaved in two across his spine”.

Mr Doomadgee later died of blood loss as a result of injuries, which also included the rupture of his portal vein.

Mr Davis told the court that the Crown had no eyewitness to the alleged fatal assault, however “often accumulative weight of circumstances and facts can produce an extremely strong case”.

He said that the prosecution would call 13 witnesses, including five Palm Island residents who claim they were on the scene when Mr Doomadgee was arrested.

Florence Sibley, who claims she saw Hurley punch Mr Doomadgee, is also set to testify, as well as three doctors, two pathologists, a surgeon and some police officers who interviewed Hurley after Mr Doomadgee’s death.

Hurley’s defence counsel rejected the prosecution’s claims.

“There is no substance in either charge. The theory by the prosecution can not withstand it being a reasonable possibility that Mr Hurley fell on Mr Doomadgee in such a way that part of his body came in contact with [Mr Doomadgee's] upper abdomen and lower chest,” said Robert Mulholland, QC.

“If Mr Hurley had done what the prosecution says, do you not think … Mr Hurley would surely, if he was capable of that, he would have been capable of giving him a failsafe explanation.”

The trial also heard an excerpt from a recording of police interview with Hurley in the 24 hours after Mr Doomadgee’s death.

In it Mr Hurley denied that he fallen on Mr Doomagee and said he had landed beside him when they fell through the station’s doorway.

The trial before Justice Peter Dutney continues.

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Queensland Australia Prison Restricts Toilet Flushes And Showers, But Says Paris Hilton Would Be Right At Home There…

QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA - Queensland prisoners will be restricted to three-minute showers and six toilet flushes a day under a new state government plan to save water.

But the opposition claims the state’s prisons are so luxurious celebrity inmate Paris Hilton would be right at home.

Corrective Services Minister Judy Spence today said showers were restricted to four minutes – the same as south-east Queenslanders on level five water restrictions – but there were plans to tighten water use.

“For example, the new Brisbane Correctional Centre that will open later this year, formerly Sir David Longland (jail), will have new technology installed whereby prisoners will only get a three-minute shower,” she told State Parliament.

“After three minutes the water will automatically cut off.

“With the new technology they will only be allowed six flushes a day.

“That will be the new regime for prisons in Queensland.”

Ms Spence said the new technology would be introduced in Queensland’s newest prison at Gatton, west of Brisbane, and in any upgrades of prisons in the future.

“I identified a long time ago that the issue of water wastage in prisons was indeed an important one, and that is why we have taken these actions,” she said.

However, Nationals MP Rob Messenger told parliament prisoners were still wasting water and had unlimited time for showers.

He said prisoners often turned their hot water taps on to create steam in their cells to keep warm on cold nights.

“Everyone else in the south-east is on level five (water restrictions) with four minute showers,” Mr Messenger said.

“But prisoners are running all the water they like.

“They can smoke wherever they like, designers have been called in to sex up prison clothes and the minister’s providing fluffy puppies.

“Paris Hilton would be right at home.”

The Government this year began introducing puppies in prison as part of a new rehabilitation scheme. It has also announced plans to redesign prisoner uniforms in khaki and denim.

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Massive Payout For Man Falsely Accused Of Terrorism By Incompetent Australian Police

AUSTRALIA – Federal and state police have been forced to make a massive compensation payout to a man they accused of being a terrorist.

Bilal Tayba was arrested and charged for allegedly preparing a terrorist attack on the Federal Police building — claims that turned out to be completely false.

Three years ago Mr Tayba was talking on his mobile phone outside the Federal Police building in Sydney.

These actions led to him being arrested — and living life as a terror suspect.

“Everybody looks at you in a very bad way, (like) you’re some violent person, which I’m not. I’ve never had any criminal record,” Mr Tayba said.

Mr Tayba was accused of carrying out surveillance and filming the AFP building, but the only cameras at the scene were those belonging to the Nine Network, waiting to film Mr Tayba’s friend, Bilal Khazal.

The AFP was forced to drop all charges straight after his arrest, after its surveillance video failed to provide any evidence for the claims.

On Friday afternoon it made a surprise settlement offer to Mr Tayba, believed to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

That hasn’t stopped his lawyer, Adam Houda, from launching a verbal attack on police.

“This whole segment would have to run hot favourite to win on Australia’s Funniest Home Videos,” Mr Houda said.

“What we are getting . . . is the most amateurish, embarrassing and childish response from police that would make them a laughing stock to the world.”

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At Least 82 Queensland Australia State School Employees Are Hot For Students

QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – More than 80 Queensland state school employees, mostly teachers, are being investigated for alleged sex offences involving students.

The allegations range from serious sexual assaults to showing sexually explicit material to making sexual comments to children in conversations, phone text messages and on the internet.

Sources say some inquiries are taking years.

An Education Queensland spokeswoman confirmed 82 state school employees were under investigation on sexual related complaints.

She said there were 414 cases involving allegations of official misconduct against EQ staff. As of May 1, there were 12 teachers under suspension, eight with pay, four without pay. The four on leave without pay had appeared in court on criminal charges and had been committed for trial.

Two female teachers are before the courts in southeast Queensland on sex-related charges.

During a committal hearing in November, the Beenleigh Magistrates Court was told a teacher, 25, was seen hugging, kissing, fondling and having oral sex with a girl aged 14-16 between 2004 and 2006.

A state high school teacher in Toowoomba faces trial on four counts of indecent dealing after allegedly having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student.

The EQ spokeswoman said four teachers and two principals had been moved from their schools pending the outcome of investigations.

“The department treats any allegations of misconduct very seriously and works in conjunction with the Queensland Police Service, Crime and Misconduct Commission and Queensland College of Teachers to conduct thorough investigations. Cases involving allegations of criminal sexual misconduct are reported immediately to the CMC and police.

“In these serious cases teachers are suspended on leave or, in the case of temporary and casual teachers, have their engagement terminated pending their case being finalised.”

The spokeswoman said the investigations represented “a tiny percentage” of a 62,000-strong workforce of full and part-time teachers, administration and non-teaching staff.

“The number of teachers being investigated for serious alleged sexual behaviour is very low,” she said.

But a department insider described it as a “major problem”.

“This relates to sexual assaults by teachers on students that are not being adequately, appropriately or promptly investigated,” the informant said. “The public must be made aware of these concerns for the safety and well-being of these and other vulnerable and innocent students.”

Some of the investigations had dragged on for years, stalled, the source says, because of a lack of staff in the ethical standards unit.

“There is a backlog of cases creating serious concerns for child protection,” the informant said.

“What is the Beattie Government doing to address these criminal matters and the tragic position where young, innocent Queenslanders are being sexually abused and assaulted?”

The source said part of the problem was that ethical standards unit investigators were “either on contract, do not hold permanent positions or are on secondment”.

“Some investigations have been outstanding for a number of years,” he said.

The source claimed several senior investigators had left “through frustration at the inability of senior management to appropriately resource the unit”.

The EQ spokeswoman confirmed some investigations were prolonged.

“Some have been active for some time because they are in the criminal jurisdiction, over which the department has no control.”

The ethical standards unit had been boosted with five temporary investigators and these positions would be made permanent next year.

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Two Queensland Australia Police Officers Charged With Child Cruelty For Inflicting Injuries On The Infant

QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – Two Queensland police officers have been suspended from duty after being charged with cruelty to a child.

The officers, believed to be a married couple, are accused of inflicting injuries on their infant child in September 2006.

The child was placed in alternative care by the Department of Child Safety.

The two officers were arrested and charged yesterday with one count each of cruelty to a child under the age of 16 and ordered to appear before the Ipswich Magistrates Court on June 1.

Queensland Police have refused to provide more details on the case, saying to do so may identify the child, who cannot be named.

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Australian Police Facing 6 Figure Lawsuit After Botched Raid On Wrong House And Beating Innocent Man

AUSTRALIA – Police face a six-figure civil suit payout after drug squad detectives allegedly injured a naked father-of-three during an illegal raid on the wrong house.

Daryl Hurst, 39, a disability pensioner of South Townsville, claims to have suffered a broken nose and cuts to both lips when he resisted arrest during the bungled early morning swoop on his home two years ago.

Police had the right number but the wrong street, the wrong house – and an innocent man.

Mr Hurst has filed a formal complaint with the Crime and Misconduct Commission after charges of common assault against him were dropped by the Crown.

“They raided the wrong house,” Mr Hurst said yesterday.

“They came into my house like storm troopers out of a bad cop show.

“I was in bed in the nude and woke up to find eight undercover police in my home.

“Then they tried to throw me into handcuffs, it was a shock.

“It was only natural that I retaliate and I kicked out at them, that is when they held me down and belted me three or four times in the head.

“I got a gash in both my bottom and top lip and a broken nose from where they were belting me.

“They owe my family an official apology, the way they humiliated my family, the way they spoke to my children, we need an apology.”

Both the CMC and Police Ethical Standards Command are looking into the allegations of excessive force in the October 2005 raid.

Queensland Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson declined to respond to questions about the matter yesterday, saying it was still under investigation.

Officers had a search warrant to look for Mr Hurst’s brother, Bruce Wayne Hurst, at another address, only a few metres around the corner.

“The drug squad should be embarrassed by their actions. They are just too in-your-face,” Mr Hurst said.

“It was like a home invasion. That is how it seemed.”

Judge Stuart Durward, in his concluding remarks delivered in Townsville District Court yesterday, found the police to be “careless or reckless” in the execution of the search warrant.

Judge Durward said it was an “unjustified and unlawful entry”.

“The police had no right to be in the residence nor to have entered it in the way that they did,” he said.

“The police conduct had serious consequences for all involved and particularly for the accused who was subsequently charged with three very serious offences arising out of the way in which he reacted to the entry by the police and their presence in the house, in what must have been a surprising and bewildering event.”

The Crown dropped the charges, the jury was released without taking a verdict, and Mr Hurst was allowed to walk free.

Defence lawyer Mark Stevenson said his client was now seeking a “six-figure” damages payout in a civil action.

He said the matter was highly embarrassing for police.

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Sydney Australia Police Officer Arrested, Suspended, Charged With 43 Counts Of Bribery

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – A Sydney-based policeman has been suspended from duty after being charged with bribery and corruption offences involving a female private investigator.

The 47-year-old senior constable allegedly provided information to the 50-year-old woman in return for payments. The alleged offences date back several years, police said.

The pair were charged by detectives attached to NSW Police Force’s Professional Standards Command.

The policeman faces 43 counts of receiving a bribe under Section 200 of the Police Act 1990.

He is due to appear at Downing Centre Local Court on July 2 and has been suspended from duty.

The woman has been charged with 44 bribery offences and is due to appear at the court on the same day.

Police said inquiries were continuing.

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Senior Geelong Australia Police Officer Alan Crane Appeals Child Pornography Conviction And Slap On The Wrist Sentence

GEELONG, AUSTRALIA – A Geelong police officer who received a suspended jail sentence for possessing child pornography will appeal next week.

Senior Constable Alan Crane, 41, will appear before Geelong County Court after the case was adjourned yesterday pending further reports.

In February Crane received a three month suspended sentence and a $6000 fine in Geelong Magistrates’ Court.

The court heard police seized computers and CDs with tens of thousands of pornographic images in a raid on Crane’s home.

Geelong County Court Judge Leslie Ross extended Crane’s bail and adjourned the hearing until Wednesday.

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Australian Judges Calls Efforts Which Imprison Intellectually Disabled Man Without Charges ‘Barbaric’

VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA – A BID to keep an intellectually disabled Victorian man behind bars because there was no other option was a “barbarity”, a judge said today.

John Maltman, 60, was found guilty of arson, theft and reckless conduct endangering persons in June last year and was placed on a non-custodial supervision order.

He was then placed in residences managed by Intellectual Disability Services, but proved problematic and violent, the County Court was told today.

The Department of Human Services has applied to vary Maltman’s non-custodial supervision order to a custodial supervision order, but the court heard there was no appropriate place for him to go.

As a result, Maltman is now in Port Phillip Prison’s Malborough Unit for intellectually disabled prisoners, even though he has not been sentenced to a jail term.

The only place that caters for intellectually disabled offenders on custodial supervision orders is at the Long Term Residence Placement at Bundoora, but there are only five places available statewide and these are full.

Judge Elizabeth Gaynor said keeping Maltman in prison because of a lack of other options was appalling.

“To put this man in jail for an indefinite period, it’s like something out of (surrealist author Franz) Kafka and I’m not doing it – this is a disgrace,” she said.

The Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health’s Dr Michael Draffern today told the court Maltman suffered greater disability than the unit’s other prisoners and would not receive the expert therapy he needed to improve.

Maltman could probably not sustain prison employment and would largely be cell-bound, Dr Draffern said.

Ms Gaynor said such situations should have been eradicated under deinstitutionalisation – the practice of moving people out of mental institutions and into community-based care.

“Mr Maltman could be stuck in a cell, alone and abandoned, for years and years and years if it does not kill him first,” she said.

“I regard this situation as a barbarity and an abomination.”

Ms Gaynor said she would explore every avenue before sending Maltman to prison and would order reports every three months on efforts to move him elsewhere.

“I’m not having him end up in jail for an indeterminate period just because he’s just too hard,” she said.

The matter was adjourned to June 18.

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Brisbane Australia Police Recruit, Arrested, Suspended, Employed For Just A Week Before Drunken Crash

A Brisbane police recruit with just a week in the service has been suspended after allegedly being caught drink-driving.

Police said the 30-year-old recruit, who began work last Monday, was suspended without pay today after being involved in a car accident.

A blood alcohol test allegedly returned a reading of 0.115 following a crash at an intersection in Oxley on Saturday.

He will appear in Richlands Magistrates Court on June 6.

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Former Queensland Australia Police Officer Files Claim For Injury Sustained While Another Officer, Matthew Bach, Used Unnecessary Excessive Force Against Man

QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – A former face of police recruiting in Queensland is suing the service after being knocked out when a colleague allegedly used excessive force during an arrest.

Jacqueline Parker, 27, says the injuries she sustained during the arrest ended her career; she is seeking more than $700,000 compensation.

Photographs of Ms Parker at work were used in advertisements encouraging people to sign up to the police service.

But her ambition to become a top officer ended after she responded to an incident near the Treasury Casino on August 3, 2003, while a constable at the City station.

With patrol partner Constable Matthew Bach, Ms Parker approached a man on the George Street footpath and tried to arrest him.

Constable Bach stood behind the man and placed a handcuff on his left wrist while Ms Parker tried to hold the man’s right arm.

“Bach then performed a leg sweep manoeuvre without warning to the plaintiff and when it was not necessary and dangerous to do so given the close proximity of the plaintiff,” Ms Parker’s Supreme Court claim says, and instead of striking the alleged offender, Constable Bach accidentally kicked his colleague and knocked her to the ground.

Ms Parker hit her head and began convulsing. She was unconscious for five minutes.

Her court claim, lodged late last month, says the leg sweep move was “unnecessary or excessive use of force”.

Ms Parker said she suffered a brain injury and was forced to leave the service, must undergo continuing medical treatment, is on medication and has had her social and recreational life curbed.

Ms Parker’s damages claim includes $450,000 for loss of future earnings, $184,992 for loss of past earnings, $50,000 for future paid assistance, $20,000 for medical treatment, and $12,000 for pain and suffering.

A police spokeswoman said it would be inappropriate to discuss a case that was before the courts.

“It will be up to the courts to determine the circumstances surrounding this incident and to make any judgment,” the spokeswoman said.

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Former West Australian Police Officer Christopher Ronald White Pleads Guilty To Videotaping 14 And 9 Year Old Girls Showering

AUSTRALIA – A former West Australian policeman has been remanded in custody after admitting he secretly videotaped two girls as they showered.

Christopher Ronald White, 48, pleaded guilty in the West Australian District Court to indecently recording a 14-year-old girl and a nine-year-old girl in his Fremantle home in 1996.

The court was told White, who was not a serving officer at the time, hid a camera under a towel in his bathroom and filmed the girls as they undressed and showered.

The tapes were found in 2005 when police investigating White on another matter raided his office at Fremantle jail.

He was charged last year after he returned to Perth from Thailand, where he had been detained on child sex offences that were later dropped for lack of evidence.

White cried on Friday as the court was told of his deep shame and how his aberrant behaviour had let down his father, who had served in the police for 38 years.

He was remanded in custody pending his sentencing on June 15.

Before leaving the police force to work in security in 1990, White had been a senior constable who had spent the latter years of his 12-year career in charge of the one-man Dwellingup police station, about 100km south-east of Perth.

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Pervert New South Wales Australia Senior Prosecutor Patrick Power Free On Bail After Child Pornography Conviction

AUSTRALIA – Former Deputy Senior Crown Prosecutor Patrick Power was sentenced to 15 months in jail yesterday for possessing child pornography, but was later freed on bail pending an appeal.

The former prosecutor, who turns 55 on Saturday, pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography in January, six months after an IT expert at the Office of the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions discovered the material on Power’s personal computer.

Power had tried to conceal the child pornography by disguising it under innocuous names such as “Thesis Backup”, the court was told.

Sentencing him to 15 months jail with an eight-month minimum term, Chief Magistrate Graeme Henson described some of the 29,000 images Power had collected as “wicked and evil”.

More than 400 of the still pictures and videos depicted children, some under the age of 10, engaged in a variety of sex acts with adults.

“To see the pale death of innocence and trust in the eyes of so many young children is to bemoan the capacity for some members of the human race to descend into the dark and depraved side of the human condition,” Mr Henson, who was forced to view the material, said.

He gave Power a discount on sentence for his guilty plea but suggested he should have admitted the crime from the start, not six months after it was discovered.

“By virtue of the nature of his profession and the furtiveness in his conduct by the way in which he sought to secrete the child pornography within his computer … (Power) would have had no doubt from the very outset of being charged that he was guilty of the offence,” Mr Henson said.

The magistrate took into account Power’s previous good character and 59 references tendered to the court on his behalf.

“I accept that he has contributed significantly to the community through his principal professional role as a Deputy Senior Crown Prosecutor,” Mr Henson said.

However he said Power’s behaviour stood out from others charged with similar offences because of his occupation: “There is no issue (Power), unlike other members of the community, is uniquely placed to understand the nature of his conduct.”

A psychiatrist’s report stated Power had been suffering from “internet addiction” during the period he collected the pornographic material.

However, Mr Henson said while Power may have suffered from the condition he “nonetheless well knew what he was doing and that it was manifestly unlawful”.

Despite Power’s legal team submitting a good behaviour bond would be an adequate penalty, Mr Henson said there was no option other than full-time jail and sentenced him to a term under which he would be eligible for release on parole in January.

He acknowledged Power would need to serve his sentence in protective custody.

Following the sentence, NSW Attorney-General John Hatzistergos called upon DPP Nicholas Cowdery to provide a “full account of his actions and the actions of his office” regarding Power’s case.

Prosecutors claim Power was offered a window of opportunity to possibly dispose of evidence because his DPP colleagues informed him of the discovery of the pornography before police were alerted.

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Nutcase New South Wales Australia Police Officer Jumps Off Building During Domestic Incident, Dies

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – An off-duty NSW policeman has died in a fall from a unit block after earlier threatening to kill himself, just days after the state’s police force moved to introduce new mental health safeguards for officers.

NSW Police Force Commissioner Ken Moroney extended his condolences to the 27-year-old officer’s family, friends and colleagues.

The officer died after falling from a third storey window in a block of units in Sydney at about 2.45am (AEST) on Sunday.

Police said there were reports of a domestic dispute inside the unit.

The man’s partner has been interviewed by police, who say the death is not being treated as suspicious.

Police found the officer’s body after being called to the unit block in inner-city Surry Hills after the incident.

News Limited reports that the off-duty policeman was threatening to commit suicide with a knife before the fall.

A suicidal NSW highway patrol officer was prevented from taking his life at a Sydney police station last week. The 39-year-old married man was experiencing family problems.

That incident came just ten days after the suspected suicide of ACT police chief Audrey Fagan.

Experts say relationship breakdown is a major factor for police, with many officers tending to have unstable personal relationships.

The weekend’s events have again thrown the spotlight on the mental health of police officers and the high rate of suicide within their ranks.

Before Sunday’s incident, 14 serving and former NSW officers had taken their own lives in the past seven years, the most recent being 29-year-old constable Greg Norman Lundberg on January 7.

About 200 NSW officers are currently on stress leave.

Mr Moroney last week announced that a program by the Black Dog Institute, an organisation set up to deal with depression, was launched in March to teach senior police officers how to spot stress and depression in their staff.

All officers above the rank of superintendent will have completed the one-day course by the end of the year, and inspectors and sergeants will follow next year.

Other support programs, including peer support officers, are available to all officers.

Mr Moroney said the Wellcheck program, which is aimed at police in high-risk specialist areas such as child abuse and accident investigation, will also be extended to general duties officers.

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Former New South Wales Australia Police Commander John Dolan Busted Shoplifting Beef Jerky And Spaghetti

NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA – A former elite NSW Police anti-corruption unit commander John Dolan has been caught shoplifting food worth $12 from Woolworths.

The former acting detective superintendent was stopped by a store detective as he left Woolworths at Bateau Bay, on the Central Coast, with a packet of beef jerky and packet of spaghetti in his pocket.

Mr Dolan, who headed investigations for the Police Integrity Commission and NSW Crime Commission, returned to the store with a security officer and paid for the food with his credit card.

An unshaven and unkempt Mr Dolan, 48, appeared a broken man yesterday when he confirmed the theft to The Daily Telegraph.

Following Woolworths’ policy dealing with minor shoplifting, Mr Dolan signed a voluntary statement of admission to record the incident.

“It was a misunderstanding that didn’t necessitate any further action,” said Mr Dolan, once right-hand man to the internal affairs golden boy former assistant commissioner Mal Brammer.

Mr Dolan denied police had been called and that he had been cautioned. Both police and Woolworths refused to comment.

It is understood Mr Dolan had been doing the family grocery shopping when he was seen slipping the items into his pocket.

Mr Dolan’s career ended five years ago after several adverse findings against him arising out of damaging internal inquiries into high-profile police investigations. He was later discharged as being medically unfit.

In 2001, Mr Dolan was allegedly caught drink-driving behind the wheel of a NSW Crime Commission car at Killarney Vale, also on the Central Coast, while on holiday.

Police claimed he had a blood alcohol level of .075. At court, a doctor’s certificate was presented stating Mr Dolan was “unfit to work or attend court or to read and complete documents until further notice”.

Mr Dolan never appeared in court and the charge was eventually no-billed. The incident happened at the height of Mr Dolan’s involvement with Operation Florida into corrupt Manly detectives.

As commander of the Special Crime Unit that managed police undercover investigations, Mr Dolan’s management style was criticised in 2002 by an internal inquiry for being “dictatorial and authoritarian” because it was “his way or no way”.

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Former Australian Federal Police Officer Charged With Assault

AUSTRALIA – A former Australian Federal Police (AFP) officer is facing nine assault charges involving inappropriate use of capsicum spray in the city watch-house.

The 51-year-old Wamboin man will be formally charged in court today.

He was suspended from the AFP in January and resigned shortly after.

The former officer is the third person to be charged over alleged assaults at the city watch-house involving capsicum spray.

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Disgraced Australian Police Officer Desmond Campbell Sole Suspect After New Wife Falls From Cliff

AUSTRALIA ? Setting out on a spontaneous camping trip in the Royal National Park, Janet Campbell was prepared for a night under the stars with her new husband.

But within hours she was dead at the bottom of a 55m cliff, the victim of a tragic accident ? or murder, Glebe Coroner’s Court heard yesterday.

Her disgraced former Victorian police officer husband, Desmond Campbell, was yesterday identified as the only suspect in the case.

Police have uncovered a number of “strange circumstances” surrounding the mother-of-one’s death on March 24, 2005.

It appears Mr Campbell was involved with at least three other women while he was married to Mrs Campbell ? even taking one on a luxury holiday to north Queensland within days of his wife’s death, the court heard.

The 49-year-old Deniliquin man did not attend his wife’s funeral and began making inquiries about her will and sale of their house very shortly after her death, counsel assisting the inquest Patrick Saidi told the court.

Records also showed Mr Campbell had used his dead wife’s phone to vote for a contestant in a TV talent show called X-Factor just three days after she died.

Mr Campbell was not in court yesterday, despite being urged to obtain legal representation.

Former Victoria Police Officer Desmond Campbell ‘Person Of Interest’ In New South Wales Australia Death Inquest

NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA – An inquest into the death of a woman at the Royal National Park south of Sydney has been told that her widowed husband is a person of significant interest.

The Glebe Coroners Court has been told 49-year-old Janet Campbell died after falling off a cliff while camping with her husband Desmond in March 2005.

Mr Campbell told police his wife of six months had left their tent.

He said after he heard a sound, he searched, and found her on rocks below the cliff.

