W.A.: Lying police thugs caught out again

WA POLICE say a comprehensive internal investigation will determine why officers did not identify weaknesses in their prosecution case after CCTV footage helped clear charges against three family members.

It comes as the Opposition called for an official inquiry into police conduct in WA after a series of embarrassing mishaps were exposed on CCTV footage.

WA Premier Colin Barnett has apologised to the Walker family for enduring a harrowing ordeal before police and the courts.

Acting Assistant Police Commissioner Gary Budge said police would conduct a review into why assault and obstruct public officer charges against Ken, Raelene and Ryan Walker were thrown out in a Perth court yesterday after video footage of the incident was shown. The January 16 incident, in which the family became involved in an argument with police outside a Perth nightclub, included Ryan Walker being Tasered by officers.

Mr Budge said the investigation would help uncover if any officers acted inappropriately after surveillance reportedly showed no evidence that an assault had occurred. “This matter certainly causes some concern,” he said. “When matters 10 months down the track are discontinued, we’ll certainly be looking at our procedures and our processes to determine why we didn’t identify earlier if there were weaknesses in this prosecution.”

Mr Budge said there was “a range of issues” that were taken into consideration in making the decision to discontinue the prosecution but he would not reveal them at this stage.

“The police officer who made an arrest that night was certainly of the belief that he’d been assaulted by the person that was charged,” he said. “We’ll determine whether the charges were appropriate at the time, we’ll determine the use of force that was used and whether that was appropriate, and we’ll determine whether there were any weaknesses in our processes leading up to the results in court yesterday.”

Mr Budge said police may issue an apology to the Walker family depending on the outcome of the investigation. “Until I’m aware of all the facts and data, then I’ll determine whether it’s appropriate to make that apology,” he said. “We’re not averse to making an apology if it’s appropriate to make one.”

He said compensation for legal fees was a matter for the courts to decide.

Ken Walker told ABC Radio today that his wife had been severely distressed and cried after seeing police taser their son, and the family was seeking an apology from police.

"The officers involved, they didn't handle the situation very well at all," he said. "They certainly didn't treat my family very well at all, and I think they are the ones that need to be brought to account for this," Mr Walker said. "We knew we'd done nothing wrong."

WA Premier Colin Barnett today said clearly there was a "massive discrepancy" between police officers' accounts and the CCTV footage and that was a matter for the police commissioner to investigate. "I apologise to the family concerned, I sincerely apologise. They should not have been put through that ordeal which they have," the Premier said.

Mr Barnett conceded that recent publicity over a 2008 case in which an unarmed Aboriginal man had been tasered 13 times in the Perth watchhouse had damaged the public's confidence in the police. That had contributed to the government losing a recent parliamentary vote to introduce tougher stop-and-search laws for police, he said.

"If you give police extra powers there's always the risk, by expanding their powers, there's more opportunity for misuse or incorrect use of those powers. "But I will always be on the side of our police and maintaining law and order."

Opposition shadow attorney-general John Quigley said the Walker case highlighted the need to install cameras on Tasers, but he said Police Minister Rob Johnson continued to oppose them "to cover up what's going on".

Acting Assistant Police Commissioner Budge said he did not think the officers concerned acted out of malice. "We accept that we do get it wrong at times, but most of the time we get it right," Mr Budge said. [How reassuring!]

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