In his opening address, council assisting the coroner, Patrick Sadie, said Mr Campbell was a person of significant interest to the inquest.

The 49-year-old is an ambulance officer and a former Victorian police officer, who resigned after he was suspended without pay.

The inquest has heard there is evidence that during the relationship, from which he was gaining financially, he made derogatory comments about Janet Campbell to a colleague, and alleged she was stalking him.

The inquest continues.

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Australian Prosecutor Dr. Patrick Power’s Hoard Of 29,000 Child Pornography Pictures And Videos Exposed

AUSTRALIA – The double life of Dr Patrick Power, SC – the former deputy senior crown prosecutor caught with thousands of images of gay and child pornography – was exposed by a glitch in his computer.

It had crashed, so he took it to work to ask a technician to look at it. When the technician at the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions backed up files, one caught his eye. Its title explicitly and profanely described a 10-year-old boy in a sexual act with his father.

Thus began an investigation which uncovered nearly 29,000 pornographic images, including more than 400 of children as young as five. Police also found 31 videos, including one rated in the worst category, called “sadistic/bestiality”, which showed pain inflicted on a child.

The videos had been found in a folder associated with an accounting software program. A search of Power’s home found more child pornographic pictures on a disk labelled “Thesis back-up”.

His defence lawyer, Ian Barker, QC, told Downing Centre Local Court yesterday that Power, 54, had suffered from an internet addiction and depressive illness. He tendered 76 references from barristers, friends and family “attesting to his integrity and contribution to society”. They said the highly regarded prosecutor had always behaved with “complete propriety” towards children.

“In one sense the community is indebted to him and he’s now entitled to call in that debt,” Mr Barker said after outlining some of Power’s contributions to youth causes. Power had suffered public humiliation and had already been punished, and should be given a good behaviour bond, Mr Barker said. Also, he would be in obvious danger in prison, he said. “He is not a pedophile nor anything like it. … This is an extremely sad case. You have a good man, a person with integrity … who is ruined by his own conduct which was contributed to very substantially by matters beyond his control.”

Power pleaded guilty to one charge of possessing child pornography in January.

But the prosecutor, the Victorian chief crown prosecutor, Jeremy Rapke, QC, said there was evidence a hard drive containing more child pornography had been hidden or destroyed in the two days between Power being told about the investigation by the office of the DPP and police searching his home.

“A man who was truly remorseful would not have declined to co-operate with police … by concealing or destroying evidence,” he said.

Power had also initially tried to blame people staying at his house for accessing the computer, which was deceptive and showed “consciousness of guilt”.

A day before Power was charged, in July 2006, he told a colleague: “I am deeply embarrassed … it satisfies a long sexual fantasy but I don’t engage in that type of behaviour.”

But a psychiatrist’s report tendered in court said his sexual preference was for lean, blond men aged 18 or older. “Power either misled his psychiatrist or [his colleague]. It must raise doubts about his reliability and, perhaps, honesty,” said Mr Rapke.

“Some of [the material], particularly the videos, was repulsive, degrading of the children in them, and disturbing. There can be no doubt that some of the children seen in Dr Power’s collection have been subjected to serious and probably painful sexual assault and it is deeply troubling that a man such as Dr Power would voluntarily and presumably for his own sexual gratification, possess such material.”

Mr Rapke cast doubt on the extent of Power’s depression, which had not prevented him from exercising his demanding job.

Power had carefully catalogued the pornography and his engagement with it was “long-standing and intense”.

Child pornography was not a victimless crime, and a person possessing it had contributed to the sexual exploitation of children, Mr Rapke said.

Power is due to be sentenced on May 9.

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Queensland Australia Police Recruit Suspended After Alcohol Test At Three Times Legal Limit On Easter Day

QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – A 25-year police recruit has been suspended after blowing more than three times the legal limit during a breathaliser test on Easter Sunday.

The female recruit was today suspended without pay after being detected with a blood alcohol reading of 0.155 following a random breath test at Slacks Creek at the weekend, Queensland Police said in a statement.

The female recruit was intercepted on the M1 around 9.30 on Sunday night, police said this afternoon.

The 25-year-old was served with a Notice of Disqualification and her driver’s licence was suspended.

She was also served with a Notice to Appear in the Beenleigh Magistrates Court on May 18

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Former Veteran New South Wales Australia Police OfficerS Wayne Alfred Duckworth And Brett Terence Gale Rob Hotel

NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA – Two former NSW policemen who robbed a Brisbane hotel of more than $63,000 were taking the controversial sleeping tablet Stilnox at the time, a court was told yesterday.

In the District Court in Brisbane, Wayne Alfred Duckworth, 47, and Brett Terence Gale, 44, pleaded guilty to robbery in company with violence, on November 5 last year. The trial of a third man will be heard at a later date.

Gale, who spent seven years in the NSW police force, is a former first-grade NSW rugby league identity who played for Wests and Eastern Suburbs in Sydney and the Australian Schoolboys.

Duckworth spent 17 years in the NSW police force including a stint in the armed robbery squad.

Prosecutor Julie Aylward told the court that Gale was married to a third former policeman’s cousin and that man was working at the Park Ridge Tavern, on Brisbane’s southern outskirts.

She detailed how Gale and the hotel worker had discussed at length robbing the hotel.

Female staff threatened

Mrs Aylward said Gale recruited Duckworth and arranged to wait outside the hotel until the worker gave them a signal by turning off the Fourex beer sign over the tavern.

She said at 1.25am the pair, armed with metal bars, threatened two female staff and the other man, forcing them to open the safe, before fleeing with $63,000 in cash.

Police later interviewed the worker who admitted Gale was one of the robbers.

The man later told police he had conspired with Gale to rob the tavern and had earlier tried to call off the robbery but Gale had said it was too late.

Mrs Aylward said all but $1000 of the money was recovered.

“It is a tragic fall from grace to have gone from investigating crime to being involved in committing a serious crime,” she said.

Stress defence

Barrister Steve Zillman, for Gale, said at the time his client was under considerable stress and had also a diagnosed grief disorder after the death of his brother.

He said Gale was taking Stilnox to help him sleep and the drug had recently received publicity for being the possible cause of erratic behaviour.

Mr Zillman said his client had no previous convictions and shown remorse by writing a letter of apology to the female victims.

Barrister Charlie Bagley, for Duckworth, said his client had been suffering post-traumatic stress disorder and was in financial difficulties.

He said Duckworth had also been taking Stilnox at the time. Judge Kerry O’Brien adjourned the sentence until next Wednesday.

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Innocent Australian Kid Jailed For Almost A Year With No Bail On Bogus Rape Charge

AUSTRALIA – A 16-YEAR-OLD boy who was acquitted on Friday night of multiple rape was locked up for almost a year awaiting trial.

Patrick Waring, then a 15-year-old Catholic college student, was dragged out of bed by police a year ago and refused bail on nothing but the say-so of a lying 17-year-old girl who cried rape.

Just before the trial started, the girl admitted lying about her sex life the whole time. She had insisted she was a virgin.

DNA tests excluded Patrick from her claims of rape.

She finally admitted she had had sex with a man at the back of a cinema the same afternoon, two hours before claiming Patrick raped her at Joondalup’s Central Park after following her from the railway station on March 30 last year.

She also admitted to having been in a sexual relationship with her boyfriend at the time.

Patrick was originally denied bail when a police officer told the Children’s Court that Patrick had phoned the girl and threatened her — a fact the police later admitted was wrong.

Patrick’s father, Terry Waring, said his family had been torn apart for a year. His and his wife’s belief in the justice system had been shattered.

“Shoddy work, cruelty and seeming vindictiveness cost us our house, financial security and a lifetime of savings for a three-week trial,” he said.

“The emotional cost to the family has been incalculable. Personally, I have not cried as much since my brother was killed in Vietnam.”

The girl’s new story included being raped by two different men in two hours. She said the cinema sex with a 20-year-old, who she had met on the internet, was rape, but she didn’t want him charged because it might affect her compensation claim.

The girl had previously lied to interviewing officers, the Sexual Assault Resource Centre doctor who examined her and to prosecutor Amanda Forrester.

Director of Public Prosecutions Robert Cock dropped his opposition to bail and Patrick was allowed home on strict conditions on the eve of his trial, but Mr Cock pressed ahead with a three-week trial in the District Court.

Yesterday, while Patrick was enjoying his first day of complete freedom for exactly a year, his family was still suffering from the trauma.

“The accusations came out of left field,” Mr Waring said.

“We are a very close family and Patrick had never been involved in anything.

“The biggest issue we had with him before was that he cycled to school without waiting for his mother to see him across a main road, and he was grounded for two weeks.”

The Warings had to re-mortgage their house in Beldon to pay for the trial and they moved to Canning Vale to be close to the Banksia Hill Juvenile Detention Centre so they could visit Patrick daily.

Patrick’s mother, Marie, resigned her nursing job at Joondalup Health Campus and his father took leave from the commonwealth public service to cope with the trauma.

“It’s the finish of school for Patrick,” Mr Waring said.

“He’s lost virtually all of Year 11 and the start of Year 12 and he’s had to grow up very fast. He lost his youth in there.

“We didn’t tell anyone at school what had happened to him. He just disappeared. And now we couldn’t send him back there to face the ramifications of this.”

Patrick’s 24-year-old brother, Michael, also lost a year of study for his degree in computer science and information systems because of the ordeal.

His 25-year-old sister Danielle has changed her plans to study civil law and is studying criminal law at Notre Dame University.

Patrick was charged while his shocked parents were still making their dash back to Perth from a Walpole holiday and before DNA results were obtained.

It took PathWest seven months to provide the results.

It was only when defence counsel Tom Percy QC and Jonathan Davies consulted DNA expert
Brian McDonald to interpret those results that another male’s DNA, not Patrick’s, was found in the girl’s underwear and in her mouth. Only then did she admit her lies.

Mr Percy told the court that the case was dangerous and based on the lies of a complainant who was bizarre. In his closing address, he told the jury that the girl’s evidence was riddled with inconsistencies, was most implausible and totally dishonest.

He said she had lied to people in positions of authority on the night and deliberately lied for a long time, her lies only discovered last month.

Ms Forrester told the jury in her opening address for the prosecution that the girl’s account would be corroborated in each and every way by the independent evidence gathered by police.

But nothing to substantiate the girl’s claims was found during a forensic check of the Joondalup park on the night and the SARC doctor found no evidence of sexual assault.

SARC’s Dr Catherine Nixon, who told the court the girl was clear, composed and cogent on the night, agreed on cross-examination that abrasions on her back could have been caused by carpet burns.

PathWest biologist Janine Bennett said in cross-examination that the prosecution’s claim of a two billion-to-one likelihood of DNA on Patrick’s jeans being a mix of the girl’s and Patrick’s, was not valid if you allowed for the possibility of a third person being involved.

Mr Percy said it was the only calculation PathWest did on the samples and it ignored the possibility of a third contributor found by Dr McDonald.

After a three-week trial before Judge Philip Eaton, the jury found Patrick not guilty of four counts of aggravated sexual penetration without consent, one count of deprivation of liberty and one count of aggravated indecent assault.

Mr Cock defended continuing with the trial, saying there had been some corroboration of the girl’s story by other witnesses and the jury’s 10-hour deliberation supported the view that there were serious issues to consider.

Patrick admitted in court that he had lied about not ever speaking to the girl. He acknowledged in late November that he had had some innocent, non-sexual social contact with the girl on March 30.

He told the court that after seeing the girl at Joondalup train station and talking to her for a while at Central Park, he exchanged phone numbers with her and went home.

In court, police conceded they had not followed best practice in the case.

Various officers said that the Central Park scene was left unguarded from 1.25am on the night, it was a week before it was searched, and the same officers had visited the homes of the girl and the accused which allowed for contamination of evidence.

The male DNA found in the girl’s underwear was not identified by PathWest as not belonging to Patrick because it was excluded under PathWest’s reporting levels.

The trial in the District Court cost taxpayers about $90,000 and has left Mr Waring demanding answers to the failings in the justice system, citing flaws in the police investigation, delays in PathWest testing and its interpretation levels.

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New South Wales Australia Police Officer Charged With Drunk Driving

NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA – An off-duty NSW Police Force officer has been charged with drink-driving after his car was stopped on the South Coast overnight.

Highway patrol officers from the Shoalhaven Local Area Command observed a vehicle travelling along Bridge Road, Nowra, shortly before 1.30am today.

The vehicle turned into Lamonds Lane and came to a stop. The driver was subjected to a roadside breath test, which returned a positive result.

A 24-year-old Sydney man was arrested and conveyed to Nowra Police Station where he underwent a breath analysis, before being charged with high range PCA (0.165).

He is due to appear in Nowra Local Court on Monday 23 April and has had his licence suspended.

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Australian Judge Marcus Einfeld Faces Fraud Charge After Blaming Dead Woman For Speeding Ticket

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - A former Australian judge, who blamed a dead woman for a speeding offence in his car, has been charged by police and could face a hefty jail sentence over his attempts to avoid a A$77 ($62) traffic fine.

After a long-running investigation that has attracted nationwide publicity, police laid 13 separate charges of perjury, perverting the course of justice and other offences against former judge and human rights advocate Marcus Einfeld.

A Sydney newspaper last year sparked the massive police investigation into the use of statutory declarations to avoid speeding fines after revealing a woman blamed for driving Einfeld’s car had died three years before the offence. “It will be alleged that the offences relate to four separate camera detection infringement notices,” chief police investigator Colin Dyson told reporters.

The police investigation found 240 people had also used a scam to blame another dead person, or a man living in another state, after their cars were photographed speeding or committing traffic offences.
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A Sydney court last August dismissed a speeding charge against Einfeld when he provided a declaration that he had loaned his car to an old friend from the United States on the day of the offence.

A Sydney newspaper which attempted to verify Einfeld’s story later found the woman had died in a car accident in 2003 — three years before Einfeld’s car was photographed speeding in Sydney.

Einfeld, who has previously denied any wrongdoing, was bailed to appear in court in April. The offences he is now charged with carry sentences of up to 14 years in jail.

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Former Griffith Australia Police Officer Pleads Guilty To Child Molestation

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – A former Griffith constable has pleaded guilty to charges relating to child sex offences in Downing Local Court in Sydney last week.

Due to the sensitive nature of the case, certain details have been suppressed.

The officer was arrested in his own home in Griffith just before midnight on February 24 last year and ordered to appear before Griffith Local Court in early March.

Bail was set at $25,000 with the magistrate stipulating the accused not re-enter Griffith or have any contact with the victim.

Following concerns an impartial jury could not be found in his home town, a lawyer with the Department of Public Prosecutions requested the trial be moved to Sydney, a move unopposed by defence lawyer David Davidge.

“This trial couldn’t realistically be held in Griffith,” Mr Davidge told court in March 2006.

A plea of guilty was entered on behalf of the accused former officer on Thursday and, according to a court officer, a sentencing hearing is expected to start at Sydney District Court on Friday.

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Victoria Australia Police Officer Stole $10,000 From Car Trunk

ROSEBUD, AUSTRALIA – A Victorian policeman stole $10,000 from the boot of a stranded car then split the cash with a fellow officer, a court has heard.

The former senior constable at Rosebud police station, who can not be named for legal resons, in Victoria’s south, pleaded guilty to one count of theft in the Victorian County Court today.

The court was told the former officer stole $10,000 cash from a stranded Honda sedan and items including a torch and $110 in gift vouchers while patrolling with another senior constable on June 14, 2005.

The car belonged to a Mornington Peninsula shop owner who had left it behind with $35,000 to $45,000 cash in a black bag in the boot after it got bogged near Flinders.

None of the cash has been seen since.

Crown prosecutor Geoff Horgan SC said when the car owner and her partner returned to tow the car they realised the money was missing and informed police.

The court heard that when pressed by his sergeant about what had happened, the officer said the car was unlocked and did not contain cash.

However five days later he admitted to his boss he stole the $10,000 and gave half to the other senior constable.

The court was told the officer reluctantly carried out the theft after persuasion from his co-accused – a more experienced police officer he found “forceful” and “very intimidating”.

The officer had disposed of all but $800 of the cash by flushing it down the toilet and vowed to give evidence against his co-accused.

The officer’s lawyer Elissa Scott said the former officer, now a hire controller, has schizophrenia and was in a vulnerable mental state at the time of the theft.

“He was pressured into offending, immediately regretted it, got rid of the cash, then reported it when he got sufficient strength,” she said.

Ms Scott said her client had been severely depressed since his mental diagnosis.

She asked for a reduced sentence, saying her client was of good character, had no criminal history and had admitted to the theft early.

Judge Thomas Wodak bailed the officer until April 4 for sentencing.

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www.xennamgyal.com Scores Werribee Australia Police Officer Melissa Scannell’s Topless Cell Phone Photo

Click image or HERE for larger image.

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Former South Australian Police Choir Member Matthew Scott Barrowman Jailed For Child Molestation – Two And A Half Years For Sex With Transsexual Teen

AUSTRALIA – A former South Australian police choir member has been jailed for two-and-a-half years for having a sexual relationship with a transsexual teenager.

Matthew Scott Barrowman, 38, had a five-month relationship with the transsexual 15-year-old boy in 2004.

He was later convicted of unlawful sexual intercourse and indecent assault.

Today Supreme Court Judge Michael David said that while Barrowman’s relationship with the sexually experienced teenager was consensual, it did not excuse the 20-year age gap between the pair.

He jailed the former musical director for two-and-a-half years but set a low non-parole period of nine months to reflect Barrowman’s previous good record and “outstanding personal contribution to the community.”

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Australian Federal Police Officer Joanna Theta Apostoloff Denies Capsicum Spray Attack

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA – An Australian Federal Police officer has pleaded not guilty to a charge of assaulting a watch-house detainee with capsicum spray.

Joanna Theta Apostoloff, 27, is alleged to have carried out the assault at the Canberra city watch-house on June 12 last year.

Apostoloff was suspended on February 9 following an investigation by the AFP’s professional standards team and served with a summons on March 2.

She appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday and the matter was adjourned until May 10.

ACT Chief Police Officer Audrey Fagan said such a serious allegation needed to be tested in court.

“The AFP has acted appropriately and swiftly to investigate this matter and bring it before a court,” Ms Fagan said.

The case is the second in the past year in which an AFP officer has been charged with assault over the use of capsicum spray at the watch-house.

David Arthur Fearnside resigned from the force after a woman accused him of assaulting her while in custody at the facility.

Fearnside has pleaded not guilty in the ACT Magistrates Court to assault charges.

The AFP and the Commonwealth Ombudsman last month announced they would jointly review watch-house procedures in the ACT.

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Former Queensland Australia Deputy Police Chief Turned Private Investigator David Blizzard Faces Charges For Operating Without A License

QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – A former Queensland police deputy chief has become the first person to be charged with operating as a private investigator without a licence, the state Government says.

Former Queensland police deputy commissioner David Blizzard today appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court, charged with acting as a private investigator without a licence.

A spokeswoman from the Office of Fair Trading, which brought the action against Blizzard, said the possible maximum penalty for a single breach of the Security Providers Act 1993 was $7500.

“This is the first prosecution of a private investigator for operating without a licence,” the spokeswoman said.

Magistrate Jacqui Payne today adjourned the matter after a request from the prosecution, whose counsel for the case was ill.

The prosecutor told the court the counsel’s “intimate knowledge” of the case was needed because there was “no precedent in relation to this legislation”.

“This (bid for an adjournment) is something that was considered by the prosecution, and it wasn’t considered lightly,” he said.

However, the defence lawyer vehemently opposed the request, saying the case was not “difficult” and counsel should be replaced immediately.

“My client has had this hanging over his head for a long time,” lawyer Brad Farr told the court.

Magistrate Payne adjourned the matter until June 5.

She ordered the prosecution to immediately pay the defence’s costs for the day.

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Former Veteran New South Wales Australia Court Officer Gary John Short Sentenced In Broome To 30 Months In Jail For Dealing Cocaine And Meth

BROOME, AUSTRALIA – A former court officer with a background described as impeccable has been sentenced to jail in Broome, in northern Western Australia, for dealing in cocaine and methylamphetamines.

The Broome District Court heard that Gary John Short had worked for 28 years as a clerk of courts at a regional town in New South Wales before his marriage broke down and his life started to unravel three years ago.

Police found the drugs in more than 60 sealed bags in Short’s Broome unit in September last year.

He has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years jail, but will be eligible for parole in 15 months.

The 51-year-old also has to forfeit his life savings of about $120,000, after being declared a drug trafficker.

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Victoria Australia Police Not Saying If Police Officer Melissa Scannell Or Boyfriend Cop Will Face Disciplinary Action After Her Topless Photo Circulates Through Department

VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA ? Police will not confirm whether a former Corio policewoman or her policeman boyfriend will face disciplinary action after a topless photo email scandal.

Victoria Police could not confirm which members would come under scrutiny from an internal investigation after a photo of a Werribee officer with her breasts exposed was circulated through the force’s email system.

The ethical standards department was set to investigate after Constable Melissa Scannell sent her ill policeman boyfriend a get-well soon message via mobile phone.

Constable Scannell took the photo on her mobile phone of her in a police shirt with buttons undone and name badge attached.

National Nine News reported the constable’s boyfriend emailed other members the photo, which ended up in inboxes of ethical standards department detectives.

Yesterday, a police spokeswoman repeated earlier comments that: “the ethical standards department are aware of the incident and are investigating the circumstances to determine if any offence has been committed.”

Last year, police internal email came under scrutiny when Sergeant Cathryn Ruzickis took part in “cyber pillow talk” with one of the country’s top cops in Western Australia.

The state’s deputy commissioner Tim Atherton resigned rather than face disciplinary action when confronted with emails labelled as “sexually charged”.

In 2005, personal email at work was debated when two legal secretaries were sacked from one of Sydney’s top law firms after a catfight via their work email.

Queensland Australia Police Investigate Themselves After Claims Of Excessive Force

QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – Queensland police have launched an internal investigation into complaints that officers used excessive force while detaining four young males in Cairns last weekend.

Two men, aged 20 and 18, and boys of 16 and 15, allegedly were placed in a police van and taken to an unspecified location after police responded to repeated calls of a disturbance near Cairns CBD early on Saturday.

A police spokesman said the ethical standards command was investigating after a complaint about the alleged use of excessive force and misuse of authority.

The Queensland Police Union said complaints were often being used by offenders to “get square” with police, causing undue stress for officers involved.

The investigation is being overseen by the Crime and Misconduct Commission.

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Former Victorian Australia Police Officer Troy Holmes Sentenced To 1 Year In Jail For Perjury

VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA – A former Victorian police officer has been sentenced to 12 months in jail for committing perjury.

The County Court heard former officer Troy Holmes, 33, gave false evidence to protect two security guards he knew personally.

In 2003, Holmes told the Magistrates Court he witnessed an assault on a number of patrons outside a Melbourne nightclub that the two guards were charged over.

A police investigation later found that Holmes did not witness the assault and intentionally lied in court.

In sentencing, Judge Jennifer Coates said perjury is generally considered a most serious offence that deserves a prison term.

But she took into account that Holmes’s wife was pregnant with their fourth child and any period of incarceration would cause hardship to his family.

He will serve a minimum of three months in prison.

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Australia Police Officer Melissa Scannell’s Internet Breasts Prompt Investigation

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – A photograph of a young Australian policewoman’s [ Melissa Scannell ] breasts, sent to her boyfriend as a get well message on her mobile phone, has sparked an investigation after it was circulated on internal police e-mail.

The Victoria state police constable was in her police uniform with her name badge visible, her shirt undone and her breasts exposed when she was photographed, Australian Associated Press (AAP) reported Monday.

The image was circulated widely through the force’s internal e-mail, landing in the inboxes of top-ranking officers and ethical standards department detectives.

“She has sent an image to her boyfriend and obviously he has done the wrong thing and forwarded it on,” a Victoria Police spokeswoman told AAP.

“The ethical standards department has been notified. They are aware of the incident, which involved the circulation of a photograph, and they are examining it to see if an offence has been committed.”

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Updated: Werribee Australia Police Officer Melissa Scannell’s Topless Photo While In Uniform Soon To Become Internet Legacy – $500AU Reward For Email…!!

VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA ? By sending her boyfriend a topless photo of herself whilst in uniform, policewoman Melissa Scannell has joined Claire “I hadn’t swallowed for years” Swire on the list of those who learned the hard way there’s no such thing as a private message in the online age.

What started as naughty “get well soon” photo to her boyfriend, who is also a police officer, may now cost Constable Scannell her job after the boyfriend forwarded it to colleagues via Victoria Police’s internal mail network. They forwarded it to friends, who forwarded it again and so on until it landed in the inboxes of top-ranking officers and ethical standards department detectives, reports The Age from AAP.

Apparently the department is “examining it to see if an offence has been committed”. I wonder how many times they need to look at it to be sure. Better send it to forensics to look at, just in case.

Scannell’s big mistake (after trusting her boyfriend) was that she exposed her breasts while in police uniform with her name badge visible in the photograph. The photo was shown on Channel Nine news last night and Scannell reportedly told Channel Nine that the photo was “an error in judgment”.

It certainly was an error of judgement, and a bad one at that considering anyone who has ever used the internet knows how quickly these things spread. In 2000 an email swept around the world from Claire Swire to Bradley Chait – who worked at Norton Rose, a law firm in London. Chait felt the need to forward to six mates Swire’s passing comment about how much she enjoyed their oral sex. Naturally they forwarded it to people who forwarded it to people and within days Swire was infamous across the internet. An error of judgement in a supposedly private email can haunt you forever.

Now it’s Melissa Scannell’s turn to become an internet cautionary tale. As Claire Swire discovered, 15 minutes of fame can leave a bad taste in your mouth.

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UPDATE:

The Werribee Police Constable, Melissa Scannell, who sent her ex-boyfriend a MMS showing her in uniform baring her tits, has gone into hiding.

Current Affairs Herald contacted the Werribee Police about Constable Melissa Scannell, and were told, ?She?s gone into hiding!?, an anonymous officer said. ?We have been inundated with calls from the media about Mel. She is distraught over the whole affair and wished that it would go away?.

When we asked about being dumped by her boyfriend, the officer said he knew nothing about that.

Current Affairs Herald has discovered through an anonymous Victorian Police source, that Melissa Scannell was dumped by her boyfriend because she is a ?bitch?.

?She kept sending him texts and he got sick of it? the officer told us. ?When she sent him a picture showing her tits and begging him to take her back, he decided to get his own back by circulating the image?, explained the officer. ?She got more than she expected and is now hiding until this all blows over. The is a good chance she will lose her job?, but at the very least, she will be suspended?.

UPDATE:

A picture of Constable Melissa Scannell, a young Victoria Police constable, currently stationed at Werribee, showing her tits while in uniform, which she emailed to her policeman boyfriend, has been circulated through the force?s internal email system.

Werribee Police, when contacted, an anonymous cop told us, that the boyfriend dumped the bare breasted bobby but she kept pestering him. To teach her a lesson the boyfriend circulated the picture. The anonymous officer said also, ?She?s a bit of slag and no one likes her. She got what she deserved?.

The ethical standards department is examining the matter to determine whether an offense has been committed as a result of the circulation of the image, a Victoria Police spokeswoman has confirmed.

Policewoman Exposes Her Tits Whilst in Uniform!It is believed that the policewoman, took the image on her mobile phone and passed it on to her boyfriend as an intimate get well message.

The constable was in her police uniform with her name badge visible, her shirt undone and her tits showing when she was photographed.

But the image was circulated widely through the force?s internal email, landing in the inboxes of top ranking officers and ethical standards department detectives. Oops!

Investigators are trying to keep abreast of the situation.

Queensland Australia Police Union President Gary Wilkinson Admits To Contempt Of Court

QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – Queensland’s police union boss has admitted to contempt of court and apologised over public comments he made about inquest findings into an Aboriginal death in custody.

Queensland Police Union president Gary Wilkinson made comments in the media following the ruling from deputy state coroner Christine Clements in September last year that Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley caused the death of 36-year-old Mulrunji Doomadgee.

Mulrunji’s death occurred in the watchhouse on Palm Island off north Queensland November 19, 2004.

Ms Clements found the officer struck Mulrunji several times before police left the man in a holding cell where he died.

Mr Wilkinson accused Ms Clements of conducting a “witch hunt” and ignoring large amounts of evidence.

In response, Queensland’s Attorney-General Kerry Shine made an application to the Brisbane Supreme Court arguing Mr Wilkinson’s comments were in contempt of court.

Shortly before his court appearance today, Mr Wilkinson said he had been wrong to make the statement.

“It was wrong and insulting for me to accuse Ms Clements of bias and prejudgment and now I realise I should not have done so,” Mr Wilkinson said.

“I will not say anything contemptuous of the judiciary again.

“On behalf of the Queensland Police Union of Employees and myself I apologise without reservation to Ms Clements for making the allegations of bias and prejudgment and express my confidence in the proper administration of justice.”

During the civil hearing, defence lawyer Bob Mulholland said: “Mr Wilkinson admits the contempt as reflected in a public statement he has made outside court this morning.”

He told the court Mr Wilkinson’s comments were made while he was “defending a union member who he strongly believed had done nothing wrong”.

“In the heat of such defence he went too far,” Mr Mulholland said of the media conference held by his client on September 27 last year.

Prosecutor Walter Sofronoff told the court Mr Shine had pursued the matter to maintain public confidence in the administration of justice and the impartiality and honesty of Ms Clements and the state coroners court.

He said the apology was “sufficient to purge the contempt” and sought an order for Mr Wilkinson to pay the costs of the application.

Justice Martin Moynihan said the apology and order for costs marked “a step in restoring public confidence which may have been affected” by Mr Wilkinson’s statements.

Justice Moynihan also said the action brought against Mr Wilkinson should remind others of the consequences of contempt of court.

He ordered Mr Wilkinson pay costs but recorded no conviction.

Outside court, Mr Wilkinson said he was happy the matter was finalised.

“We made the apology that was required and that’s the end of it and now we can (get) on with business and get back to work,” he said.

He said he was unsure of the costs but that he expected them to be minimal.

“The union will pay for some,” Mr Wilkinson said.

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Off Duty Victoria Australia Police Officer Under Investigation After His Beating Left Man Critically Injured With Probable Permanent Brain Damage

VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA – A police weapons instructor is being investigated over a violent confrontation that left a man critically injured with serious head injuries.

The injured man is expected to survive, but is likely to have permanent brain damage.

The policeman, who was off duty at the time of the incident, is an instructor at the Victoria Police operational safety tactics and training unit at the force’s training academy in Glen Waverley.

His job involves training operational police in the use of weapons including extendable batons, which are not allowed to be used to strike a target above the shoulders.

The injured man, 24, from Lilydale, was injured during an incident in a Mooroolbark street at 12.10am last Monday.

He and another man were reported to have been breaking in to parked cars when they were challenged by the off-duty policeman.

Homicide squad detectives were investigating the incident until yesterday when they were told by St Vincent’s Hospital he was likely to survive.

Det Sen-Sgt Ron Iddles confirmed that the homicide squad had handed over the investigation on Friday to the force’s ethical standards department.

He would not comment on the cause of injuries to the man in hospital, but the Herald Sun has been told a wooden implement was used.

The off-duty policeman detained one of the men at the scene but the injured man escaped.

He was arrested five hours later when he was found in a stolen car at a service station in Ringwood. Subsequent police inquiries linked him to the earlier incident.

Police said last night the off-duty policeman involved was on sick leave.

The injured man was still in a critical condition in the intensive care unit at St Vincent’s.

All operational police take training every six months to be kept up to date with safe and legal use of firearms, capsicum spray and batons.

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Qantas Stewardess, Former Undercover Australian Police Officer Lisa Robertson, Returned To Her Usual ‘Second Job’ At Sydney Brothel, But Was FIred After Selling Mile-High Actor F**k Story To 60 Minutes

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – The Qantas air hostess sacked for having sex with actor Ralph Fiennes in an aircraft toilet was back working her second job as a prostitute in Sydney the week after their mile-high tryst.

The Sun-Herald can reveal that Lisa Robertson worked at the Gateway Club at Petersham and Stiletto in Sydney.

Ms Robertson shot to fame after telling how there were “arms, legs everywhere” when she had unprotected sex with Fiennes in an aircraft toilet on a flight from Sydney to Mumbai.

But her sexual experience was well known at the Gateway Club, where she worked under the name Skye and charged $285 an hour for her services.

“She was back there after the trip to India,” a source told The Sun-Herald. “She was very good at what she did.”

Ms Robertson, 38, has not been back to work at the exclusive brothel since she sold her story to a British newspaper and 60 Minutes.

She was sacked by Stiletto for breaching its rules about dating customers outside the club.

Brothels also have a strict policy of never naming “service providers” or clients.

Ms Robertson, a former undercover policewoman and bankrupt, told The Sydney Morning Herald last week: “It’s bullshit . . . I’ve never worked in a brothel and I’ve never worked as an escort. I’m trying to get my life back in order after this.”

She said she had packed up her unit and gone to a retreat.

“I’m trying to get my life back in order after this … this whole thing has made me very ill.”

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Palm Island Australia Police Officer Chris Hurley To Face Trial For Man’s Beating Death

QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – Queensland police Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley will face court in Townsville over a Palm Island death in custody.

Sen Sgt Hurley will face the Supreme Court charged with one count each of manslaughter and assault of 36-year-old Mulrunji Doomadgee at Palm Island, in north Queensland, on November 19, 2004.

Hurley was the senior officer on Palm Island, and arrested Doomadgee and placed him in custody.

The death sparked a riot on the island.

Hurley was granted bail at a brief Supreme Court appearance in Brisbane in February and was not required to enter a plea.

Special Prosecutor Peter Davis SC has estimated the trial – which could start as early as April 9 -would take up to two weeks.

But he told the court in February it was highly likely there would be legal argument before any trial.

Mr Davis will prosecute the case for Attorney-General Kerry Shine after the Director of Public Prosecutions Leanne Clare earlier found Sen Sgt Hurley had no case to answer.

The Queensland government later commissioned retired NSW Chief Justice Sir Laurence Street to independently review the case.

Following Sir Laurence’s report to the government it was decided to charge Sen Sgt Hurley.

Friday’s mention will be before Judge Kerry Cullinane, who has been the state’s northern judge for 15 years.

Sen Sgt Hurley will be represented by top Queensland silk Robert Mulholland QC.

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Australian Plan To End Ongoing Practice Of Police Investigating Police Wrongdoing

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – Police will be banned from investigating deaths and injuries sustained in custody as part of a plan under consideration by the Beattie Government.

Legal and indigenous groups have pushed the proposal after state coroners slammed police investigations into two recent high-profile cases involving deaths in custody in Queensland.

In both cases, police were criticised for failing to follow proper procedure in not separating officers before taking statements or collecting evidence that may have been damaging to those involved in the arrest.

In the case of Palm Islander Mulrunji Doomadgee, who died in custody in 2004, a senior police officer is now facing charges after an independent review was ordered into the decision of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Leanne Clare, not to prosecute.

Two of the police investigating Mr Doomadgee’s death were later revealed to be friends of the arresting officer, Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley, who was later charged with manslaughter.

The Brisbane-based Caxton Legal Centre has put a plan to Attorney-General Kerry Shine saying it is critical to ban police from such investigations to remove the perception of bias.

Director Scott McDougall said the investigations should be handed to a new independent body or a unit within the Crime and Misconduct Commission, with no involvement from current or former police officers.

“The coroners’ statements about the investigations into the death of Mulrunji and Michael Eddy is indicative of a wider systematic problem,” he said.

Under the current system, complaints of police assault, as well as deaths in custody, are handled by the CMC. Almost all CMC investigators are seconded police or former officers.

But Mr McDougall said that increasingly the CMC were referring complaints of assaults back to the police service to investigate.

“And there are serious doubts about the impartiality of those investigations,” he said.

A spokesman for Mr Shine said advice was being sought on the proposal. The principal legal officer of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Legal Service, Greg Shadbolt, said he knew of dozens of complaints of police assault every year, but no officer prosecutions.

“In every single instance, where police have investigated themselves, they have cleared themselves – it makes it farcical,” Mr Shadbolt said.

He said the proposed body or unit within the CMC should also have the power to make a binding recommendation to the DPP as to whether charges should be laid.

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Former Dunlop Australia Federal Police Officer David John Cantello Guilty Of Impersonating Police Officer After Harassing Drunk Pissing In Alley

DUNLOP, AUSTRALIA – A 31-year-old man from Dunlop in the ACT has pleaded guilty to three counts of impersonating an Australian Federal Police (AFP) officer.

It is alleged David John Cantello bought two wooden plaques containing police badges and two police leather wallets from the AFP Association.

According to police statements, he then paid a Canberra leather store to sew the badges into the wallets.

Cantello allegedly used the badges for entering a nightclub and threatening someone who was urinating in a Civic alley.

Cantello previously worked for the AFP as a protective services officer but resigned before the alleged offences took place.

He is due back in court late this month.

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Bug Found In Australia Police Anti-Corruption Branch’s Interview Room Sparks Investigation

AUSTRALIA – A SECRET listening device in an interview room of the police Anti-Corruption Branch has sparked a top-level investigation.

The device, in the room on the 6th floor of the elite unit’s offices at police headquarters in Flinders St, was shut down on the orders of Police Commissioner Mal Hyde about a fortnight ago.

It is not known how long the device had been operational.

On Thursday he ordered the unprecedented internal investigation to determine if the device has been used illegally.

Police sources said, although Mr Hyde was told it had not been used in breach of the Listening Devices Act, he had decided an investigation was needed.

It is not known how Mr Hyde became aware of the device or if it had been used illegally.

The investigation, which also involves the Police Complaints Authority, will determine these facts and if the device has been used to listen to legally privileged conversations between suspects and their lawyers in the interviewroom when detectives were not present.

Mr Hyde was last night unavailable as he is overseas attending a conference. But his spokeswoman confirmed an investigation was under way. “In certain circumstances the law allows monitoring devices,” she said. “However, we have received a complaint in regard to the device in Anti-Corruption Branch.

“This has been registered as a complaint with the Police Complaints Authority, who will now investigate to determine if the device has been used in accordance with legislation.”

The State Government has been told of the internal investigation, which is being conducted by Assistant Commissioner (Crime) Tony Harrison with a team of commissioned officers.

It was expected that more than 30 officers – current and former ACB personnel – would be interviewed.

On Friday, investigators contacted many former ACB detectives and told them they were required for a formal interview this week.

The ACB is staffed by a chief superintendent, an inspector, a senior sergeant and four investigators. It also has its own technical support team of about five officers.

The officer-in-charge reports directly to Mr Hyde, whose office is three floors above those occupied by the ACB.

The Sunday Mail has learned ACB officer-in-charge Chief Supt Mick Symons was this week shifted from ACB to a senior position in the northern operations command.

The transfer of the respected detective was not connected with the internal investigation, but part of a series of planned staffing changes following the retirement of a senior officer.

The Anti-Corruption Branch solely investigates high-level corruption allegations or serious misconduct by public officials and police officers.

Since its inception a decade ago, its record has been unblemished with neither its integrity nor investigational tactics brought into question.

The unit has handled several major political investigations in recent years, including the prosecution of Rann Government staffer Randall Ashbourne on corruption charges (he was found not guilty) and the pending prosecutions of former Speaker Peter Lewis’s associates on criminal defamation charges.

The most recent high-profile ACB investigation involved the charging of police officer Deborah Buckskin with corruption offences last November after she allegedly provided secret police intelligence to bikie gang members.

Yesterday, a leading Adelaide QC described the revelations as “astounding”.

“If this device has been used inappropriately, then it represents a serious threat to a fundamental right of an accused person – that is the ability of a suspect and his lawyer to have a discussion in complete confidence,” said the lawyer, who declined to be identified.

“The right to and the obligation of prosecuting authorities to respect the confidentiality that exists between lawyer and client is so fundamental as to raise serious questions about any investigation that was assisted by information gained in a situation such as what has arisen.”

The lawyer said it was unlikely any information gained from listening to a privileged conversation would be used “directly”, but the danger was it would be added to a “fund of knowledge which allows them to investigate in a manner they would not previously have been able to do and gather more evidence”.

“The temptation on the investigating authorities to leave the device running would be irresistible,” he said.

“It really gives investigating authorities an illegal and unfair leg up in investigations, and it makes the situation entirely inappropriate. Its potential for abuse is so obvious as to not even require articulation.”

Police Association of SA president Peter Alexander said yesterday the association “believes that its members and the community generally need to have full confidence in the workings of the ACB”.

“We look to the PCA to ensure that is the case,” he said.

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Outlaw Biker Accused In Teen’s Gang Rape Works For Victoria Australia Police…

VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA – An outlaw motorcycle gang member accused of taking part in the pack rape of a teenager last month is working in a highly sensitive unit of Victoria Police.

Police are investigating allegations that five members of the notorious Black Uhlans motorcycle gang-raped a 19-year-old woman in the Gippsland town of Lakes Entrance in February.

It is believed that when local police were called to the motel where the alleged rape took place, they negotiated for the woman to be released and then questioned her.

When Sexual Crimes Squad members arrived the next day, three of the bikies denied that a sexual assault had taken place, while two declined to talk to police. The local women is considering whether to proceed with the matter.

The Age can reveal that one of the men, an associate member of the gang, works for the Victoria Police Vehicle Examination Unit (VEU) in the northern suburb of McLeod. He is not a police officer.

Victoria Police spokeswoman Sergeant Creina O’Grady confirmed that the Ethical Standards Department had launched an inquiry into the man, who has not been suspended.

“We can confirm that the Ethical Standards Department is investigating an incident which occurred in Lakes Entrance in which it is alleged that an unsworn member was involved in a sexual assault,” she said.

The VEU is an arm of the forensic science centre and examines vehicles thought to be stolen or “rebirthed”, giving employees access to those vehicles.

Car theft and rebirthing have been identified by law enforcement agencies as an area into which outlaw motorcycle gangs are increasingly moving as they expand their criminal networks.

An Australian Crime Commission report last year warned bikie gangs were becoming “more sophisticated and dynamic”, as well as diversifying in their criminal activities.

“Such offences include murder, firearms, illicit drugs supply and production, extortion, prostitution, serious assault, sexual assault, arson, robbery, theft, vehicle rebirthing, receiving stolen property, fraud, money laundering, corruption and bribing officials and perverting the course of justice,” the report said.

The report said in 2005-06, 10 outlaw motorcycle gangs opened 26 new chapters in six different states and territories. The ACC estimates that there are 35 gangs operating in Australia with 3500 full members, a number that increases significantly when associates, nominees and prospective members are counted.

Six years ago police smashed a fake licence racket involving a senior employee of VicRoads, who was selling the licences to members of the Outlaws motorcycle gang.

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Victoria Australia Police Employee Accused Of Gang Rape

LAKES ENTRANCE, AUSTRALIA – Police are investigating one of their own employees over the alleged pack rape of a teenager by an outlaw motorcycle gang last month.

One of the gang members accused of the rape of a 19-year-old woman in the Gippsland town of Lakes Entrance works in a highly sensitive unit of Victoria Police, Fairfax Newspapers report.

Police are investigating allegations that five members of the notorious Black Uhlans raped a woman at a Lakes Entrance hotel in February.

Police allegedly had to negotiate for the woman to be released when they arrived at the hotel and she is considering whether to pursue the matter.

Three of the bikies denied the rape took place and a further two declined to talk to police, it has been reported.

One of the accused works for the Victoria Police Vehicle Examination Unit (VEU) in the northern suburb of McLeod.

He is not a police officer.

Victoria Police spokeswoman Creina O’Grady confirmed the Ethical Standards Department (ESD) had launched an inquiry into the man.

He has not been suspended.

“We can confirm that the Ethical Standards Department is investigating an incident which occurred in Lakes Entrance in which it is alleged that an unsworn member was involved in a sexual assault.”

The VEU is an arm of the forensic services centre and examines vehicles thought to be stolen or “rebirthed”.

Car theft and rebirthing have been identified by law enforcement agencies as an area outlaw motorcycle gangs are attracted to as they expand their criminal networks.

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Gascoyne Junction Australia Police Officer Charged With Assault, Damage, And Assault w/Bodily Harm

GASCOYNE JUNCTION, AUSTRALIA – A Gascoyne Junction police officer has been charged with assault after allegedly hitting a man during an argument yesterday.

Carnarvon police charged the 39-year-old sergeant and will allege he struck a 49-year-old man after an argument broke out between the pair while the officer was off duty.

He was charged with assault, damage and assault occasioning bodily harm and will face the Carnarvon Magistrate’s Court today.

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Rapists Get Off

AUCKLAND, AUSTRALIA – Assistant police commissioner Clint Rickards walked out of court after being acquitted of kidnapping and sex offences.

His co-accused – former Rotorua policemen Bradley Shipton, 48, and Robert Schollum, 54 – were also acquitted yesterday. But they didn’t walk free.

They were taken down court corridors and back to prison where they are serving sentences for raping a woman in Mt Maunganui in 1989.

The former Rotorua police trio had been on trial in the Auckland High Court for the past two weeks charged with indecent assault and kidnapping a 16-year-old girl in Rotorua between November 1983 and August 1984.

It had been alleged she was handcuffed to a bedpost at a Rotorua house and sexually assaulted with a whisky bottle.

The jury – which did not know about Shipton and Schollum’s rape convictions – retired at 1.20pm on Wednesday to consider their verdicts and returned at midday yesterday.

The three men’s wives, family, and friends broke down in a packed public gallery as the jury foreman said the words “not guilty” six times.

Rickards, Shipton and Schollum also cried and as they left the courtroom Shipton turned to the jury and whispered “thank you”.

The three men were also acquitted in March last year of 20 charges including the rape, indecent assault and sexual violation of Rotorua woman Louise Nicholas in the 1980s in Rotorua when the three men were all serving police officers.

It was after Mrs Nicholas, who was in court yesterday, went public that police began Operation Austin – an investigation into allegations made by her and another woman, who was also in court yesterday, against the three men.

Yesterday, Justice Judith Potter lifted suppression orders surrounding Shipton and Schollum’s convictions in the High Court in Wellington in 2005 of the rape, sexual violation and kidnapping of a 20-year-old woman at Mt Maunganui in 1989.

Schollum was sentenced to eight years and Shipton, who was convicted of an extra charge of rape, was sentenced to eight and a half years. They had unsuccessfully appealed their convictions.

Yesterday Mr Rickards said Shipton and Schollum were good friends and they should never have gone to jail in the first place.

He described the police force as a good organisation.

However, the police investigation into his alleged actions was a “shambles”, he told a throng of journalists outside the High Court yesterday.

He said he would have been ashamed to have led such a police investigation.

“They [the investigation team] need to be held accountable.”

Mr Rickards said he felt vindicated by the not guilty verdicts.

What had happened over the last three years had destroyed his family.

Mr Rickards’ partner Tania Eden said the family had been “through hell” over the last three years and the couple’s priority now was their five children.

“We are hoping to get back to normal life.”

Shipton’s wife Sharon, who gave evidence in support of her husband, said he was delighted about the verdict, as was she and her family.

“It was always the outcome I anticipated.”

When asked if she and her husband were still together she said “absolutely”.

“I’ve stood by my husband and that will continue. I told the truth.”

Shipton’s brother Greg said the trial had been “pretty emotional” for the family and it was an enormous relief it was over. He said it was “tacky” that Mrs Nicholas was in court for the verdict.

“She’s had her day in court.”

Mr Shipton said he did not hate Mrs Nicholas or the complainant in this trial but pitied them.

He said his love for his brother was unconditional and said the trial in 2005 in which Shipton was convicted was not a fair trial.

Mr Shipton went on to say this investigation was politically motivated and was about the persecution of Mr Rickards in stopping him becoming the first Maori Police Commissioner.

“I can’t wait for the day for [Prime Minister] Helen Clark to fall on her sword …

“There are still a lot of shots to be fired.”

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New South Wales Australia Police Beat, Shove, Punch, And Strangle Peaceful Protesters During US War Criminal Dick Cheney’s Visit

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – In scenes reminiscent of the police brutality against students who walked out of school against the Iraq war in 2003, hundreds of NSW police and officers from the NSW Public Order and Riot Squad (PORS) tried to stop peaceful rallies on February 22 and 23 when US vice-president and war criminal Dick Cheney arrived in Australia.

The peaceful protests were called by the Sydney Stop the War Coalition (STWC) for the evening Cheney arrived in Sydney and the following day as he addressed the Australian-American Friendship Alliance. The demonstrations focused on the demands to pull the troops out of Iraq and for David Hicks to be brought home.

Despite two notifications of the protests to the police, the organisers were informed just two hours before the first protest that the police commissioner had “disallowed” both. “The police wanted to be seen to be negotiating, but had already decided to try to prevent the protest from marching”, Alex Bainbridge from STWC told Green Left Weekly. “Their plans included using us as guinea pigs for ‘counter-terrorism’ training.”

Dale Mills, a legal observer and STWC activist who attended the negotiations, told GLW that, unlike most jurisdictions in the Western world, there is no explicit right to protest in NSW law. Mills said it was “very disturbing to see the police crack down on a peaceful protest and prevent people from marching when there was a legitimate expectation that people would want to protest the visit of Dick Cheney”. He described the police actions as the worst he had seen in many years.

Citing reasons such as “traffic disruption”, the police refused to let about 500 protesters leave Town Hall and march to the US consulate in Martin Place. “When protesters decided to march, they were beaten, shoved, punched and strangled by PORS officers. Twelve arrests were made, and one man had to be taken to hospital from the police lock-up because his neck was so badly bruised”, Bainbridge said.

All but one arrested that evening were charged with assaulting police, resisting arrest and hindering police. They will appear in court on March 15.

Paul Garrett, assistant branch secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia, Greens NSW MLC Lee Rhiannon and Jean Parker from STWC addressed the rally at Town Hall. After discussing options, led by chair Anna Samson, people voted to take the protest to the US consulate by way of the footpath. As one older woman told GLW at the time, “I hadn’t been intending to march, but hearing about the police response, I’m now determined to march”.

At Martin Place, an open-air speakers’ platform was held, which included Will Saunders (one of the “Opera House two”), and Marlene Obeid and Raul Bassi from the Free Hicks and Habib campaign. All urged discipline and solidarity in the face of the police intimidation. The rally dispersed peacefully at about 8pm, watched by hundreds of police.

On February 23, as protesters met at 8am three blocks from where Cheney was speaking, the police presence was less obtrusive. At 9am, 150 protesters walked up one block of Essex Street, which was blocked by a double line of PORS officers, at least two blocks from the Shangli-La Hotel where Cheney was to speak.

An open mike ensued, but before long hundreds more PORS police arrived. After surrounding the protesters at around 10am, they snatched three protesters while pushing and shoving others to the ground.

Veteran peace activist Marie McKern was knocked to the ground and, suffering shock, cuts and bruises, was taken away in an ambulance. She told a media scrum, “I just got pushed into the ground and it was terrifying — there were bodies everywhere”.

Two young women, obviously dressed up satirically, were charged with “impersonating police officers” and trying to disrupt police work by “directing traffic”. They were nowhere near the police lines.

“The police operation was completely out of proportion”, Samson told GLW. “Some 1200 police were involved, on foot or on horses. At one stage they brought in an unarmed water cannon, and attack dogs were on standby.” The NSW Labor Premier Morris Iemma told a media conference in March 2006 that the state had spent $700,000 on a water cannon to deal with “rioters” and that it would never be used on ordinary protesters.

“Why is the Labor government sanctioning this heavy-handed response?”, Samson asked. “And why did it pass legislation last week giving the US security services the right to bear arms in Sydney?”

“Premier Iemma made a serious mistake when he agreed to change the law so that armed US secret service agents can come into Sydney”, Rhiannon said on January 22. “There was no need for the vice-president’s bodyguards to bring guns. Local police and security personnel have the experience to protect all leading public figures. The Greens are concerned that this hasty change to accommodate Cheney’s gun interest will set a precedent.”

“The police are certainly not protecting our right to freedom of assembly”, Resistance activist Simon Cunich told GLW. “It’s pretty clear that the NSW and federal governments want to portray us — peace activists of all ages — as a terror threat. But they’ve miscalculated, and this repression is going to backfire. Most Australians want David Hicks back home and they want the war in Iraq to end. The federal government is trying to make out that we are in a minority, but in fact it’s them.”

“The protesters showed remarkable restraint in the face of the police provocations and assaults”, Bainbridge said. “We managed to make our point peacefully on both days, and we will continue to defend our right to organise peaceful protests. We will not accept Iemma’s push for a Joh Bjelke-Peterson-style approach to civil rights.”

Obeid commented: “It’s very disappointing that the federal opposition leader, Kevin Rudd, has joined the fray and tried to make out the protesters were the irresponsible party.”

STWC organisers and other concerned citizens will be lodging a protest about the police conduct with the NSW government. STWC has heard reports that the police pressured the parents of a 16-year old protester to make him say that he harassed police.

The fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, on March 17, is the STWC’s next major anti-war event. The rally has so far been endorsed by the maritime and construction unions, UnionsNSW, the NSW Greens and the Socialist Alliance.

Steve McLaren reports from Hobart that activists displayed a banner stating “Iraq for the Iraqis, Cheney not welcome” on February 24 as part of an action on Salamanca lawns to express opposition to Cheney’s visit and the war in Iraq. A US citizen holidaying in Tasmania joined the speak-out to emphasise that, like in Australia, the majority of citizens in the US oppose the war. Other speakers condemned Cheney for his business ties with Haliburton, which has profited from the destruction of Iraq’s infrastructure. Protesters also demanded that David Hicks be returned to Australia to receive a fair trial.

[Pip Hinman is a STWC activist and the Socialist Alliance candidate for Marrickville in the March 24 state election. STWC is asking people who have photos or video footage of the police violence at the protests to get in touch. It is also keen to hear from lawyers who can offer their services pro bono work to the arrested activists.]

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Auckland New Zealand Police Officer Michael Small Jailed For Destroying Evidence

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND – A prison term handed down to an Auckland constable has prompted debate about whether the courts should treat police differently to other criminals.

Constable Michael Small has been jailed for nine months for destroying a videotape which showed him using force while arresting a woman.

Small was acquitted of assaulting the drunk driver when he arrested her but a jury decided he did destroy a vital piece of surveillance tape because he was worried he would be in trouble.

Defence lawyer Peter Kaye questioned whether a police officer in that type of situation should be treated more harshly than anybody else.

But crown prosecutor David Jones says the issue strikes not only at the heart of the criminal justice system but also the heart of public confidence in the police.

They agreed that because Constable Small was working as a police officer at the time the sentence needed to be handled carefully.

“It does seriously undermine public confidence in our system of criminal justice,” sentencing judge Ajit Singh said.

“As a police officer you hold a very responsible and unique position in our society,” he said before sending Small to jail for nine months for attempting to pervert the course of justice.

But Small was granted bail after his lawyer said he would appeal against both the conviction and sentence.

Following the guilty verdict in December Small resigned from the police but the paperwork has not been completed yet and he is still an employee of the New Zealand police.

He has been stood down on full pay for around two years but has been notified that will soon end.

Appeared Here

Parts Of Sydney Locked Down, Protests Begin Well In Advance Of Criminal U.S. Vice President’s Visit To Australia

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA ? Parts of Sydney went into security lockdown tonight as police – and protesters – converged on the city in preparation for US Vice-President Dick Cheney’s Australian visit.

Anti-war demonstrators scuffled with police in central Sydney, calling for Mr Cheney to go home even before he touched down.

As one of the key architects of the US invasion of Iraq, the war will be top of Mr Cheney’s agenda during his brief Sydney stay, which will include a major policy speech and meetings with Prime Minister John Howard and Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd.

Fresh from a whistle-stop visit to troops on the US island of Guam and two-days in Japan discussing security issues, Mr Cheney is due to arrive at Sydney airport late tonight and departs on Sunday morning.

The NSW Police Force said his arrival had warranted one of the biggest security operations since US President George W Bush’s visit four years ago.

Sydneysiders still angered by Tuesday’s traffic gridlock – caused by the mismanagement of thousands of sightseers flocking to Sydney Harbour to glimpse two visiting ocean liners – have been warned to expect more traffic snarls.

Deputy Police Commissioner Terry Collins said the areas between Cumberland, Gloucester and Essex streets at The Rocks would be locked down throughout Mr Cheney’s visit and clearways would be in place in and around Sydney until Sunday.

It is understood the vice president’s motorcade will get a green-light corridor wherever it travels.

“This is the biggest operation outside of George W Bush’s visit here some time ago,” Mr Collins said.

“He (Cheney) is considered one of the highest risks we’ve had since September 11,” he said, adding there was no credible intelligence indicating a threat.

Anti-war protesters and people angry over America’s treatment of Australian terror suspect David Hicks were quick off the mark, staging their first anti-Cheney event hours before his arrival.

Police revoked permission for their planned march down George Street, citing traffic concerns, and there were tense scenes as police scuffled with dozens of protesters who attempted to push through their ranks.

Mr Howard today said it would not be Mr Cheney’s fault if protests, also planned for tomorrow, created a disturbance in Sydney.

“That would be the fault of the protesters if there is additional inconvenience to the people of Sydney – over and above what normally happens when you have someone like this visiting the place,” Mr Howard told reporters in Perth.

“It won’t be the fault of Vice-President Cheney and it won’t be the fault of the NSW police who are merely doing their job.”

NSW Premier Morris Iemma, who will be in Canberra with Mr Howard for a water meeting tomorrow, said police would not tolerate any violence from protesters.

“Everyone’s entitled to protest and to do so peacefully,” he told reporters.

“But they are not going to cause inconvenience and disruption and take the law into their own hands.

“If they do so, the police will be there and they will respond accordingly.”

Mr Iemma said state firearms regulations had been amended to allow Mr Cheney’s US Secret Service bodyguards to carry firearms.

The Stop the War Coalition is planning a major demonstration tomorrow at 9.30am (AEDT) in The Rocks.
Appeared Here

New South Wales Police Fraud Squad Hiring Private Investigators

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – The NSW fraud squad is so stretched for resources that it is relying on private investigators to compile briefs of evidence, a Sydney court has heard.

Detective Sergeant Roland Winter, a fraud squad investigator who was giving evidence in a criminal trial this week, said his former boss at the fraud squad had conducted the investigation and taken statements from key witnesses while on sick leave from the police force.

Matthew Douglas Simons, 45, is facing trial over nine counts of dishonestly obtaining almost $700,000 from a fellow parent at Kambala, a private school for girls in Rose Bay.

Sergeant Winter said due to “resource issues” it was common practice for external investigators, usually former police officers, to investigate frauds and prepare briefs of evidence on behalf of their clients which they then presented to police.

In the Simons case, Sergeant Winter told the court that his former boss, then Detective Inspector Michael Gerondis, had put together the prosecution brief while on sick leave waiting to be discharged from the police force.

The detective said that while Mr Gerondis was technically a police officer at the time, albeit on sick leave, he had not rendered an account to his clients until after his discharge papers from the police force came through in April 2005.

The court heard Mr Gerondis, who has a company called Fraud Risk Management Services, brought the matter to the attention of the police in January 2005.

According to Sergeant Winter, Mr Gerondis had interviewed key witnesses and taken statements from them, but the police had then conducted most of the remaining investigations after Mr Gerondis handed over his initial report.

Counsel for Simons, Ian Temby, QC, asked Sergeant Winter if it was the case the fraud squad had so much work it was happy to receive assistance of this sort. “That’s correct,” replied Sergeant Winter.

Mr Temby suggested Mr Gerondis had been freelancing as a private eye while on sick leave, to which Sergeant Winter replied: “You could say that.”

The trial continues today.

Appeared Here

New South Wales Australia Police Union Admits Police Officers Often Absent For Considerable Periods Of Time Under Controversial Roster System

NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA – The police union has privately conceded that frontline officers will be absent from work “for considerable periods of time” under the controversial roster system it wants the Iemma Government to lock in before the election.

The Police Association’s draft guidelines on the 12-hour block rosters say it will be up to senior commanders and supervisors to find other ways to cover the shortfalls. “The operation of flexible rosters may result in officers being absent from the workplace for considerable periods of time,” the document states.

“Commanders, duty officers and supervisors should ensure that systems are put in place for the maintenance of customer service, continuity of investigations and communication between officers.”

According to the proposal, the number of shifts worked in every six-week roster cycle should also be limited to 21. “An exception to this may be where an officer is involved in a lengthy trial or training commitment…” the document states.

The roster regime is unique to NSW and allows general duties police to work up to four 12-hour shifts – two day and two night – followed by six rest days.

During the past 10 months, the police union has defended criticisms from police commanders who have warned that the system stops them from rostering police at the busiest times, hinders continuity of criminal investigations and tends to benefit officers moonlighting in second jobs, eroding professionalism.

In a case in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission in November, Victorian police commanders argued against continuing a 12-hour rosters trial because of the impact on policing.

In his decision supporting their objections and cancelling the

12-hour rosters, a deputy president, Reg Hamilton, echoed the criticism of NSW commanders and agreed:

? The 12-hour rosters were fixed and inflexible;

? Supervising officers were unable to adequately supervise or communicate with members because of the reduced attendance pattern;

? Service to the community is compromised;

? And members’ time is spent unproductively.

Mr Hamilton’s judgement noted dissatisfaction when “members of the public were unable to speak to police officers” and “it might take weeks before witnesses and/or suspects could be contacted”.

The commission heard evidence from the Director of Industrial Relations for the NSW Police, Joe Vass, who said: “The vast majority of [NSW] Local Area Commanders, or 60 out of 72, were not satisfied with current rostering arrangements and the majority of these commanders observed fatigue among their staff, particularly those working extended blocks of 12-hour shifts.”

Professor Ron Grunstein, the director of the Centre for Sleep Medicine, said research on shiftwork was limited. “In shiftwork, there is a minimal amount of control trials that allow us to compare one type of shift and its effects with another.”

“Now if you put people in 12-hour shifts, that is, short bursts with lots of time off that might be OK. But if you don’t control what they do in their time off – which they do not here – then that is a problem.”

Appeared Here

One Of New South Wales Australia’s Most Senior Police Commanders Told To Shut Up Or Face Personal Attack From Police Association

SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA ? One of the state’s most senior commanders has accused the police union of threatening him with a “personal attack” to stop him criticising the controversial 12-hour rostering system before the state election.

In a defiant letter sent to fellow officers yesterday, Superintendent Mick Plotecki said he had been officially gagged and that the Police Association had been able to censor and misrepresent the debate “safe in the knowledge that I have been instructed not to make public comment on the corporate issues of rostering”.

“On the afternoon of 25 January I was subject to an overt threat by an employee of the Police Association with regard to my stance on the block rostering issue. The threat was very plain – that if I did not retract my claim that the introduction of such roster practices had cost this state approximately 800 police positions, then I would be subject to personal attack by the association,” he wrote.

“That the association is now prepared to use threats in order to progress its agenda to cement block rosters into place ahead of the election and the auditor’s finding ? should be of concern to government, the executive, the taxpayers of NSW and to all police.”

The Police Association is working behind the scenes to hammer out a pre-election deal with the Government to entrench the 12-hour rostering regime, which is not used in any other state.

Block rosters are extremely popular with frontline police, who can work just 19 to 21 days in each six-week block. Senior NSW police commanders argue there is now an entire generation of young officers who have worked only under a system that lets them have two jobs. It has also made it increasingly difficult for specialist squads such as the detectives – who still work traditional eight-hour shifts – to attract recruits.

Queen Mary 2 And Queen Elizabeth 2 Arrive In Sydney Australia Harbor, Dock At Naval Wharves 02/20/07

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Judge Suspends Sentence For Whyalla Australia Man Victimized In An Abuse Of Power By Police

WHYALLA, AUSTRALIA ? A District Court judge has suspended the sentence of a Whyalla man who threatened police with a pocket knife because he had been victimized by officers.

David Stewart Glass, 30, was sentenced late last week for hitting a three-year old girl in the head and for a separate incident of assaulting and threatening police officers.

Judge Marie Shaw said the incident with police happened after Glass had been pulled over and breath-tested three times in one day.

Judge Shaw said the third breath test could “only be described as clear victimization and an abuse of power by the police” and that it was not surprising that it “triggered a response” from Glass who waved a pocket knife at officers before being arrested.

Judge Shaw suspended the 14-month prison term on condition Glass be of good behavior for 18 months.

Appeared Here

Secret Victoria Australia Police Deal Kept From Police Corruption Watchdog

VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA – Victoria’s police corruption watchdog was not told about a secret deal struck between the Bracks Government and the state’s powerful police union to use taxpayer funds to pay the legal costs of officers it was investigating.

The Bracks Government confirmed yesterday it did not consult the Office of Police Integrity before the decision, nor did it notify the watchdog of the agreement with the Victorian Police Association after it was signed 19 days before Victoria’s state election in November.

It also conceded that some legal costs incurred by police officers later convicted of corruption or other crimes charges would be reimbursed by taxpayers under the deal.

Secret Deal PDF HERE

The release of the details of the deal yesterday outraged the state Opposition and sparked warnings from experts that it undermined the authority of Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon.

Ms Nixon revealed last week that she had not been told the deal was being negotiated and had not been shown a copy of the agreement. The Bracks Government was forced to make the six-page agreement public yesterday after it was revealed the deal allowed for the reimbursement of legal costs for police officers forced toappear before OPI coercive hearings.

The Australian revealed the existence of the secret deal – signed by Premier Steve Bracks and his then police minister, Tim Holding – two days before the November 25 Victoria election. After initially promising to campaign against the Government, the police association later swung its support behind Labor.

The deal appears to contravene one of the key recommendations of the benchmark Fitzgerald inquiry into police corruption in Queensland that governments should not negotiate privately with police unions. The deal was attacked by former senior officers including Queensland police commissioner Jim O’Sullivan and former West Australian commissioner Bob Falconer.

Noel Newnham, a Victorian officer recruited to clean up police corruption in Queensland after Fitzgerald, said in November it was “unbelievable” that Ms Nixon was not at the talks.

Under the agreement, Mr Bracks and Mr Holding also agreed to change laws so that officers suspended without pay during an investigation into their conduct would have their financial entitlements reimbursed if the charge “has not been proved”.

The secret pre-election deal also promised an additional 350 officers; a resources audit to establish how police were being used; the establishment of a police career services commission to consider industrial disputes and appeals from disciplinary hearings; $10 million for new weapons including automatic pistols; and that the Government “consult with the Police Association on matters that directly impact on Victorian police officer”.

Police Minister Bob Cameron defended the decision not to tell the OPI of the agreement, claiming it would have been “utterly inappropriate” for the Government to involve statutory office holders such as the OPI or the chief commissioner in a political matter during an election.

Mr Bracks said it was the “democratic right” of officers to have legal advice when appearing before a body such as the OPI, which had coercive powers enabling it to compel witnesses to answer questions.

He said such taxpayer-funded legal advice was provided to police officers in NSW and Queensland.

The OPI yesterday recommended the Government adopt a similar model to the Legal Representation Office in NSW, where legal assistance for witnesses appearing at ICAC or Police Integrity Commission hearings is given independently, rather than through the police union.

The administration and use of the Police Association’s $14 million legal fighting fund has become one of the key factors driving mounting concern over the close ties between the union and the Bracks Government and whether the roles of the OPI and Chief Commissioner have been undermined.

The OPI’s deputy director Graham Ashton recently described the police association’s repeated attacks on the anti-corruption watchdog as “an obstacle to progress in maintaining ethical standards”.

Under existing arrangements, only Victorian police officers acquitted of corruption or criminal charges have their court costs reimbursed.

Appeared Here

Geelong Austalia Police Officer Alan Crane Receives A Slap On The Wrist For Child Pornography

GEELONG, AUSTRALIA – A Geelong police officer has received a suspended jail sentence for possessing child pornography.

A joint investigation by the office of Police Integrity (OPI) and the Ethical Standards Department led to the arrest of 41-year-old Senior Constable Alan Crane last year.

The Geelong Magistrates Court heard police raided Crane’s Geelong home and seized computers and CDs containing tens of thousands of pornographic images.

The court heard less than 1 per cent of those were of underage girls.

Magistrate Max Beck said he agreed the images were at the lower range of child pornography offences, and handed down a three-month suspended sentence and a $6,000 fine.

Crane has indicated he will appeal.

Appeared Here

New South Wales Australia Cop’s Family ‘Distraught’ As Second Man Convicted Of Killing Cop Wins New Trial – Jury Received Ambiguous Instructions

NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA – The family of slain NSW police officer Glenn McEnallay is “distraught and certainly angry” after a second man jailed over the shooting murder had his conviction quashed.

Police are calling for a quick retrial for John Taufahema after he won an appeal against his conviction of murdering Senior Constable McEnallay.

The 26-year-old policeman was gunned down following the pursuit of a stolen car at Hillsdale, in Sydney’s south-east, in March 2002.

Taufahema, one of four men travelling in the car, was jailed for a maximum 24 years in 2003, even though he did not fire the shot that killed Const McEnallay.

But he appealed his conviction, arguing the jury was not properly instructed.

In a decision labelled disappointing by the state government, the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal on Friday upheld the appeal and ordered a retrial, finding the jury had received “ambiguous” directions.

NSW Police Association president Bob Pritchard said Friday’s decision angered the police force and placed renewed distress on Constable McEnallay’s family.

“They (the family) are distraught and certainly angry at the events, they want to see justice done,” Mr Pritchard said.

“We’re very disturbed at the decision … we need to move forward immediately, order a new retrial and get on with it.”

Mr Pritchard has called on the Director of Public Prosecutions to fast-track the retrial.

Taufahema, his brother Motekiai Taufahema, Sione Penisini and Meli Lagi were speeding in a stolen car on March 27, 2002 when Const McEnallay began his pursuit.

Also in the car, which was being driven by Motekiai Taufahema, were four loaded stolen guns.

The men tried to evade Const McEnallay, but when the car struck a gutter and stopped, Penisini got out and fired at the policeman.

Const McEnallay was hit four times and died in hospital from head and chest wounds.

John Taufahema argued the jury at his Supreme Court trial had been wrongfully directed.

Chief Judge at Common Law Peter McClellan and Justices Carolyn Simpson and Derek Price agreed, finding the jury had not been properly instructed on the “elements necessary for joint enterprise murder”.

“The direction did not state that the appellant must have contemplated that it was possible that Penisini would have deliberately pulled the trigger of the gun intending to cause death or grievous bodily harm,” Justice McClellan said in his judgment.

He said the trial judge’s final direction was “ambiguous”.

“The matter was effectively left with the jury on the basis that they could convict on a charge of murder, if they found the elements necessary for joint enterprise manslaughter,” he said.

An argument about what constitutes joint criminal enterprise was also used by Taufahema’s brother to appeal his conviction.

Motekiai Taufahema had his conviction quashed and was acquitted of the murder in May last year.

NSW Police Minister John Watkins said the court’s decision was very disappointing for Constable McEnallay’s colleagues, family and friends.

“We just hope that the matter is dealt with very quickly through the court system and that justice is done,” he said.

John Taufahema will face a new trial at a date to be fixed.

Appeared Here

Corrupt New South Wales Australia Police Officer Timothy Charles Rochford Set Me Up, Says Convicted Drug Supplier

NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA – Elia Elrob Boujaoude says he was 17 years old when he was set up in an undercover drug sting by an officer who was later convicted of supplying 10 kilograms of cocaine.

He says police hit him over the head with a gun, poked his wound, made him urinate in his pants, took some of his money and falsified his evidence.

Reviving memories of the days when some NSW police were a law unto themselves, Boujaoude’s case replayed events of almost 20 years ago in front of a District Court jury this month. Some of the dozen police witnesses had been named in the Wood royal commission or the Police Integrity Commission, the court was told.

When police swooped on the group of men in southern Sydney in May 1987, they found a bag with 279 grams of heroin hidden inside a newspaper in Boujaoude’s red Jaguar. They arrested him and three others at the scene. Unlike the other suspects, two of whom have since died, Boujaoude escaped prosecution after fleeing Australia. He was rearrested in 2005.

In an unsworn statement to the jury Boujaoude said he had no knowledge of the heroin deal. He only knew that one of the men, Robert Harai, an acquaintance from his gym, sold steroids.

He said the undercover officer, Timothy Charles Rochford, had asked him to pick up a packet from Harai “… not that he threatened me with it, but [Rochford] had a gun on him and [was] a little edgy. I said to him: ‘No worries, I’ll pick it up for you,”‘ Boujaoude said.

Rochford, who was convicted in 1994 of supplying cocaine, also admitted in court he took drugs while undercover, but denied doing so during this operation.

He said undercover operatives were told by supervisors to lie about their drug use in court if asked.

Boujaoude said he had left the country after police told a family member it would be “in my best interests to leave” and his passport was mysteriously returned to his mailbox.

Days before, he said, one officer, Patrick John Bocking, had met him in Parramatta Park soliciting a bribe. Boujaoude was charged with perverting the course of justice, but charges were later withdrawn. Mr Bocking denies soliciting the bribe.

After his initial arrest, Boujaoude said that another officer, Kevin Gilbert Middleton, had hit Boujaoude’s head with the butt of his gun, leading to loss of hearing in one ear.

“[Later] he put his thumb in my wound [at the] back of my ear … and would say to me: “Just tell me what I want to hear if you want to go home.”‘

After he urinated in his pants when not allowed to go to the toilet, the officers made “sniffling noises” and smiled, he said. “You felt, like, humiliated at that point in time, but there’s not much you can do when you’re in police custody,” Boujaoude told the jury.

He said he was denied a lawyer or support person, and that he was a juvenile at the time, even though his driver’s licence carried a birth date of August 1966. His mother and sister testified that his real birthday was in 1969 and that his birthday was changed to commemorate the date his older brother had died.

Boujaoude denied giving some of the answers in the police record of interview, or signing it. He said police had taken from him $6500 he had carried to buy a new car and returned only $5000.

In court the officers denied all allegations of improper practices or mistreatment of Boujaoude.

Boujaoude’s lawyer, Tony Bellanto, QC, told the jury police practices at the time raised doubts about the case. But on Thursday the jury found Boujaoude guilty of supplying heroin. He will be sentenced in April.

Appeared Here

Pot No Longer Hot With Young People – Cartoon Image Offers Proof

AUSTRALIA – One in three young people find cannabis use unacceptable, according to research suggesting the drug is now seen as addictive and linked to health and social problems.

A new survey by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre found marijuana use has become socially unfashionable, with three-quarters of the 1500 adults surveyed believing it is dangerous or very dangerous.

Nearly half believed cannabis can cause schizophrenia, depression and anxiety disorder to a moderate or large degree.

Almost half of people aged under 30 reported having friends who use cannabis.

Centre spokesman Paul Dillon said the data clearly showed being stoned just did not seem to be as acceptable as it once was.

“The Australian community is ready to accept a non-smoking message,” he said. “People are starting to see smokers, not only tobacco smokers but any smokers, as being isolated.”

Mr Dillon said prevention programs, particularly school drug education programs, were doing a great job teaching about the harm of cannabis.

But he expressed concern that many people were not getting information about cannabis from reliable sources.

The Howard Government said the data vindicated its tough stance on marijuana use. Parliamentary secretary for health Christopher Pyne said it showed young people were starting to recognise that cannabis and mental health were linked.

Appeared Here

Former New South Wales Police Officer Lisa Robertson, Qantas Airlines Mile High Hostie, ‘Admits’ Bathroom Sex Romp With British Actor Fiennes

NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA ? The Qantas stewardess who claimed she rejected an amorous Ralph Fiennes on a flight to India has admitted having sex with him in an aircraft lavatory, according to friends.

Lisa Robertson told friends she was a big fan of the British actor and found herself luring him to the cubicle.

But they apparently shared more than a 15-minute fling at 35,000ft.

Miss Robertson claims they went on to share a passionate night in a Mumbai hotel – at the star’s invitation.

The Australian stewardess has told friends she recognised Fiennes, 44, as he soon as he settled into his business class seat, 2K, for the nine-hour flight from Darwin.

‘I’ve always fancied him and to see him on my flight was a real thrill,’ she told them.

Later she allowed him to break aircraft rules by sitting beside her on the crew jump seat, which is used during their break.

After chatting together, there was, she has admitted, a lot of ‘body language’ between them and even the odd kiss or two.

She gave him her phone number. Finally she decided to take matters into her own hands.

‘I just stood up, reached down for his hand and told him to follow me,’ she told friends.

‘We went into the toilet and locked the door and off came much of our clothes.’

She said they then had passionate and apparently unprotected sex.

Other crew members, more than a little suspicious, waited outside the door and later reported her to airline bosses.

Miss Robertson, 38, told friends she was so overwhelmed with the moment that she did not care who was listening, what they saw or what they assumed had been going on.

That is in stark contrast to what she told her bosses at Qantas.

In a statement, she portrayed Fiennes as the villain, claiming he had followed her into the lavatory where he made his intentions clear.

She said that she had told him it was inappropriate to follow her there and, after a short time, convinced him to leave.

She told her bosses she had been so alarmed at being followed that she expected one of the other crew to help her.

‘At no time did any crew member come to my assistance,’ she complained.

She also insisted that at no time were any other passengers aware of the incident.

It is hard to believe that they didn’t notice staff gathered outside a lavatory for so long. Or the fact that two people eventually emerged, one an Oscar-nominated actor.

After the plane landed in Mumbai shortly after 7pm local time Miss Robertson travelled to the Grand Hyatt, a 20-minute drive from the city’s international airport.

Staff at the hotel confirmed to the Daily Mail that the Qantas crew had been booked in as usual that night.

But Miss Robertson apparently did not use her room.

She has told friends that not long after arriving in Mumbai her mobile phone rang.

It was Fiennes. He wanted to see her again.

They met at a hotel and spent a passionate night together, this time practising safe sex.

‘Lisa was completely smitten by him,’ said a friend. ‘She just hoped that the relationship could continue on from there but perhaps she was hoping for too much.’

It is understood she has not heard from Fiennes since their encounter.

According to the actor’s schedule, he had to set off the next morning for engagements in Indian villages, which included ‘preaching’ about the dangers of Aids and the need to engage in safe sex.
Days before the incident last month, Fiennes’s girlfriend Sirin Lewenden is said to have ended their relationship because of his ‘wandering eye’ and constant demands for sex.

It emerged that the liaison with Fiennes could prove rather profitable for Miss Robertson, who was declared bankrupt three years ago.

She is said to have spent this week negotiating media deals to tell the story of her fling on flight QF123 and has gone into hiding.

A former undercover drug-squad officer for New South Wales police, her marriage to a police officer ended in divorce apparently due to the demands of their jobs.

Police sources said that she had suffered ‘burn out’ due to the pressure of her job posing as a drug addict to catch criminals.

She left the force in 2003 after two years of long-term sick leave.

Police sources said her condition was serious enough to leave her with a pension of 80 per cent of her wages for the rest of her life.

However, she later fell heavily into debt.

Sydney newspapers reported that she went bankrupt three years ago with debts of £200,000, and still has several months to wait before she is discharged.

Since the story emerged at the weekend Fiennes has chosen not to comment.

Appeared Here

Judge Tosses Man’s Joint Murder Conviction After Another Man Shoots Sydney Australia Police Officer, He’s Charged, And Jury Not Properly Instructed Ast To Elements Necessary For A Conviction

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – A MAN jailed for 24 years over the murder of Sydney policeman Glenn McEnallay has won an appeal against his conviction.

John Taufahema was found guilty of murdering Senior Constable McEnallay, who was shot after pursuing a stolen car at Hillsdale, in Sydney’s southeast, in March 2002.

Mr Taufahema was jailed for a maximum 24 years in 2003, despite the fact he did not fire the fatal shot that killed the 26-year-old policeman.

He appealed his conviction, arguing the jury was not properly instructed.

The NSW Court of Criminal Appeal today upheld the appeal, quashing his conviction and ordering a new trial.

Mr Taufahema had been in the car pursued by Const McEnallay on the night of the shooting.

Also in the car, which was being driven by Mr Taufahema’s brother Motekiai Taufahema, were Sione Penisini and Meli Lagi, and four loaded stolen guns.

The men tried to evade Const McEnallay, but when the car struck a gutter and stopped, Mr Penisini got out and fired at the policeman.

Const McEnallay was hit four times and died in hospital from head and chest wounds.

Chief Judge at Common Law Peter McClellan and Justices Carolyn Simpson and Derek Price found the jury in Taufahema’s trial had not been properly instructed on the “elements necessary for joint enterprise murder”.

“The direction did not state that the appellant must have contemplated that it was possible that Penisini would have deliberately pulled the trigger of the gun intending to cause death or grievous bodily harm,” Justice McClellan said in his judgment.

He said the trial judge’s final direction was “ambiguous”.

“The matter was effectively left with the jury on the basis that they could convict on a charge of murder, if they found the elements necessary for joint enterprise manslaughter,” he said.

Motekiai Taufahema, the driver, was convicted of murder after prosecutors argued he was part of a joint criminal enterprise to evade arrest and foresaw that the policeman might be killed in the process.

But he too successfully appealed in the Court of Criminal Appeal, which quashed the conviction in May last year.

John Taufahema will face a new trial at a date to be fixed.

Appeared Here

Mile High Qantas Flight Attendant, Former New South Wales Police Officer Lisa Cherie Robertson, Abandoned Career In Law Enforcement After Suffering Burn-Out

NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA ? Mile-high flight attendant Lisa Cherie Robertson abandoned a promising career as a police officer when she suffered burn out, The Daily Telegraph Online can reveal.

New details on the woman at the centre of the mile-high sex scandal with Hollywood hunk Ralph Fiennes emerged as news broke that the British actor’s girlfriend dumped him for being “sex-obsessed”.

Dublin-based Sirin Lewenden is said to have ended their five-month romance just days before Mr Fiennes allegedly followed Miss Robertson into a toilet on a long-haul Qantas flight on January 24.
Miss Lewenden is understood to have complained about Fiennes’s “wandering eye”, “moodiness” and “constant demands for sex”.

“Now Ralph is single and clearly enjoying it. It was with no great surprise that Sirin heard of the sexual encounter on the flight,” a friend of the actor told The Daily Mirror in London.

Miss Robertson has so far denied anything happened between her and the British actor in the toilet.

She is understood to be selling her story to the highest bidder.

Celebrity spruiker Harry M Miller has been in contact with the flight attendant and has been quoted as saying he believed the lurid details could earn her up to $400,000.

Flight Attendant In Quantas Airlines Mile-High Tryst With Ralph Fiennes Is Former New South Wales Australia Undercover Police Officer Lisa Cherie Robertson

NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA – RALPH Fiennes has been dumped by his girlfriend as it is revealed a Qantas flight attendant involved in a mile-high tryst with the Hollywood heart-throb was an undercover cop.

English newspaper The Daily Mail today reported his girlfriend has broken off their relationship because Fiennes was “sex obsessed” after news of his seven-mile high encounter with a Qantas hostie became public.

The newspaper reported Fiennes was dumped by interior designer Sirin Lewenden a few days before the alleged incident on board a Qantas flight from Darwin to Mumbai in India.

It reported Miss Lewenden, of Dublin, ended their five-month romance after complaining about Fiennes’s ‘wandering eye’, ‘ moodiness’ and ‘constant demands for sex’.

“Sirin found it quite exhausting,” a friend of the actor said.

“She likes a bit of fun but also likes a much simpler life. In the end she had had enough.”

The friend said Sirin was not surprised to hear about Fiennes’s latest encounter.

“They split because of Ralph’s wandering eye and his constant demands for what might best be described as unconventional sex. He could also be prone to the odd mood swing.”

According to the report, Fiennes met Miss Lewenden last summer while he was in a play in Dublin.

They apparently started seeing each other after he performed a naked yoga routine for her in the front room of her home.

The latest twist came as it was revealed the woman at the centre of the sex scandal with the film star was an undercover cop with a talent for putting major drug dealers behind bars.

Lisa Cherie Robertson, 38, had posed as a drug addict to trap some of the country’s biggest criminals.

Her incredible former life emerged as her father, Graham, broke his silence, describing his daughter as a “good kid” who had done nothing wrong.

“Lisa just does her job and if someone wants a cup of coffee and biscuits she looks after them,” he said.

“She’s not a bad looking girl. If you do the right thing people take a liking to you.”

Miss Robertson has so far denied anything happened between her and the British actor in the toilet.

She is understood to be selling her story to the highest bidder.

Celebrity spruiker Harry M Miller has been in contact with the flight attendant and has been quoted as saying he believed the lurid details could earn her up to $400,000.

Mr Robertson said the Qantas colleagues who reported seeing his daughter leaving the same toilet as Fiennes on the January 30 flight were “probably ugly as a hat full of a…holes and were just jealous”.

His fun-loving daughter walked away from the NSW police force after 14 years in 2002, racked up legal debts of almost $500,000 and was declared bankrupt three years ago.

Years before her mile-high encounter, Ms Robertson kept a low profile as an undercover cop.

Her career included posing as a drug addict to bust heroin syndicates, often wearing listening devices to trap criminals.

But the exciting police work was also dangerous, as Ms Robertson found out when she became involved in a shootout with a crazed gunman on the streets of a Sydney suburb in 1993.

She was also deeply affected after attending the accidental fatal shooting of a probationary female constable by another policewoman in 1988.

She left the police force for personal reasons in 2002, but the details surrounding her departure were suppressed by the NSW District Court and cannot be published.

Ms Robertson was born in the tiny town of Coolamon, just outside Wagga Wagga, but grew up in Culcairn, near Albury, where her father ran the local butcher shop and her mother worked as an assistant teacher.

A bright student, she graduated from high school in 1985 and worked at Pizza Hut and Hungry Jack’s before moving to Melbourne to work as a stockbroking messenger.

But the excitement of life as a police officer lured her to the Goulburn academy in 1988, where she graduated at the age of 19.

She showed promise as a young constable in Narrandera in southwest NSW and was sent to Sydney in 1990.

In 1993 she was called to Burwood, where an armed suspect was shooting at police after killing three people.

She told colleagues she was forced to take cover behind a bus with her gun drawn, before the offender was shot by the Tactical Response Group.

She married fellow police officer John Duncan in 1993, but the relationship broke down under the pressure of their work and they divorced.

“She was a good cop, but in the end she decided she wanted to do more with her life,” a former police colleague said yesterday.

But life has not been kind since she walked away from policing.

She worked for about six months as a scuba diving instructor at Great Adventures dive company in Cairns before signing on as a Qantas steward in September 2004.

Just two months before taking to the skies, she was declared bankrupt with debts of $440,000 – mainly to the Crown Solicitor’s Office.

She is still listed as an undischarged bankrupt.

Despite her financial woes, she listed a late model Land Rover Freelander, with an estimated value of $30,000, as one of her assets.

Ms Robertson has been linked to celebrity spruiker Harry M. Miller since the mile-high scandal broke.

“I know the figures, but I can’t tell you,” Graham Robertson said when asked about plans to sell his daughter’s story.

The flight attendant faces the sack if the allegations of sexual impropriety are proved.

She has been suspended pending an investigation by Qantas management.

In a signed statement to the airline, she said she began chatting to Fiennes when he sat next to her in a crew jump seat during the flight.

She then told the star she needed to go to the toilet and claims he followed her in and “became amorous” towards her.

“I explained to him that this was inappropriate and asked him to leave,” Ms Robertson said.

A Qantas spokesman said the investigation was continuing.

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Besides Pornography Subjects And Content, Aborigines And Minorities Ridiculed In Questionable Contents Of 150 New South Wales Australia Police Officer’s Emails

NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA – The NSW police email scandal moved beyond porn yesterday, with revelations many messages circulated by officers ridiculed Aborigines and other minorities.

Several emails were deemed racist, sexist or inappropriate by investigators after a range of questionable messages were found in up to 150 police inboxes.

One showed four Aborigines on a mock ABBA album with the word “ABBO” above them.

Susan Matthews from the NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group, which advises the Government, was disgusted.

“I think it is high time the commissioner did something about bringing his police servicemen and women into line,” Ms Matthews said.

“What Aboriginal person is going to go to police when they humiliate and make fun of an Aboriginal person like this.”

A three-page email also featured sexually explicit stories about racial groups such as Lebanese and Colombians – and singled out Muslims.

It suggested offensive acts with animals were permitted in Lebanon, with other lewd references to practices in other countries.

A police worker confirmed some of the emails had been forwarded to other officers – but said they were only intended to be jokes.

One email under the heading “The top 10 things men know for sure about women” had nine blank points and then a picture of a woman’s breasts with the words “they have boobs”.

Another had a selection of pictures of naked or near-naked men and women on beaches along with files labelled “sexy people”.

The emails are a snapshot of inappropriate material picked up in an audit by the professional standards command.

One employee said police had not done enough to warn staff of what was acceptable email content and that a firewall, which can pick up inappropriate material, had provided a false sense of security.

Police employees are warned at the bottom of emails “all mail is subject to content scanning for possible violation of NSW Police Electronic Mail Policy”.

The policy states activity “that might be reasonably considered questionable, controversial or offensive” may lead to disciplinary action.

Up to 150 officers and civilian workers have been caught up in the investigation, with many having unwittingly received the emails.

Assistant Commissioner Catherine Burn has taken a strong stand against the abuse of email systems.

“This investigation clearly indicates we take this issue seriously and we are dealing with the matter appropriately,” she said.

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Hundreds Of Australian Police Officers Caught Up In Explicit Email Scandal

AUSTRALIA – Hundreds of police are caught up in an email scandal after inappropriate material, some of it sexually explicit, was found in police in-boxes.

An audit of the in-boxes by the professional standards command in New South Wales has revealed up to 150 officers and civilian workers have been sent disturbing emails.

Police halfway through a widespread investigation were yesterday unable to rule out hundreds more police being involved.

Professional standards officers have begun interviewing police while independent auditors are interviewing civilian workers.

While police yesterday confirmed some of the emails were of a sexually inappropriate nature, they would not be drawn on whether any were pornographic.

Police would not comment on the investigation, refusing to reveal how many police and civilian workers were being investigated or how severe any punishment could be.

The investigation began after an audit was undertaken within sections of the police, with the results prompting swift action.

The in-boxes of some staff in the Sydney police radio room are being examined but it is understood most caught up in the probe unwittingly received an inappropriate email and had no part in distributing it.

A memo has been sent to all NSW police in the wake of the findings, warning them of the appropriate use of the police email system.

Head of the professional standards command, Assistant Commissioner Catherine Burn, confirmed that inappropriate emails had been identified.

She said disciplinary action would be taken if the outcome of the investigation warranted it.

“NSW Police does not condone any abuse of the police email system,” she said.

“This investigation clearly indicates that we take this issue seriously and we are dealing with the matter appropriately.

“We don’t tolerate inappropriate material being distributed via the police email system.”

A report into the police force inquiry held at the end of last year revealed that some police believed sexually explicit talk and even pornography were acceptable.

The review by senior counsel Chris Ronalds into sexual harassment and discrimination in the police, called for management to taker a harder line against sexually inappropriate conduct.

It found some police were using mobile phones to show disturbing images to bypass the monitoring of work computers.

In 1999 it was revealed that several officers had used the police internal computer system to email pornographic images.

Police computer records and email in-boxes are audited annually by the professional standards command.

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Canberra Australia Police Prisoner Abuse Probe Begins Amide Assault Allegations Against Federal Police Officer David Arthur Fearnside, And Other Theft And Excessive Force Complaints

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA – Treatment of detainees in Canberra police cells has come under scrutiny, with a review under way amid assault allegations against a federal police officer and other complaints ranging from theft to excessive use of force.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty and Acting Commonwealth Ombudsman Vivienne Thom announced details yesterday of a joint review to examine procedures in the city’s watch house.

The review follows complaints made to the Ombudsman in recent years, some relating to the treatment of intoxicated detainees and those with a disability, failure to provide timely medical treatment and theft of property.

A complaint about a minor kept in custody without the parents being informed also was reported.

Last year, AFP officer David Arthur Fearnside was stood down after a woman accused him of assaulting her with capsicum spray in October while she was being detained in a Canberra police cell.

Fearnside, who has since resigned from the force, has pleaded not guilty in the ACT Magistrates Court to assault charges.

ACT’s chief police officer Audrey Fagan said yesterday that “a number” of investigations were under way in relation to watch house incidents and that two other police officers had been stood down.

The review, which was proposed by the AFP, will examine watch house policies and procedures, training and supervision of AFP officers and the functioning of closed circuit television networks.

It will also investigate the use of force, the assessment and treatment of detainees with special needs and watch house records and videotapes.

Dr Thom said the Ombudsman received about a dozen complaints each year relating to police watch house practices in the ACT.

One of the more serious complaints related to a man with a disability who sustained a broken collar bone while in police custody.

Video footage relevant to concerns about police use of force had been viewed and substantiated complaints, Dr Thom said.

The review is expected to be completed by the end of April and a report made public.

Ms Fagan said it was important to ensure the territory’s custodial procedures were best practice.

“Clearly there’s been a number of issues raised and as a result of those, that’s prompted us to go to the Ombudsman and have this review,” she said.

“The matter before the court is certainly a factor, as is our policy and guidelines that are coming up for expiration.

“I went to the Ombudsman clearly with this in mind to get the Ombudsman to work with us and give the community confidence in the procedures and transparency of that review.”

But Civil Liberties Australia and those within the legal profession were not convinced.

Civil Liberties chief executive officer Bill Rowlings said, “We congratulate the police for launching this but the review panel needs to have community representation. People who are being locked up are members of the community so we need people outside the system.”

Prominent Canberra barrister Jennifer Saunders also questioned the independence of the review.

“In my experience, the Ombudsman, as well intentioned as they might be, are after all public servants and I don’t have confidence they can bring an independent mind to a review of other public servants,” she said.

Ms Saunders said an independent police inquiry board was clearly needed in the ACT.

“Most other states have independent inquiry and review organisations but the federal police have nothing other than their internal investigations division,” she said.

“In the ACT the substantiation rate of complaints against police is almost non-existent.”

The review will also consider watch house complaints made to the AFP and the Ombudsman, comments made by courts, oversight bodies or individuals with information about watch house operations.

More than 4700 detainees were taken into the watch house at City Police Station last year.

The watch house, built in 1995, was the first in Australia to comply with recommendations from a Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.

It incorporated video surveillance, with 53 cameras installed.

In July last year, the system was upgraded with the installation of a closed circuit television network.

The watch house contains four holding cells, two mass holding cells and three cell blocks comprising 17 cells.

There are two padded cells and three cells for at-risk prisoners, including females and juveniles.

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Australian Government Red Tape And Broken Disciplinary System Prevents Giving Bad Cops The Boot…

AUSTRALIA ? Victorian police involved in gross misconduct are still on active duty because the State Government has not fixed the police disciplinary system, senior officers say.

The Age can reveal that files recommending the disciplining or sacking of officers take months to complete, after which they can be challenged legally by the powerful police union.

Yesterday, a spokesman for Police Minister Bob Cameron said Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon had asked the Government to fix the disciplinary system so she could more easily rid the force of corrupt officers.

The Age has uncovered details of cases in which police officers have stayed in the force after being linked with serious misconduct.

These cases include:

A senior constable who, in 2002, ordered a young woman driver to take a breath test by putting her mouth on the back of his police torch. After repeated requests, she put her mouth on the torch and blew. She complained and was paid more than $70,000 in taxpayer-funded compensation. The senior constable was admonished but kept his job. Last year, he was charged with perjury, but was acquitted.

He is on duty at a regional station.

A sergeant with significant unexplained wealth, business links to a figure tied to the underworld and who, in 2002, was implicated in serious drug squad corruption. Investigations by the Ceja anti-corruption taskforce and the Office of Police Integrity raised serious concerns about the sergeant more than six months ago.

He denied being corrupt in questioning, and is on duty at an inner-city station.

A senior police source said: “The disciplinary system is still stuffed. The commissioner’s no-confidence powers are a legal minefield. The Government has to change the act.”

The Police Regulations Act allows for officers to be sacked and disciplined. After an officer is earmarked for discipline, internal investigators send a brief outlining the misconduct to the disciplinary advisory unit for review.

Senior police have told The Age that conflicts between the unit and internal investigators, inconsistent decision making and appeals against decisions have caused a serious backlog of cases.

Ms Nixon has sacked only one officer with her no-confidence powers, despite her promise in 2004 to fire several corrupt police. A second officer has been told he would be sacked and has been given several weeks to appeal.

Ms Nixon’s powers to sack police in which she has lost confidence have been stymied by legal challenges, including two successful Supreme Court appeals funded by the Police Association.

A spokesman for Mr Cameron said Ms Nixon had asked for the disciplinary system to be improved, and that the Justice Department was evaluating systems in other states.

“The minister will assess this study, which will inform his future discussions with stakeholders including the Chief Commissioner, Office of Police Integrity and the Police Association,” he said.

State Opposition police spokesman, Andrew McIntosh, said the Government had for months ignored calls to overhaul the system because it feared annoying the Police Association before the November election.

“The Government is more interested in doing deals with the Police Association than providing proper outcomes for Victoria. If the Chief Commissioner is saying she needs the powers and the OPI is saying there is a problem, the Government needs to act,” Mr McIntosh said.

The association’s secretary, Paul Mullett, said the Police Regulations Act needed to be modernised, but Ms Nixon already had too much power. He said her powers denied the sacked officers natural justice.

Mr Mullett said that Ms Nixon had sacked only one officer reflected poorly on her. “Is the Chief Commissioner serious about tackling corruption? She has strong provisions under the disciplinary parts of the Police Regulations Act. It is all about following due process.”

A police spokeswoman said police were in talks with the Government about the powers of Ms Nixon, who was dedicated to ridding the force of corrupt officers.

In September, director of the Office of Police Integrity George Brouwer told The Age: “Thought needs to be given to what can be done to remedy the problems (with the disciplinary system).”

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Round Two In Pissing Contest: West Australia Victoria Police Association Accused Of Bullying Police Chief

WEST AUSTRALIA – The former president of Victoria’s powerful Police Association, Janet Mitchell, was on long-term stress leave after being ostracised, denigrated and isolated in the union, the ABC alleged.

The Four Corners program depicted the association’s public face, secretary Paul Mullett, as a bullying control freak who runs things “with an iron fist.”

The program also claimed the association did not support anti-corruption investigations and appeared to load its funding committees with “mates”.

Ms Mitchell, who has been on stress leave since June, said she ultimately had to quit because her health was suffering after a campaign of anonymous emails against her.

“It seemed a useless thing to continue, my health was suffering and I had to put myself first and I thought I just couldn’t continue,” she said.

She claimed the anonymous emails described her as “lazy”, with “no time for the members” and that Sen Sgt Mullett had the union formally ban her from speaking to him.

Senior homicide detective Gavan Ryan backed Ms Mitchell.

“I’ve worked homicide for a long time and I’ve dealt with a lot of crooks, bad crooks,” Det Ryan said on the program.

“Most of them have more morals than, than the, just cowards, that send out these malicious defamatory emails against her, you know they’re just cowards.”

Ms Mitchell said she had wondered whether there was any truth to a perception that there was a mates network in the union’s $14 million legal costs fund and she had wanted to spell out clearer processes.

She wanted members to be able to look at what the association did, “and say look, ok, there is a process here, it’s not just people putting their mates on a committee, not loading a committee with certain favourable people who will make the right decision … “.

Another detective, Bill Patten, claimed on the program the Police Association did not want to know about corruption.

“My opinion is they never supported corruption investigations … don’t accept internal investigations and certainly don’t accept acknowledgement to corruption.”

Det Ryan described Sen Sgt Mullett as “absolutely obsessive about controlling the knowledge.”

Former police detective and association member Doug Potter accuses him of running the place “with an iron fist”.

Sen Sgt Mullett said he did not wish to comment until viewing Monday night’s program in full.

“We’re seeing what is emerging is collusion between the Chief Commissioner (Christine Nixon) and a former group of police association representatives in an attempt to undermine and destabilise the Police Association,” Sen Sgt Mullett said.

He claimed Ms Nixon presenting Ms Mitchell with a bravery award for tackling the union culture and jumping the queue for international deployment work, were all evidence of collusion.

He also said police members featured on the program must have received authorisation from Ms Nixon to make public comments.

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Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon Accused Of Trying To Undermine And Discredit Australia’s Victorian Police Union

AUSTRALIA – The secretary of the Victorian Police Association, Paul Mullett, believes former union members are working with the Chief Commissioner to discredit both him and the union.

The ABC’s Four Corners program will tonight air allegations of bullying against Senior Sergeant Mullett, made by the former Police Association president, Senior Sergeant Janet Mitchell.

Other media outlets have also published stories over the weekend focussing on the often strained relationship between Mr Mullett and the Chief Commissioner, Christine Nixon.

Senior Sergeant Mullett says the campaign against him is well-organised and goes right to the top.

“It’s only a small number of former Police Association representatives who, in our view, are directly connected to the Chief Commissioner,” he said.

“There’s collusion between the two in trying to destabilise and undermine what the Police Association does best and that’s properly represent its members.”

Senior Sergeant Mullett says the union is keen to rid the force of corrupt officers but members are entitled to the presumption of innocence whenever court action is pending.

“Over 80 per cent of our members are subsequently acquitted or found not guilty so that says something in itself,” he said.

“Unfortunately it’s an occupational hazard for police officers to get allegations levelled against them.”

Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon has so far been unavailable for comment.
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Outsiders Needed To Investigate West Australia Police, Botched Police Investigation, And Justice System, After Innocent Man Jailed 12 Years Into Life Sentence

WEST AUSTRALIA – Andrew Mallard wants a legal officer from outside WA to probe the bungled murder inquiry of jeweller Pamela Lawrence, for which he served 12 years before he was cleared.

He said an “outsider” was essential because the investigation by the Corruption and Crime Commission would, in effect, put WA’s administration of justice on trial.

“This is about the adequacies and inadequacies of the WA justice system,” Mr Mallard said yesterday. “I am sure there are other people in prison now who shouldn’t be there.”

Attorney-General Jim McGinty said yesterday an independent special commissioner would be appointed for the inquiry to avoid hindrance caused by the retirement next month of CCC Commissioner Kevin Hammond. The commissioner would be eligible to be appointed as a senior judge. Serving or former police would not be chosen.

“The appointment of a special commissioner to focus solely on this inquiry will ensure that no stone is left unturned in this terrible tale of injustice,” Mr McGinty said.

Public hearings are expected to start by July and could run for six months, involving a Who’s Who of WA police and judiciary.

Mr Mallard said his case exposed “serious errors” in the administration of justice and “serious errors of moral and ethical behaviour”.

The CCC will investigate the botched 1994 police inquiry, as well as Mr Mallard’s prosecution, conviction and failed appeals in WA. The High Court quashed his conviction in 2005 and he was freed last year.

Afterwards, a police “cold case” review eliminated Mr Mallard as a suspect but found evidence to implicate prisoner Simon Rochford, who was serving a life sentence in Albany jail for murdering his girlfriend. He committed suicide after police quizzed him in May.

Mr McGinty hinted that an “outsider” could be appointed as special commissioner. “We want someone with a clear mind to come to this issue so they can dig deep and find out if any public officers behaved inappropriately,” he said.

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Australian Federal Police Under Investigation After Years Of Complaints

AUSTRALIA – WATCH-house operations in the ACT will be examined in the wake of a federal police officer being charged with assault.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Commonwealth Ombudsman said they would jointly review police cell procedures following a number of complaints in recent years.

AFP officer David Arthur Fearnside was stood down after a woman accused him of assaulting her with capsicum spray last October while she was being detained in a Canberra police cell.

Mr Fearnside, who resigned from the force, has pleaded not guilty in the ACT Magistrates Court to assault charges.

Without mentioning the case, Acting Commonwealth Ombudsman Vivienne Thom said serious complaints over several years about watch-house procedures prompted the audit.

“While the Commonwealth Ombudsman receives a relatively small number of complaints each year about watch-house custodial procedures, some of those complaints are sufficiently serious to warrant us undertaking this review,” Dr Thom said.

The Ombudsman and the AFP said the move was timely following the upgrading last July of a closed circuit television camera system at the City Watch-house.

Practices under scrutiny include the use of force and physical restraints, handling people with special needs and the training and supervision of AFP members in the watch-house.

The team carrying out the study also will consider individual complaints and comments by courts and oversight bodies.

“ACT policing is strongly committed to best practice in the treatment of detained persons and I welcome this review to help us ensure those high standards are being met in our watch-house operations,” ACT Chief Police Officer Audrey Fagan said.

The review is due to be completed at the end of April.

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Innocent Man Killed In Adelaides Australia Suburbs Police Chase – Second Innocent Citizen Killed By Adelaides Police Chases In A Month…

ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA – A man has died after the car he was travelling in was hit by a car fleeing police in Adelaide.
Police were pursuing an allegedly stolen car at high speed through Adelaide’s northern suburbs at about 4.30am local time when it smashed into another vehicle at the intersection of South Road and Francis Street, Wingfield.

The driver of the other car died at the scene. Police said there were a man and two female passengers in the allegedly stolen car. The driver was taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital with serious injuries.

The section of South Road – a main arterial road – around the site has been closed while police investigate the crash. it was estimated that the road would remain closed for most of the morning.

The death is the second fatality from a police chase in Adelaide in the last fortnight.

On January 30, a 20-year-old man died when his car hit a pole and then was sent into a building at Torrens Park.

Police Superintendent Michael Cornish said early information suggested the driver of the allegedly stolen car was not a direct suspect in Operation Mandrake, a police investigation dealing with a series of offences linked to a 49-strong Aboriginal gang in Adelaide’s western suburbs.

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Northern Territory Australia Police Officer Beats Lesbian Lover

NORTHERN TERRITORY, AUSTRALIA ? It has been alleged that a woman has been pressured into withdrawing a complaint, after her lesbian lover, who is a police officer, physically abused her.

Reports emerging indicate that a representative from the Ethical and Professional Responsibility Command urged the woman to withdraw the complaint; assuring her at the same that the complaint would be handled “internally”.

The victim of this assault, according to News Limited, claims that she was contacted by a senior police officer soon after the incident took place, urging her not to file a complaint. The officer is now no longer a part of the Command.

Police confirmed overnight that a complaint was made in regards to an assault. “I can confirm that a domestic violence incident involving a Territory police officer has been subject to this investigation and review process.” “Furthermore, it has been subject to a complaint against police, which is being investigated by the Ombudsman” said Hayley Dwyer, Police Spokeswoman.

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Former Queensland Australia Prison Officer John Glaister Arrested, Charged With Selling Illegal Weapons And Firearms At Weekend Flea Markets

QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – A former Queensland prison officer, John Glaister, had guns to sell, in particular a .38-calibre Smith & Wesson pistol for $2000. His mistake was trying to sell it to undercover NSW police posing as illegal arms traders, using weekend markets in Brisbane to ply their trade.

Operation Talamanca had already uncovered one big fish – the Queensland gun dealer Frank Curr. It was about to pull in Glaister and broaden the net in another direction.

Detective Inspector Albert Joseph and his team laughed at the site Glaister had chosen for the deal: there was something poetic about it going down beneath the Big Prawn on the Pacific Highway at Ballina, on the North Coast.

On March 7, 2001 Glaister arrived and was arrested. The gun had its serial numbers obliterated, but police soon learnt it was one from Curr that had been written off the Queensland firearms registry.

The arrest of Glaister brought new intelligence on another black-market gun dealer. The path pointed police towards the Blue Mountains, where they learnt that even military firearms were being offered. Their fresh target was Michael Tucker, 57, a gun nut, who lived at Medlow Bath.

Other undercover officers who had been brought in to infiltrate all the gun shows attended by the Road Runner – a middle man who did all Curr’s sales work and who became a protected witness – were enlisted to befriend Tucker. Soon, deals were being made in the car park of the Penrith Panthers Leagues Club and leafy Centennial Park.

The first sale from Tucker’s car boot at Panthers to undercover police was a Remington pump-action shotgun. Tucker also showed them a Ruger semiautomatic assault rifle, but the officers had only $2000 with them, so they acquired only the shotty. Days later at Centennial Park, Tucker sold them – for $2000 – the Ruger, which had been permanently muffled and had a telescopic sight. There was another meeting in Centennial Park at which police bought a Ruger Mini 14 assault rifle for $3200.

During each deal Tucker talked about being able to get a Steyr F88 assault rifle, the standard infantry weapon of the Australian Army and which is not available to the public. He teased the undercover officers with this deal every time they spoke, then said he’d changed his mind and decided not to sell it.

On November 19, 2002 police arrested Tucker outside his home in Medlow Bath. Fifteen weapons were found, including parts of a Steyr army rifle, but not the complete gun he had offered to sell. Among the weapons were two Australian Automatic Arms semiautomatic machine guns.

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New South Wales Police Search Journalists Phone Records After Commissioner Ken Moroney And Government Embarrassed By Leaks

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – New South Wales Police are combing through the mobile phone records of journalists trying to find whistleblowers who have given information to the media.

The Sunday Telegraph has been told the practice has become common since the Macquarie Fields riots in early 2005.

Newspaper and radio reports following the riots exposed serious shortcomings among senior NSW Police.

The leaks embarrassed Commissioner Ken Moroney and the Government.

A spokesman for Mr Moroney said on Friday NSW Police operated within the law.

But he did not respond in detail to 10 questions from The Sunday Telegraph about the practice.

One question asked whether the phone records of a reporter for The Sunday Telegraph had been obtained after the Macquarie Fields riots and after an unrelated report last year.

Another asked whether police had examined the mobile phone records of 2GB broadcasters Ray Hadley and Alan Jones, who were also leaked information.

But Mr Moroney’s spokesman declined to answer, instead issuing a short statement.

“The Telecommunications Act 1997 governs the circumstances in which telecommunications carriers may disclose mobile phone records. The NSW police force obtains access to this information within the bounds of this legislative scheme. It is not in the public interest for the NSW police force to disclose its investigative methodology.”

Leaks to the media plagued the former commissioner, Peter Ryan.

In July last year, his successor, Mr Moroney, warned his senior officers he would pursue them through the courts if he found confidential information had been leaked.

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New South Wales Australia Police Officers Accused Of Misconduct, Usually Suspended With Pay, Wait 18 Months For Internal Hearings – At Huge Expense To Taxpayers

NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA – Police officers accused of misconduct are being suspended with pay for up to 18 months as they wait to have their cases heard.

Suspension rates in some commands are as high as 1 per cent, resulting in up to 100 officers being sidelined across NSW at any given time, police sources say.

Some of the long-term suspended are stuck in limbo with no end in sight as they wait to have their cases heard by an internal committee of executive police, they say.

“It’s taken heaps longer than expected for these guys, most of whom are totally frustrated, just sitting around waiting for something to happen,” one officer said on condition of anonymity.

“Nobody goes near them, nobody talks to them.”

Others describe their colleagues as lepers facing “a wall of silence” while denied certainty about their futures.

In one case an officer waited months for his case to be heard, then nine weeks for Commissioner Ken Moroney – who has discretion to remove officers if he loses confidence in them – to give the final word on his future.

NSW Police Association secretary Peter Remfrey said the officers concerned were entitled to be considered innocent of misdemeanour until proven otherwise.

Opposition police spokesman Mike Gallacher, a former policeman, said the flow-on effects were detrimental to suspended officers.

If the investigations “fell over”, those under scrutiny were then “dusted off and expected to get back to work,” Mr Gallacher said. “Procedures for clearing the complaints system need to be dealt with as soon as possible.

“Officers need to be in the community. It’s important that if they’re found not guilty they are able to move on as soon as possible and move back into the force.”

Police Minister John Watkins said a review was under way, which would free resources to deal with serious allegations more promptly.

The Government was committed to dealing with allegations against police efficiently.

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Queensland Australia Police Police Show Their True Color, Rallying Behind Officer Chris Hurley, Charged With Killing Man

QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – All Queensland police officers may soon be wearing blue wrist bands in a show of support for a colleague charged over the death in custody of a Palm Island man.

Gold Coast officers already are wearing the bands stamped with the number “6747″ – the official police registration number of Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley.

The officer was this week charged with manslaughter over Mulrunji Doomadgee’s death in the island’s watchhouse in 2004.

Queensland Police Union vice president Denis Fitzpatrick said the bands would not only help raise funds for Snr Sgt Hurley’s legal costs, but show a “silent protest” against his treatment.

“It’s not a significant amount of money we’re trying to raise. It’s more an issue with regards of support and solidarity of our member,” Mr Fitzpatrick said today.

“As I understand it, everyone on the Gold Coast is now wearing them and I foresee every officer in the state of Queensland wearing one in the near future.”

The bands, which retail for $5, are currently available only at Gold Coast police stations. They will be distributed to police stations across Queensland in the coming days.

“Yesterday we rolled out 4,000. They are now sold out and we’re arranging the manufacture of a further 5,000 in the very near future,” Mr Fitzpatrick said.

“We are now receiving overwhelming public demand from members of the community wanting to purchase the wristband as well.”

Meanwhile, 143 police officers have met in Rockhampton in central Queensland in one of a series of statewide meetings in support for Snr Sgt Hurley.

“That meeting has clearly called for significant upgrades in police numbers in the local Aboriginal community of Woorabinda, (west of Rockhampton),” Mr Fitzpatrick said.

“We still do not have the commitment for significant upgrades in terms of police numbers in remote Aboriginal communities.”

Mr Fitzpatrick said there were no plans for further meetings.

“What we’ll do now is consolidate the thoughts and sentiments of the members right around the state and we’ll plan a course of action in the very near future,” he said.

The union is considering staging an unprecedented police march on parliament house in Brisbane.

Mr Fitzpatrick said Snr Sgt Hurley had been “overwhelmed” by support from colleagues and the community.

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New South Wales Australia Police Officer Grame O’Neill, On Sick Leave From Office Of Police Commissioner, Found Working For Cruise Line

AUSTRALIA – The former head of the NSW Water Police, Graeme O’Neill, started working for the cruise ship company P&O while on sick leave from the office of the Police Commissioner, Ken Moroney, the inquest into the death of Dianne Brimble has been told.

Mr O’Neill said yesterday he did not seek approval for the work because he was disappointed by the police and did not care, but admitted “perhaps I should have”.

He told Glebe Coroner’s Court it had been a regular practice for police to go on free cruises in their holidays, and be recalled to duty if they needed to investigate any incidents.

The relationship between water police and P&O has come under criticism after it was revealed one of the officers investigating Mrs Brimble’s death, Erdinc Ozen, had been on a schoolies cruise a year earlier.

Mr O’Neill was no longer in charge of the officers when Mrs Brimble died in September 2002, but he had approved the participation of six officers on schoolies cruises in 2000 and 2001.

The Herald reported last month that officially 10 per cent of officers in the water police have approval for a second job, ranging from videoing weddings to plumbing, but that the Police Integrity Commission suspected many more may not have declared their outside employment.

Second jobs had become so rife the Police Commissioner’s office was conducting biannual audits.

The Herald revealed last year that almost 2000 of the state’s 15,000 police were officially allowed to work second jobs.

Mr O’Neill said he worked in the office of Mr Moroney from about March 2002 in charge of Project Viking, which tackled street crime, which he said could have been handled better.

He went on sick leave in May 2003 after a back injury related to an armed robbery, had surgery, never returned to work, and retired “hurt on duty” in late 2005. He is entitled to a pension for life of at least $91,600.

He started working for P&O in about 2004, initially without pay, but was soon paid $1000 a month. He said he worked for about 30 to 40 hours a month.

Since 2005 he has been working full time for P&O, which ran the cruise on which Mrs Brimble died, to improve security.

He said despite working for the police for 28 years, when he was sick “no one from the police force ever contacted me to check on my welfare”.

“My care factor to what the police service may have been thinking and what my official requirements were were pretty much zero,” he said.

But Mr O’Neill, who was commander of the water police from 1999 to about April 2002, said he believed police would have approved a secondary employment request while he was on sick leave.

He said P&O’s procedures for dealing with crimes on board had “significant weaknesses”, but many improvements had been made. P&O had doubled the number of security officers, had established clearer procedures and responsibilities, and introduced security cameras. Many of the officers it employed had police or military backgrounds, he said.

The captain now reported all incidents to head office, which informed police. He said he had not heard of any crimes on cruise ships which had gone unreported.

Until the mid 1980s, police officers from across the force travelled regularly on cruise ships for free while on leave.

This was stopped because of concerns about insurance, work cover and the carrying of guns, handcuffs and capsicum spray on the ship, Mr O’Neill said.

The captain now reported all incidents to head office, which informed police. He had not heard of any cruise ship crimes which had gone unreported.

Police involved in the Brimble inquiry have been asked about several incidents, including having danced in the disco with passengers, having taken a day off in Port Vila during the investigation, and even a claim that a detective laughed when one of the persons of interest, Leo Silvestri, described Mrs Brimble as a dog.

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Sydney Australia Court Told That Corrupt Cop Tipped Off Drug Smugglers

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – A Sydney man who admits helping smuggle 100kg of cocaine into Western Australia was only involved because more senior plotters pulled out after a tip-off from a corrupt policeman, a court heard today.

David Sukkar, 26, pleaded guilty on the second day of his trial in the Western Australian Supreme Court to helping import $70 million worth of cocaine from the Brazilian-registered Marcos-Dias to Albany, 390km south of Perth, in July and August 2004.

In August 2004, Bolivian national Jose Sevilla, who has been sentenced to a minimum 21 years jail for his role in the plot, collected the drugs from the ship and hid them on a remote beach.

A police surveillance night video was shown in court today of Sukkar and Sevilla retrieving the drugs from dense bushes.

During sentencing submissions, Sukkar’s lawyer Elizabeth Fullerton said her client’s role in the plot was elevated after the original buyers of the cocaine withdrew when they were tipped off by a surveillance operative.

“When they dropped from the scene he became elevated in the job he had to do,” Ms Fullerton said.

Sukkar went to retrieve the cocaine with Sevilla only so he would know where it was when a buyer was confirmed, Ms Fullerton said.

Prosecutor Gillian Braddock said Sukkar’s role was not exactly clear.

He was not the main organiser of the deal, rather he was taking delivery of the goods, which were destined for Sydney, Ms Braddock said.

“Mr Sukkar assisted Mr Sevilla as a representative of the ultimate purchasers in Australia,” Ms Braddock said.

Despite Sukkar’s guilty plea, “there is limited indication that there is actual remorse from this offender,” Ms Braddock said.

Ms Fullerton admitted the guilty plea was very late, but said it resolves the question of Sukkar’s guilt following his initial hung jury trial last year.

Sentencing submissions are continuing.

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Shots Fired At Two Melborune Australia Red-Light Cameras

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – Police believe a disgruntled motorist is responsible for shooting two red-light cameras and will examine recent offenders at the Melbourne intersection where four lenses were damaged.

A witness has told police he saw two men with a pistol shooting at the fixed cameras on Middleborough Road in suburban Blackburn North near the Eastern Freeway intersection, about 11.45pm (AEDT) on Wednesday.

Police searched for the men overnight using dogs and helicopters, but failed to find them.

Acting Sergeant Andrew Martin said police may be able to find the men by tracing red-light offenders at that intersection.

“It’ll be something that the CIU (Criminal Investigation Unit) will look at, they’ll go through perhaps,” acting Sgt Martin said.

“But I don’t know how many cars go through here and go through red lights but I’d say there’d be a few.

“It will be a disgruntled motorist,” he said.

Acting Sgt Martin said the men left no ballistic evidence and police were unsure what weapon was used.

“It appears from looking at the camera that there’s been no penetration of the glass, I understand the glass is very, very thick though,” he said.

“It perhaps could have been a smaller type air rifle or slug gun.”

Acting Sgt Martin said camera damage was “not all that common” but he believe none had previously been done with a firearm.

“It’s extremely serious,” he said.

“Obviously extremely dangerous. If there are firearms being let off in the area, who knows where the shots may end up?

“It’s extremely disturbing for this sort of thing to be happening out in the suburbs.”

Police said the witness heard two explosions, like gunshots, then saw two men loitering on the side of the road.

“He then stayed and watched … and one of the males approached the camera, put his right hand up and pointed at the camera and another two, what he said were like shots, rang out.”

Police are appealing for anyone with information to come forward.

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Sydney Australia Police Officer Andrew Rober Cumming Pleads Guilty After Driving 126 to 150 MPH On Freeway

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – He  was showing off his driving skills to colleagues — reaching speeds of up to 240km/ h (150 MPH) on a freeway in a fully marked police car. After his fellow constables reported his behaviour to superiors, Senior Constable Andrew Robert Cumming found himself on the wrong side of the law — for driving the speedometer off the dial.

The 30-year-old yesterday pleaded guilty to two charges of exceeding the speed limit by more than 45km/h. (28 MPH)

Cumming was a specialist highway patrol driver attached to Operation Seta in January last year. Seta was formed to target anti-social behaviour in response to the Cronulla riots.

On January 18 last year, Cumming was driving on the F6 near Bulli with two constables. He explained to them how the Holden Commodore worked before accelerating to a high speed. One constable saw the speedo reach 202 km/h — although he felt it was going faster —and asked Cumming to stop driving so fast.

According to the constable, Cumming said: “Don’t worry. That speedo, it stops at 202. [126 MPH] We were actually doing 230-240 km/h [142–150 MPH]”.

Just two days later Cumming was driving with two different constables when he reached at least 202km (126 MPH) Ai on the same freeway and overtook about 30 other cars while travelling at that speed. In neither case were they driving to an urgent police job.

Queensland Australia Police Officer Chris Hurley Charged With Assault And Manslaughter After Man Died In Custody

QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – Queensland policeman Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley has been formally charged over the death in custody of an Indigenous man on Palm Island, in the state’s north.

Hurley appeared in the Brisbane Supreme Court this afternoon, charged with the manslaughter and assault of Mulrunji in November 2004.

He was ordered to reappear in court on March 15.

Meanwhile, the State Government appears to have changed position on the release of a review by Sir Laurence Street into the death in custody case.

The report recommended Sen Sgt Hurley be prosecuted for manslaughter and a week ago the Government argued the document could not be published because it could jeopardise the trial.

But details of the report were published in The Courier Mail today.

The Premier Peter Beattie will not confirm or deny that he leaked it, but he says he does not believe the trial will be affected.

“I’ve got to say, there’s a whole pack of hypocrites running around jumping up and down about information being made public,” he said.

“I mean the public have a right to know and we made it clear right from the beginning at some point they would have a right to know, so I don’t see any big deal about this appearing today.”

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Sex At Sydney Australia Police Safehouse – Officer Graeme Pickering Jeopardised Sting

AUSTRALIA – A major police undercover drugs sting was jeopardised when the supervising officer had sex with the landlady of the safe house, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.

Graeme Pickering has since been promoted from sergeant to inspector and has been acting local area commander for Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

His behaviour was uncovered during a secret investigation, Strike Force Tumen, into the elite special crime and internal affairs (SCIA) unit after complaints by two of the undercover officers.

The Tumen report, obtained by The Daily Telegraph, was marked never to be released and “not in the public interest”.
It is one of the string of damaging internal inquiries into senior police mismanagement which continue to be concealed by police.

They include the Retz report, which led to the controversial sacking of former assistant commissioner Lola Scott (who was later reinstated and resigned), the Tunks report into police handling of the heroin-fuelled crimewave in Cabramatta, and the Emblems report into the secret bugging of senior police without a justifiable warrant.

The undercover officers who sparked the 2002 Tumen inquiry later sued NSW Police but the case was settled out of court as police sought to keep the report secret.

The officers had been seconded to Queensland to investigate drug dealing by police in Mackay.

Insp Pickering was in Mackay to check on the welfare of the officers. He initially denied he had an affair with the landlady of the Mackay safe house while her husband was away cutting cane but later confessed, according to the report.

Australian Police Officer Con Kostakidis ’s Cafe Was Owned By Drug Dealer

AUSTRALIA – A CAFE run by the charged fraud squad officer Con Kostakidis was previously part-owned by an accused drug dealer. And the detective used to work for the police unit that is believed to have confiscated her assets after she was charged.

Kostakidis, who worked in the police Assets Confiscation Unit, is listed as the new operator of the business formerly named the Californian on Oxford since November 2005 – six weeks after the woman was arrested and charged.

The Surry Hills woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is facing trial later this year for allegedly supplying a commercial quantity of ecstasy, as well as cocaine, cannabis, methylamphetamine and ketamine. She is in prison facing six charges.

A police spokeswoman said police can seize what they consider to be the proceeds of crime when a person is charged. Such assets are to be held by police.

If a person is convicted, police have six months to initiate court proceedings for the assets to be forfeited. If the person is found not guilty, they are to be returned.

The spokeswoman said she could not comment on the case because it was before the courts, but it is believed police seized the woman’s assets.

The company which owned the Californian on Oxford, is in liquidation, after one of the woman’s creditors, a workers’ compensation insurer, took court action last year.

A spokesman for the liquidator SimsPartners confirmed the company had left the cafe at 177 Oxford Street and “unrelated people had commenced operations at the premises”.

“We had been unable to contact either the directors of [the company] or the shareholders to obtain an explanation,” he said.

Company records show that the woman was the director and secretary and owned 60 per cent of the company which owned the business.

Kostakidis, who now runs the business under the name Red Lounge Cafe, has been suspended from duty by the police after he was charged by the Police Integrity Commission with fraud in December.

It is alleged he claimed Aisha Ahmed worked at the cafe, to help her and his colleague Rafiq Ahmed obtain a home loan. Rafiq Ahmed has also been charged.

The commission declined to comment yesterday, but has previously confirmed that investigations into the two detectives were continuing.

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Former Australian Minister Milton Orkopoulos Faces 33 Child Sex, Drugs, And Child Pornography Charges

AUSTRALIA – Sacked NSW government minister Milton Orkopoulos has been charged with three new offences bringing to 33 the number of child sex, drugs and child pornography charges laid against the former politician.

A new charge of possessing child pornography and two new charges of supplying a prohibited drug were on Wednesday added to Orkopoulos’s list of offences in Newcastle Local Court.

The new offence of possessing child pornography relates to an alleged incident at Redfern in Sydney at midday on November 8 last year, the same day Orkopoulos was arrested.

The two new drug supply charges relate to alleged cannabis supply in Sydney in June 2005.

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Orkopoulos, 49, from Belmont North, resigned from state parliament after he was charged last year with supplying drugs to two teenage boys and using government funds to pay one of them for sex.

Less than a week later, Orkopoulos, the former Aboriginal affairs minister and member for Swansea, was hospitalised following a suicide attempt.

A third person has since come forward alleging Orkopoulos supplied him with drugs.

Orkopoulos chose not to appear in court on Wednesday where Magistrate Richard Wakely adjourned the matters until March 28.

The adjournment will give NSW Premier Morris Iemma an apparent break in a string of criminal charges laid against Labor figures in recent months until at least after the March 24 state election.

Last week, former Orkopoulos staffer and Labor activist Patrick John Roughan faced court on two counts of raping a young girl.

And earlier this month, Macquarie Fields MP Steven Chaytor said he would not contest the March election after being convicted of assaulting his former girlfriend.

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NSW Government Accused Of Dropping Standards For Police Recruits (To Support Diversity, By Allowing Minorities To Pass?)

AUSTRALIA – New South Wales Opposition police spokesman Mike Gallacher says some of this year’s police recruits who will graduate on Tuesday will not be up to scratch.

Mr Gallacher says the exam pass marks at the Goulburn Police Academy have been lowered to allow more recruits to qualify, and the work experience component has been dropped.

Police Commissioner Ken Moroney and Police Minister John Watkins both say this year is the same as any other, and that standards have not been changed.

But Mr Gallacher says the bar has been lowered to bolster police numbers before the March election.

“There’ll be people there that quite simply have got through as a result of lowering the high bar,” he said.

“If they had applied the same principle as they had applied to other classes in the past then quite simply… there probably would have been a very small number of the graduates on the parade ground accompanying the Premier and the Minister for Police.”

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NSW Prosecutor Patrick Power Admits To Possessing Child Pornography

AUSTRALIA – A NSW Crown Prosecutor, Patrick Power, will enter a guilty plea to a charge of possessing child pornography, a Sydney court was told today.

Power, a Deputy Senior Crown Prosecutor was suspended in July last year after a child pornography video recording was allegedly found on his computer hard drive.

The discovery was allegedly made by another employee after Power took the hard drive to work for repairs. He was charged with one count of possessing child pornography.

Power was not in Downing Centre Local Court today but his lawyer David Giddy indicated he would enter a guilty plea.

Chief Magistrate Graeme Henson adjourned the matter to April 24 for sentencing, ordering a pre-sentence report for Power.

He was reluctant to adjourn the matter for such a long period but said: “I accept this is a somewhat unusual matter for more than one reason.”

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Palm Island Australia Police Officer Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley Suspended As Government Pursues Charges His After Beating Man To Death

AUSTRALIA – The policeman at the centre of the Palm Island death in custody case will be suspended from his job as the Queensland government pursues manslaughter charges against him.

Attorney-General Kerry Shine today said he would pursue charges against Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley over Mulrunji Doomadgee’s death in the island’s watchhouse in November 2004.

It came after a report by former NSW chief justice Sir Laurence Street found there was enough evidence to charge the officer with manslaughter – and to warrant a conviction.

Queensland’s Director of Public Prosecutions Leanne Clare last year ruled there was not enough evidence to warrant any charges.

Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson said Snr Sgt Hurley, who was put on desk duties after a coroner found he was responsible for landing the fatal blows which caused Mulrunji’s death, would now be suspended.

“As a result of today’s advice by Sir Laurence Street and the attorney-general’s decision to proceed with legal action, Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley will be suspended from further duties until the matter is resolved through the judicial process,” he said in a statement.

“Given this status it would not be appropriate to comment further about the case at this time.”

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Queensland Australia Police Service’s Media Mouthpiece Leon Bedington Suspended After Pornography Was Found On His Department Laptop

QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – The chief spin doctor for Queensland police was suspended yesterday after adult pornography was found on his departmental laptop.

Leon Bedington, the director of Queensland Police Media Unit, was interviewed by officers from the Ethical Standards Command yesterday morning at police headquarters.

Mr Bedington, whose civilian position is equivalent to that of an assistant commissioner, was appointed to the position in 2003.

Mr Bedington told The Courier-Mail yesterday that he had not done anything illegal.

“I am not accused of nor have I done anything illegal but obviously there is an issue relating to access to my work supplied laptop,” he said.

“Under the circumstances I believe the Commissioner has taken the only course of action available to him, considering the senior position I hold within the Queensland Police Service.

“I am confident all the circumstances surrounding the alleged breach of discipline will be taken into consideration during the investigation.”

He declined to comment further.

A statement released by Queensland Police yesterday said a headquarters-based member of the QPS senior executive had been suspended from duty pending an investigation into inappropriate use of the service laptop computer.

The statement did not identify the senior staff member.

The State Government in August 2005 warned that public servants caught accessing pornography at work faced the sack.

The guidelines confirmed bosses had a legal right to monitor what was being accessed on government computers.

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Man Kicked Off Australian Flight By Qantas Airlines For Bush “World’s Number 1 Terrorist” T-Shirt

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA – An airline passenger barred from a flight for wearing a T-shirt labeling President Bush a terrorist has threatened legal action against Australia’s flag carrier Qantas.

Allen Jasson, 55, an Australian IT expert who lives in Britain, was stopped from boarding a London-bound Qantas flight at Melbourne Airport last Friday for wearing what the airline said was an offensive T-shirt.

Airline staff said the T-shirt of Bush with the tagline “World’s number 1 terrorist” could have upset other passengers and demanded it be changed for another.

But Jasson, who had earlier traveled on a Qantas domestic flight wearing the Bush T-shirt, said his right to freedom of speech had been infringed by Qantas.

“I am not prepared to go without the T-shirt. I might forfeit the fare, but I have made up my mind that I would rather stand up for the principle of free speech,” Jasson told Australian media on Monday, adding he would seek legal advice.

Qantas issued a statement saying comments made verbally or on a T-shirt which had the potential to offend other travelers or threaten the security of aircraft “will not be tolerated.”

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Australia’s NSW Police Service Fails One Of It’s Own, And His Family, By It’s Absolute Failure To Properly Screen Applicants

AUSTRALIA – The young policeman who killed himself at a single-person station had a troubled mental health history.

When Greg Norman Lundbert entered the NSW Police Academy at Goulburn two years ago he wrote on the application form that he had previously tried to take his own life.

He successfully completed his training, graduated as a constable and was armed with a Glock semi-automatic service pistol.

And last year he was given his first major assignment: to manage the one-officer station at the Menai Market Place shopping centre.

On Sunday, January 9, the 29 year old constable was found in the police station’s toilet with a single gunshot wound to the head. His Glock pistol was lying next to him.

Senior police are furious that Lundberg was “thrown in at the deep end” by his superiors and maintain that the service failed in its duty of care towards him.

A detective said applications for gun licences under the Firearms Act of 1996 were rejected regularly if the applicant had a history of self-harm or mental illness.

His death is now being investigated by the critical incident team comprising senior detectives drawn from the homicide squad, the coroner’s investigation unit, St. George Police and the force’s internal affairs.

They have taken possession of the station’s closed-circuit TV tapes showing Lundberg packing up and down in a highly agitated state.

They have also learnt that neighboring police spent an hour and a half trying to contact him by phone and radio before driving to Menai to find out what was wrong.

A report will be sent to the State Coroner who will decide whether to hold a public inquest.

Police facilities at Menai have a chequered history. About 15 years ago a fully operational, fully staffed station was opened on the Old Illawarra Road but a few years ago it became the headquarters of the dog squad.

Menai was then given a single-officers shopfront station in the shopping market.

Following Lundberg’s death, community leaders said they would reopen the campaign for a fully staffed station to handle the increasing level of street crime and antisocial behavior.

The Police Association of NSW declined to comment on the incident while the investigation was continuing.

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NSW Police Internal Report Reveals More Allegations Of Australian Police Corruption And Mismanagment

AUSTRALIA – A series of previously unpublished and highly confidential audit reports obtained by Crikey reveal an alarming picture of mismanagement, harassment and possible corruption within the most senior ranks of the NSW Police Force.

As reports surfaced yesterday of NSW police pushing out new recruits to boost police numbers ahead of the March state election, the documents seen by Crikey centre on the Goulburn Police Academy and contain complaints against the now Assistant Commissioner Reg Mahoney concerning allegations of conflict of interest, bullying and mismanagement.
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In December last year, a group of former NSW police officers addressed a letter to Premier Iemma:

…ten years after a Royal Commission which focused largely on the bottom ranks of the police service, the situation is so bad that we need a serious Commission of Inquiry or a Royal Commission into the senior command of the New South Wales Police….

One of the signatories to that letter, former NSW police officer Richard McDonald, was one of the nine former NSW police officers who gave evidence before the Brownyn Bishop Inquiry back in 2003. McDonald told Crikey that the same charges of nepotism, incompetence, corruption, bullying and cronyism discussed then will continue to crop up within the NSW force until the senior ranks are examined.

McDonald told Crikey that since giving damning evidence to the inquiry in 2003, not a single recommendation or allegation has been acted on. The outraged response around a story about police s-xual harassment last week followed the same old script – Police Commissioner Ken Moroney promised to investigate the allegations, but the story petered out without a single head rolling.

“Moroney has a history of allowing senior police to escape the consequences of their actions. He needs to be held to account…,” says McDonald.

Last week, Daily Telegraph columnist Piers Akerman wrote:

Mr Moroney might care to dust off the reports prepared by Inspector RE Mawdsley, or former special crime and internal affairs commander Mal Brammer…into the Police Academy’s bar and police shop, and read their collected findings and recommendations before expressing surprise that things are not all hunky dory at Goulburn.

Crikey has dusted off the previously unreleased reports to save Moroney the trouble. They contain a litany of problems at the Academy under the now Assistant Commissioner Reg Mahoney, who was then principal of the academy. The documents from 2000 provide a damning indictment of the then Chief Superintendent and Principal of the Goulburn NSW police academy Reg Mahoney’s management style and his close relationship with Commissioner Ken Moroney.

This is how Mahoney, last year’s recipient of the Australian Police medal at the Australia Day Honours (he was nominated by Ken Moroney), is described in the 2000 auditor’s report:

The service should consider Mr Mahoney undertake public training and public duty in public service ethics at a recognised institution particularly on managing personal conflicts of interest…

Internal affairs found that there should be close monitoring by regional commanders of all his future applications for promotion.

A progress report by the auditor offers a hint as to why the recommendations weren’t acted upon:

There is a consensus of opinion that Headquarters is aware of the serious problems at the Academy particularly relating to the Principal’s performance (Mahoney). However there has been little action to address the issues. The Principal’s ‘high ranking’ connections are sighted as a reason as the inaction.

Crikey understands that after Mahoney left the Academy he was demoted two ranks to Chief Inspector and given control of a Local Area Command, Miranda. But within two years he was promoted to Assistant Commissioner rank, and now holds the position of Assistant Commissioner at the Commissioners Inspectorate (the body that once found him wanting and in need of ethics training).

And it seems the favourable treatment to Reg Mahoney has also extended to his son-in-law, Sgt Damien Goodfellow. The 31-year-old detective – who is married to the daughter of Assistant Commissioner Mahoney – has twice beaten recommendations he be sacked for criminal convictions for assault and drink driving . According to the Sun Herald, Police Commissioner Ken Moroney delivered a speech at Detective Goodfellow’s wedding.

Without a serious examination of the senior ranks of the NSW Police force, this script isn’t set to change any time soon.

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Saved by slow paperwork again? Surry Hills Local Area Australia Police Officer Mark Joseph Smith’s Drunk Driving Charges Dismissed, Seeks Dismissal Of Two Addiional Charges

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – A police officer who had a drink-driving charge against him dismissed due to sloppy paperwork will today argue two further charges should be dropped for the same reasons.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal that lawyers for Mark Joseph Smith, 30, will argue in court this morning that there is no evidence required paperwork was lodged with Manly Local Court in time.

Last month, Detective Senior Constable Smith’s barrister Ray Hood successfully argued a drink-driving charge from May 2006 should be dismissed because police lodged a crucial document three weeks late.

An internal investigation by NSW Police is currently under way to find out how the case was so badly bungled.

The document, called a record of service of a Court Attendance Notice (CAN), must be lodged within seven days of the defendant being serviced the court attendance notice.

The laws have since been changed to close the loophole but cannot be backdated to previous offences.

If a magistrate accepts the argument in today’s case before Downing Centre Local Court, two charges – one of assaulting a police officer and one of offensive language – will be dismissed.

Sen-Constable Smith has pleaded not guilty to the offensive language charge, which stems from an incident outside the Ivanhoe Hotel in Manly’s Corso on November 13, 2005.

He was arrested by a senior police officer, Detective Inspector Luke Freudenstein.

Sen-Constable Smith was attached to Surry Hills Local Area Command at the time.

Sen-Constable Smith also maintains his innocence over allegations he assaulted another officer after being taken back to Manly station.

The Daily Telegraph understands that in the 2005 matter, the date stamp on Manly Local Court’s copy of the record of service of a CAN is missing.

It is believed it may have been an oversight by court staff.

Sen-Constable Smith’s lawyers is expected to also argue that the record of service did not appear in the brief of evidence until very recently, following the drink matter being dismissed.

The Director of Public Prosecutions, however, is proceeding with the two charges, but first would be required to prove in court the document was lodged in time.

Meanwhile, Sen-Constable Smith is seeking to lodge a complaint with Police Commissioner Ken Moroney’s office about the actions of police on the night he was arrested.

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Australian Police Officer Roger Eichler Charged After Hitting Teen With Patrol Car

AUSTRALIA – A NSW police officer accused of hitting a teenager with his police patrol car has pleaded not guilty to dangerous and negligent driving.

Senior Constable Roger Eichler, 40, struck one of two youths he was following in his police car at about 10.10pm on August 22, Cooma Local Court was told today.

The 15-year-old and his friend ran from Senior Constable Eichler’s car as he was patrolling a reserve between Mittagong Road and Yulin Avenue, Cooma.

The youth was taken to Cooma Hospital and later transferred to Canberra Hospital in a critical condition.

He received rib fractures, a fractured wrist, two punctured lungs and abrasions.

Solicitor Mark Herbert today entered pleas of not guilty on the officer’s behalf to the charges of dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm and negligent driving occasioning grievous bodily harm.

Magistrate Paula Russell adjourned the matter to February 21.

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Queensland Australia Police Officer Chris Hurley Won’t Be Charged After Beating Man To Death

QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – The Queensland Director of Public Prosecutions has decided not to lay criminal charges against a senior police officer over a death in custody of a Palm Island man.

Deputy state coroner Christine Clements had ruled in September that Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley struck Mulrunji Doomadgee, 36, and caused his fatal injuries on November 19, 2004, at the Palm Island police station.

But Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Leanne Clare said charges would not be laid against Sgt Hurley, who was stood down from operational duties while the DPP considered the coroner’s findings.

Ms Clare said the evidence was not capable of proving Sgt Hurley was criminally responsible for Mulrunji’s death.

“I have carefully reviewed all of the evidence available to me,” she said in a statement.

The island erupted into riots in November 2004 after an autopsy found Mulrunji suffered four broken ribs, a ruptured liver and a ruptured portal vein in a watchhouse scuffle.

The police station, courthouse and the home of the officer in charge were set alight during the riots.

Ms Clare said Mulrunji died from internal injuries caused “by a crushing force to the front of his abdomen” when he and Snr Sgt Hurley fell together through the open door of the police station.

She said autopsy results showed neither kicks nor punches caused Mulrunji’s death.

“On the evidence, the fall is the only satisfactory explanation for the injuries identified by the doctors,” Ms Clare said.

“In other words, the admissible evidence suggests that Mr Doomadgee’s death was a terrible accident.”

Ms Clare also found there was no basis to lay charges of perjury and assault against Snr Sgt Hurley.

She said her duties in examining the case were different to those of the coroner.

“This may lead to different views being reached in the same case, without questioning the processes and findings of the coroner,” Ms Clare said.

“I know there has been a great deal of community anxiety about the case, however, the evidence speaks for itself.

“I ask everyone to take the time to consider what I have had to say and the legal reasons that compel it.”

Ms Clare said she met privately with members of Mulrunji’s family in Townsville on Thursday before announcing her decision.

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Drunk Queensland Australia Police Officer Carmen Hoare Fined $1,500 For Drunk Driving After Showing Up For Work Four Times The Legal Limit

AUSTRALIA – A Queensland police officer who went to work with a blood alcohol reading four times the legal limit has been fined $1,500 and suspended from driving.

Constable Carmen Hoare faced the Brisbane Magistrates Court today.

She was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol after she recorded an alcohol reading of 0.2 at 7:30am AEST.

The court heard she had consumed three bottles of wine the night before after an argument with her father.

Hoare also lost her license for 15 months.

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Senior Queensland Australia Police Officer Facing Criminal Charges After Attack With Tear Gas

QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – A senior Queensland police officer will face criminal charges for allegedly subduing the wrong man with capsicum spray during a domestic in Brisbane’s south.

The off-duty senior sergeant was on recreational leave when he allegedly sprayed a man in the eyes with a mixture of water and capsicum spray during a domestic row at a home at Tarragindi on October 10.

The subdued man had not been involved in the dispute, police said at the time.

Police are not permitted to take capsicum spray home.

The Townsville-based officer has been charged with one count of assault occasioning bodily harm whilst armed and unlawful possession of a weapon.

He has been issued with a summons to appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on December 7.

The officer has been stood down from police duties and is currently on leave.

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Australian Police Officer Receives A Slap On The Wrist For Helping Another Officer Steal And Sell Drugs

AUSTRALIA – A policeman who helped a junior colleague steal and traffic drugs has been jailed for four months after vowing to teach police recruits about corruption when released.

The detective senior constable, who can’t be identified, pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office, drug trafficking and theft, but received a discounted sentence for his offer to give evidence against the other policeman.

He admitted attending two fake raids with the other officer, a constable, and stealing cannabis crops from growers in January and February this year.

In January the pair arrived at a house in Werribee and produced a document they said was a warrant. They then took garbage bags of drugs, which were not entered into police logs. No warrant existed.

A month later an informer told the constable his uncle had a cannabis crop and the two officers signed out guns, equipment and an unmarked police car to go to the property on their day off.

They showed the occupant, who didn’t understand English, a paper they said was a warrant and seized 18 plants.

The constable told the occupant if he paid them cash he would avoid prosecution.

At a later meeting the drug grower handed $8000 to the constable while the senior detective sat in a car and waited but did nothing to stop the extortion.

The officers and the informer hid the stolen plants at another house to be dried out, but plans to sell the crop for profit were dashed when the tenant discovered the plants while showing the property to potential home buyers and called police.

When the ethical standards division took over the investigation, both the informer and the senior detective made statements implicating the constable.

The judge said the senior detective had offered to speak at the police academy about corruption and his own experiences, despite humiliation it would bring him.

The senior detective was jailed for a year, but eight months was suspended for two years. The informer received a six-month term suspended for three years.

The constable is due to face a preliminary hearing in the magistrates’ court next month.

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Whakatane New Zealand Police Chief Views Video Of Beating And Pepper Spray Assault By 4 Police Officers, Suspends Them

WHAKATANE, AUSTRALIA ? Four police officers who allegedly beat and pepper-sprayed a man in custody at Whakatane were stood down after their area commander saw the alleged assault on a video surveillance tape.

Eastern Bay of Plenty area commander Inspector Pat Tasker yesterday told the Herald that he reviewed the tape after a member of the man’s family complained to police.

“I had sufficient concern about what I saw to report the matter to the district commander [Superintendent Gary Smith] and the Police Complaints Authority,” Mr Tasker said.

He would not reveal details of the officers’ actions on the tape but said he requested a formal investigation “to determine whether the actions were justified or not”.

The incident is alleged to have occurred last week and left a man, who is in his 20s, with injuries described by police as “relatively minor” but for which they offered him medical attention.

The four officers, understood to include two sergeants who have each served at Whakatane for several years, were stood down on full pay on Monday – the same day Mr Tasker was informed of the complaint and viewed the tape.

The Herald was told the man had been arrested for disqualified driving and was beaten by two officers and pepper-sprayed by a third.

The incident allegedly happened in a charge room at Whakatane Police Station and the man was later released on bail.

Mr Tasker would not reveal if all four officers stood down were in the charge room with the man, saying only that they were on duty in the station at the time.

Police have launched an internal inquiry and the Police Complaints Authority is also investigating.

Authority head Judge Ian Borrin said he could not recall an incident involving that number of officers being stood down.

The police inquiry is being carried out by four investigators from outside the Bay of Plenty.

Mr Tasker said: “It is unusual for four police officers to be suspended and I think it’s fair for the community of the Eastern Bay and the family [of the man] that total independence be invested into it.”

The Herald has been told that as well as the two sergeants, a senior constable and a constable were involved.

Police have refused to reveal details of the officers’ identities, including their ranks, but Mr Tasker denied that the officers were being protected

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Bathurst Australia Police Officers May Have Tainted Case Against Fellow Officer Jason William Sullivan Accused Of Assaulting His Girlfriend

AUSTRALIA – The case against a police officer accused of assaulting his girlfriend and showing her confidential police files may have been botched by police who handled the matter, a Bathurst magistrate said today.

Constable Jason William Sullivan, 31, has pleaded not guilty to charges of assault, breaching an apprehended violence order, and disclosing confidential police information.

Mr Sullivan was charged in June and suspended on full pay.

The policeman, from Orange in central west NSW, today faced Bathurst Local Court, where it was alleged he showed his former girlfriend, Kerry Chapman, confidential police files including photos of accident victims and a suicide note.

Magistrate Tom Hodgson has already dismissed allegations Mr Sullivan intimidated Ms Chapman to drop an apprehended violence order against him.

Mr Sullivan’s lawyer Bill Walsh told the court the charges arose out of a money dispute between Ms Chapman and his client and a dispute over nude photos of Ms Chapman he allegedly had on his mobile phone.

Mr Hodgson said today that Ms Chapman’s evidence over the confidential files may have been tainted by police who subsequently showed her the confidential files themselves.

“I’m left with a feeling that if she was shown any document, she would have said ‘yeah, that’s the one’,” Mr Hodgson said.

But prosecutor Kate Nightingale told the court police had only found the confidential documents at the centre of the case after Ms Chapman had described them.

“She describes these documents in such detail and those documents are then located,” Ms Nightingale said.

Mr Hodgson also said the assault charge was “problematic”.

Mr Sullivan is alleged to have split Ms Chapman’s lip by slamming a laptop computer shut in her face during an argument on January 3.

“In relation to the alleged assault, I’m having trouble finding malicious intent. He didn’t throw it at the lady,” Mr Hodgson said.

He also cast doubt on an interview Mr Sullivan gave to police investigating the matter, which Mr Walsh said may have been obtained through coercion.

“Any admissions have to be voluntary, if the officer cautioning the accused says `if you don’t answer, you’re liable to a criminal charge’, then it’s not voluntary,” Mr Hodgson said.

Mr Walsh today also questioned the reliability and history of a document related to the case, purportedly from Mr Sullivan, which was placed in the pigeonhole of the investigating officer, Detective Senior Constable Stephen Pack.

“This document, it’s turned up in his pigeonhole. It may be that there’s improper conduct taking place, serious improper conduct taking place,” Mr Walsh said.

Mr Hodgson adjourned the matter to Bathurst Local Court on January 11 next year, continuing Sullivan’s bail and an apprehended violence order against him.

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Green Valley/Sydney Australia Police Officer With A “Death List” Refused Bail Over Child Molestation Charges Spanning 27 Years

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – A police officer accused of sexually abusing four girls over a 27 year period has again been refused bail.

The 57-year-old senior constable, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is said to have drawn up a “death list” of people he would kill if one of his alleged victims told anyone.

Sydney’s Central Local Court today heard he was also charged with accessing child pornography in the months leading up to his arrest in September this year.

The officer faces 23 sex charges against four females dating from between 1977 and 2004, two charges of common assault, and 39 charges of accessing child pornography.

The court was told the prosecution may bring additional charges against him in the coming months.

Prosecutor Carrie Tobler argued that allowing bail would pose a risk to his alleged victims, the community at large and the officer himself.

The officer’s lawyer, John Korn, told the court his client feared for his safety in prison because of his job and the nature of the charges.

He had been forced to spend 20-23 hours a day in his cell and would find it difficult to prepare his defence if he was not given bail, Mr Korn said.

Refusing the application, Magistrate Leslie Brennan said protecting witnesses and the officer’s alleged victims was “paramount”.

The married officer was arrested while at work at Green Valley police station in Sydney’s south-west on September 15 following a six month investigation.

He was today remanded in custody to appear before the same court on November 21.

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Seven Year Sentence For Australian Former Drug Squad Police Officer Mathew James Bunning For Assisting Drug Dealer

AUSTRALIA – A former member of the Victorian drug squad has been sentenced to almost seven years’ jail for abusing his position as a police officer.

He is the sixth of the now disbanded squad to be dealt with in the courts this year.

Mathew James Bunning of Glen Waverley pleaded guilty in the County Court to 13 charges, including misconduct in public office, theft and possessing a drug of dependence.

The court heard he stole private passwords from his colleagues so he could access police databases and sold confidential information to a drug dealer so she and her associates could avoid detection.

He also stole a designer watch from a property in Fitzroy during a police search in 2002 and asked a drug dealer to supply him with morphine tablets to feed his own drug habit.

In sentencing, judge Julie Nicholson told Bunning he had blatantly and shamelessly betrayed his oath as a police officer.

He will serve a minimum of three years in prison.

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Magistrate Issues Warrant For Former Australian Crime Commission Police Officer, James Anthony McCabe, Charged With ACC Officer Samuel John Foster And Policeman Baljeet Dhadie Of Faking Arrests To Steal Drugs And Money From Drug Dealers

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – An arrest warrant has been issued for a former Australian Crime Commission (ACC) officer who failed to front a Sydney court on robbery and drug charges.

James Anthony McCabe, 36, was not present for the start of his committal hearing because he was in Cambodia, his solicitor told the Downing Centre Local Court.

McCabe, along with former ACC colleague Samuel John Foster, was accused by the NSW Police Integrity Commission (PIC) in 2004 of faking arrests to steal drugs and money from drug dealers.

He has been living in Cambodia for the past two years.

It is not the first time the former Victoria Police detective sergeant has failed to appear in court.

DPP solicitor Gareth Christofi said an arrest warrant was issued by a magistrate when McCabe failed to show up in June, but the warrant was not to be enacted unless McCabe failed to show up on Monday.

McCabe’s solicitor, Gordon Elliot, called for the warrant to be held off until Friday, saying the charges against McCabe could be discharged.

But Magistrate Pat O’Shane dismissed the call and issued the arrest warrant.

“It’s very novel, Mr Elliot, but I’m not persuaded,” she said.

Australia has no extradition treaty with Cambodia.

McCabe has been charged with armed robbery and drug supply.

Foster, 41, a former NSW Police detective sergeant, was in court for Monday’s committal hearing, charged with 16 offences relating to the theft and supply of drugs.

The matter also includes three charges against former policeman Baljeet Dhadlie. It has been adjourned until Tuesday.

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Australian Parole Officer Kerrie Anne Loughland, Suspended For Affair With Convicted Murderer, Admits To Stealing Kinky Costumes

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – A female probation officer – suspended without pay for having an affair with a convicted murderer – has admitted stealing kinky costumes while her paroled boyfriend distracted staff, a court has been told.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal for the first time the details of their illicit relationship that led New South Wales mother-of-two Kerrie Anne Loughland, 32, to leave her family and move in with her criminal lover.

The unlikely affair is the latest debacle to rock the state’s Parole Authority, after it waited almost two weeks to revoke child killer John Lewthwaite’s parole when he was arrested for obscene exposure.

In the latest scandal Loughland was suspended without pay while the Department of Corrective Services investigated her “alleged inappropriate relationship” with an inmate.

The Blaxland mother’s position as a probation and parole officer at Silverwater jail is now under review.

Documents tendered to court reveal Loughland was assigned to Sean McAuliffe’s case last February, four months before he was released from the Mid-North Coast Correctional Centre.

McAuliffe served 12 years jail after being found guilty of murder in 1992.

Police claim McAuliffe and Loughland were good friends.

On September 18, the pair went to Sydney’s Kings Cross and entered Risque Adult Shop on Darlinghurst Rd about 2pm.

Loughland grabbed a selection of novelty uniforms and latex costumes and headed to the changerooms, followed by her criminal beau. He left the cubicle and continued to browse the store’s x-rated wares, Downing Centre Local Court was told.

Noticing some clothing had not been returned, shop assistant “Cecil” inspected McAuliffe’s bag and found one captain costume and one fireman costume, valued at $309.90 in total.

McAuliffe then fled, taking with him a “black dress and a devil’s costume” worth $199.90.

Police arrived soon after and arrested Loughland, before later arresting McAuliffe. Both accused pleaded guilty to stealing the items and were each fined $600 at separate court hearings.

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Australian Police Officer Adam Teofilo Jailed For Four Months After Penis Request

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – A police officer convicted of enticing a 14-year-old boy to expose himself at a Sydney mall was today sentenced to four months’ imprisonment.

Adam Teofilo, 32, lodged an appeal and was granted bail on condition he surrender his passport, not approach ports or crown witnesses.

He was off duty when he struck up a conversation with two 14-year-old boys near the Warringah Mall post office.

The boys, who cannot be named, said the conversation on January 18 quickly turned to talk of sex when Teofilo, a member of the northern beaches bike squad, asked the boys how big their penises were.

He then allegedly asked one of the boys to “prove it” and expose himself, insisting it was OK because he was not gay.

“I just want you to show me, get in the corner and show me … show me now,” Teofilo allegedly said to the boy.

In a videotaped interview, the boy later told police: “He was yelling at me. If I had not done it he would have done something to me. I was really scared.”

The boy said he exposed himself “for a second”, then Teofilo instructed him to masturbate, but the boy refused. “I felt so awkward. I felt really uncomfortable,” the boy said.

The boy said the man did not insist, but offered the two a lift in his car. They followed him to identify his car, then told him they still had to buy a present, but would be back. Instead they ran off to alert security.

Teofilo was convicted in August of enticing a 14-year-old boy to commit an act of indecency and behaving in an offensive manner.

He has always maintained his innocence.

Today at the Downing Centre Local Court, Magistrate Christopher Longley sentenced Teofilo – who has been suspended from the NSW Police – to four months’ imprisonment for the enticement charge and one month’s imprisonment for behaving in an offensive manner, both to be served concurrently.
Teofilo was suspended without pay and served with a 181(d) notice, which meant he had lost the confidence of Police Commissioner Ken Moroney, a police spokeswoman said.

Officers issued with a 181(d) notice had the right to respond, or could waive that right, after which the commissioner would determine their future in the force, she said.

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Sydney Austrialia Police Officer Adam Teofilo Sentenced To 4 Months After Trying To Convince Teen Boy To Show Him His Penis In Busy Shopping Center

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – A NSW policeman who encouraged a teenage boy to show his penis at a busy Sydney shopping centre has been jailed for four months.

Adam Teofilo, 32, was convicted in August after pleading not guilty to inciting a teenager to commit an act of indecency and behaving in an offensive manner.

Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court was told Teofilo, who was off-duty at the time, approached two 14-year-old boys in Warringah Mall, at Brookvale in Sydney’s north, on January 18 this year.

He asked one of the boys to expose his penis and “make it hard”, the court was told.

Magistrate Christopher Longley jailed Teofilo for four months on Tuesday on the charge of inciting a teenager to commit an act of indecency and one month’s jail for behaving in an offensive manner.

Teofilo was sentenced from Tuesday, and with both sentences to be served concurrently, he will be due for release on February 9, 2007.

Mr Longley said Teofilo’s offence had been aggravated because of his position as a police officer.

“It (the offence) is in my view aggravated by the fact that he is in a position of trust in the community,” Mr Longley told the court.

Teofilo, who is currently suspended without pay from the northern beaches bike squad, already has been ordered by NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney to explain why he should remain in the force.

A spokeswoman for the commissioner said he had been served with a notice about a week ago and had three weeks to show why he should keep his job.

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Former Police Officer The Center Of Australian Sex Raid On Apartment After The Sexual Assault On 9 Year Old Girl In A Sydney Park

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – THE home of a former long-serving police officer has been raided by detectives investigating the sexual assault of a nine-year-old girl in a Sydney park.

The Daily Telegraph has learned officers from Hurstville police station executed a search warrant on the man’s Oatley home on Friday night.

Six police executed the warrant about 6pm, restraining the former policeman on his couch as they searched the home in front of his wife and teenage son.

It is understood police seized several pairs of the man’s shorts.

However, they did not find an orange T-shirt – the type of top worn by the man who attacked two young girls in an Oatley park last week.

The former senior officer is furious at the raid after he voluntarily assisted police when they doorknocked the suburb searching for leads to last week’s attack.

The raid followed the sexual assault of the girl at Oatley park, in Sydney’s south, shortly before 1pm last Wednesday.

The attacker lured the girl and her nine-year-old friend into dense bushland near Oatley Park.

Police believe the man had stalked the two girls for an hour leading up to the attack as they played in the playground.

The attacker lured the girls away from their families and molested one girl while holding the other captive.

The attacker is described as being of Caucasian or European appearance, 183cm tall, in his late 40s, shaven and of medium build.

He was wearing an orange T-shirt, brown or grey shorts, joggers, baseball cap and sunglasses.

However, the former officer is aged in his late 50s, and is taller, heavyset, with facial hair.

Strike Force Jocarm, led by the child protection and sex crimes squad, was established to investigate the attack.

Officers conducted a door-knock of homes in the Oatley area last Thursday.

It is understood that, when police knocked on the former police officer’s door, he told investigating officers he had been walking past the park on his daily walk that morning before going out to lunch with his wife.

He said he had been wearing a red, white and blue polo shirt.

One source said the former officer and his family were “distraught” and that he had been wrongly targeted.

“When they knocked on his door he volunteered to go and make a statement to assist because he knows every little bit helps,” the source said.

Police yesterday refused to comment on the raid.

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Child Molester’s House Burns, Causing Street Celebration Which Included Beer And Dancing, Brings A Smile To Victim’s Face – “I don’t reckon the police will be working too hard to solve it.” – Unfortunately For All The Pedophile Wasn’t Inside

AUSTRALIA – There are some crimes, such as a possible vigilante attack on the house of a pedophile, that even the police do not seem keen to solve.

Armed with Eskies, the residents of the Victorian town of Meringur danced and drank beer as they watched flames engulf the home of Terrence Allan Ellis last Sunday night.

For the town’s tiny population of 16, this was the type of justice the legal system couldn’t deliver, and they wanted to celebrate.

Gunshot Residue Found On Hand Of Wrongly Accused Australian Woman Came From Weapons Of Police Officers Involved In Her Arrest

AUSTRALIA – Gunshot residue found on the hand of a woman wrongly accused of a shooting came from the weapons of officers involved in her arrest.

The gunshot traces are believed to have been transferred by police who had handled guns before arresting Bundaberg woman Debbie Drews for attempted murder in 2004.

Lawyers say there should be an inquiry and doubt should be cast on every case involving gunshot residue found on suspects arrested by armed police.

“This will throw grave doubt on all future cases . . . unless police procedures are addressed,” said Ms Drews’ solicitor, Andrew McGinness of Ryan & Bosscher.

“If police are going to rely on gunshot residue they have to be very, very cautious as a result of this case.”

A small amount of residue was found on the back of Ms Drews’ right hand and on the steering wheel of her car after her arrest over the shooting of former lover Rodney Moore.

Investigations later found that Moore had hired a gunman to fake an attempt on his life, and that Ms Drews was innocent.

On the night she was arrested at her home armed police had not only handcuffed Ms Drews, but had also searched her car.

In August, Darling Downs man Moore, 46, pleaded guilty to perjury, fabricating evidence and other charges. He was jailed for eight years and will be eligible for parole in May 2008.

A Crown statement of facts tendered in court said: “It is believed that this residue had been transferred on to Ms Drews’ hand by police officers who had handled weapons.”

Superintendent Paul Stewart, of the forensic science branch, said police were trained about gunshot residue cross-contamination.

“There is always a potential for cross-contamination from . . . an environment where firearms are regularly carried and used for training purposes,” he said.

Supt Stewart said residue was easily transferred from hand to hand, but there was little police could do to prevent it.

He said that if police who arrested Ms Drews had handled guns that had been fired and then held her hand, there was “a real possibility” residue could have been transferred.

Lawyer Chris Nyst said there was no doubt any jury that heard of the gunshot residue on Ms Drews’ hand would have assumed she was guilty of the shooting.

“Prosecutors and defence lawyers who scrutinise evidence have to be so very careful, particularly with forensic and scientific evidence,” he said.

Civil liberties lawyer Terry O’Gorman said there should be a police or Crime and Misconduct Commission inquiry to determine how the gunshot residue got on Ms Drews’ hand.

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Sydney Australia Police Officer Charged With Serial Child Sex Offenses, Charged With Molestation of Third Child, Jailed Without Bail On 22 Sex Related Offenses

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – A NSW police officer charged with a series of child sex offences has been accused of raping a third girl.

The 57-year-old senior constable, who cannot be named, was refused bail in Sydney’s Central Local Court on Friday.

Prosecutor Gareth Christofi told the court the officer now faced a fresh charge of sexual intercourse with a person aged under 16 years over an alleged incident in December 1984.

He now faces 22 sex-related offences against three females between 1977 and 2004.

He said police had interviewed a fourth alleged victim, but she was psychologically unfit to make a statement.

The court was told officers would travel to Armidale, in northern NSW, to interview a fifth woman about allegations of sexual abuse.

It also was told the officer is receiving medical treatment for depression in jail and is under 24-hour surveillance.

The married officer, who was based at south-western Sydney’s Green Valley police station, was arrested last Friday following a six-month investigation by the police professional standards command.

He was refused bail by Magistrate Allan Moore and remanded in custody to face the same court via audio-visual link on November 21.

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Third Victoria Australia Police Officer, Robert Dabb, Suspended After Hearings Into Police Brutality

VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA – A third member of Victoria’s notorious and now disbanded Armed Offenders Squad (AOS) has been suspended following the completion of hearings into allegations of brutality among its officers.

Detective Senior Constable Robert Dabb was notified of his suspension after he concluded his evidence to the inquiry which has been conducted in an atmosphere of controversy, acrimony and explosive claims of police brutality.

Constable Dabb returned to the witness box on Thursday after collapsing when initially confronted with the secretly recorded video while giving evidence on Tuesday.

He again viewed the video on Thursday which allegedly shows him and fellow officers punching, kicking and slapping a suspect, threatening to take his ear off and bashing him with a telephone.

It also reveals an officer telling the suspect he would not be granted his right to have a lawyer present during his interview.

It is alleged the senior constable took part in the assault on the witness known as A100 before beginning an official, taped interview.

Constable Dabb denies the film shows him or any other officer assaulting the suspect and disputes that the film depicts any assault at all.

The video, which was recorded continuously for several hours, allegedly shows two officers violently assaulting the suspect before sitting down to commence the official interview.

Without any break in the video recording, the same two officers then identify themselves for their official audio tape as Dabb and fellow AOS officer Sergeant Matthew Franc.

But Det Sen Const Dabb denied he had taken part in any assault and rejected suggestions by counsel assisting the inquiry Garry Livermore that the video depicted any such assault.

“It doesn’t depict anything,” Dabb said.

“I wouldn’t know what was going on … I don’t know who it is.”

Mr Livermore suggested to Dabb that it was undeniable that he and Sgt Franc had committed the assault and had then identified themselves.

“I’m denying it,” Dabb said.

“I can’t identify who is in the video.”

Sgt Franc had earlier denied taking part in the assault.

Suspended along with Dabb are Franc and another detective, Senior Constable Mark Butterfield.

The hearings also heard that police had assaulted another suspect, known as A102, so violently in an interview room at the AOS offices that they then had to push him down a flight of stairs to justify the injuries he had sustained.

The suspect alleged he had also been assaulted in the back of a police car by two officers, one of them Detective Donna Richardson who has martial arts qualifications and has had more than 30 complaints of assault made against her.

At the conclusion of the hearings, which were ordered by the Office Of Police Integrity, the inquiry head Hartog Berkeley, QC, described the evidence contained in the videos as “horrific and sensational”.

Mr Berkeley had earlier expressed shame and embarrassment at what appeared to be occurring within the AOS.

His shame was shared, for different reasons, by Police Association boss Sergeant Paul Mullett who branded the hearings a “show trial”.

“It’s a continuation of the Spanish Inquisition,” Sgt Mullett said outside the hearing room.

“A show trial, no natural justice, no procedural fairness and quite amazingly today … Mr Dabb has been notified by the media that he’s going to be suspended.

“That is outrageous.”

Sgt Mullett said the whole process revealed the “total mismanagement and total incompetence” of Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon and her Deputy Commissioner Simon Overland.

Mr Berkeley will deliver his findings to the OPI.

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Victoria Austrailia Police Officer, Sergeant Matthew Franc, Promoted, Even After Senior Officer Viewed Videotape Of Him Beating Man

VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA – A former armed offenders squad detective suspended over allegations he beat a suspect was promoted despite senior police viewing a videotape of the alleged assault, Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Simon Overland said today.

Sergeant Matthew Franc, now stationed at Footscray police station, and Detective Senior Constable Mark Butterfield, were suspended yesterday following evidence raised in Office of Police Integrity’s public hearings into alleged mistreatment of suspects by the now disbanded squad.

A Victoria Police statement did not name the two members but said they were suspended with pay pending further investigation for alleged “disciplinary offences”.

The two have been accused of assaulting an unnamed suspect in a police interview room in May this year.

Mr Overland confirmed an earlier statement from Police Association Victorian secretary, Senior Sergeant Paul Mullett, that Sgt Franc was recently promoted.

“I believe that’s true, yes,” Mr Overland told Southern Cross Radio today.

“After the fact of the video was known to us, he was promoted, but again I make the point that the promotions process is a process internal from Victoria Police.

“It is run separate and distinct from investigations run by the OPI.

“At that stage it was not appropriate nor possible to disclose that information in the course of a promotional situation, and so that process had to run its course.”

Sgt Mullett said the suspensions were a “gross over-reaction” and said all members of the disbanded squad, including the suspended pair, had been denied fairness and natural justice.

But Mr Overland said the OPI investigation was conducted separately from Victoria Police, and the two suspended officers were given the opportunity to give evidence at the OPI hearings before they were suspended.

“One of the things we have been attacked over has been lack of process, and in fact what we have done is follow process. It has been a methodical process,” he said.

“There has been issues around identity on the video tapes … it’s been a matter of working through that methodically in order to be satisfied as to the identity of the people on those tapes.

“That has taken some time. We have now got to a point where it appears that there is very conclusive evidence as to the identity of the people on those tapes.”

The hearings will enter their fourth day today.

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Victoria Australia Detectives ‘kicked man in face’ So He Would Fall Down Stairs – To Disquise Injuries From Earlier Police Beatings

VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA – Armed offenders squad detectives kicked a man in the face so he would fall down a set of stairs, in an effort to disguise his injuries from earlier beatings, a hearing has been told.

In the third day of an inquiry into the Victoria police squad, detectives continued to deny assaulting prisoners.

Victoria’s Office of Police Integrity (OPI) alleges that a prisoner, known as A102, was severely beaten by Detective Senior Constables Donna Louise Richardson, Darren Glenn Paxton and Darren James Richards when they arrested him in May 2005.

Snr Const Richardson denied pulling cable ties on A102’s wrists until his hands were black and swollen.

She also denied elbowing him in the chest, karate kicking his ribs, sticking a pen in his ear, choking him twice until he lost consciousness or using pressure point tactics.

Victoria Australia Police Officers Deny Series Of Assaults On Man, Including Pushing Him Down Stairs

VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA – Three officers from a former Victoria Police squad have denied a series of assaults on a suspect, which included pushing him face first down a flight of stairs while he was handcuffed.

The three officers are among nine members of the disbanded Armed Offenders Squad being investigated for serious misconduct.

The Office of Police Integrity (OPI) hearing was told the methods used to assault one suspect included pulling a plastic bag over his head, sticking a pen in his ear and later pushing him down a flight of stairs.

Detective Senior Constables Darren Richard, Darren Paxton and Donna Richardson all rejected suggestions they contributed to injuries sustained by the suspect.

Snr Constable Paxton told the hearing he had seen the suspect fall down the stairs but denied pushing him.

He said the suspect had fallen because he lost his balance.

Court Told That Austrialian Police Officer Is A Child Molester And Serial Rapist, With A “Death List” Of Those He Planned To Kill If His Victims Reported His Sexual Assaults

SYDNEY, AUSTRIALIA – A policeman was a serial rapist and pedophile who had a “death list” of victims he planned to kill, with himself, if any informed on him, a court was told yesterday.

Central Local Court heard that since his arrest while on duty at Green Valley police station last Friday the number of alleged former child victims had grown from two to four, and inquiries were continuing.

The prosecutor, Gareth Christofi, said a raid on the officer’s Sydney home on Friday uncovered a computer with access to 38 child modelling and child pornography websites and more than 400 pornographic images of children from the internet.

The appearance of the officer, 57 – whose name cannot be published – before the magistrate Allan Moore was marked by legal argument, with aspects of the police case suppressed relating to victims’ identities, locations and how the policeman came into contact with them.

Mr Christofi said 21 offences – ranging from rape to aggravated indecent assault, common assault, inciting aggravated indecency upon two victims under the age of 16 – were committed over 15 years ending in 2003.

Australian Police Officer ‘abused girl for years’ – Had “Death List” Of Those He Would Kill If She Told Anyone, Raped Another Female

AUSTRALIA – A NSW Police officer sexually abused a young girl for nine years and threatened to kill people named on a “death list” if she told anyone, a court has been told.

The 57-year-old senior constable, who cannot be named for legal reasons, also raped another female and was “dangerously predisposed towards the sexual abuse of children”, Central Local Court was told.

The man, from Camden in Sydney’s south-west, was arrested on Friday following a six-month investigation by the police professional standards command.

He was charged with 21 sex-related offences against two females between 1977 and 2004.

Magistrate Allan Moore on Monday adjourned a decision on his bail application after being told police were taking statements from another two alleged victims.

No charges have been laid in relation to those matters.