Thursday, October 27, 2011

NSW cop pleads guilty to extortion

Why can't they name this scum? What has he done to deserve protection?

A SYDNEY policeman has pleaded guilty to extorting tens of thousands of dollars from tobacconists and lying to the NSW police watchdog. The disgraced detective, code named LP2, pleaded guilty today in Sydney's Downing Centre District Court.

Justice Andrew Haesler granted an application by his counsel to suppress his name because of fears of retributory attacks in jail once he is sentenced. The former detective has been on bail since 2009, but he is expected to be taken into custody some time today.

He and his co-accused, LP1, who is already serving a jail term, were involved in a number of corrupt practices dating back to 2008. They received money from tobacconists and also stole thousands of dollars worth of tobacco leaf.

LP2 pleaded guilty to six charges on the indictment and made admissions of guilt on 10 other charges, which will be considered during today's sentencing proceedings.

The charges include a raft of illegal possession offences at the time of LP2's arrest in January 2009. Police seized ammunition, an illegal baton, a butterfly knife and a handgun.

LP2 also admitted to giving false evidence to the NSW Police Integrity Commission (PIC) and attempting to influence a witness before they gave evidence to the PIC.

In April 2011, he was found to have made a false statement while applying for a passport, the court documents show.

SOURCE

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

An amusing -- but revealing -- defeat for the Queensland wallopers

On Sept. 15 I reported on the case of Eaves v. Donnelly in which Renee Eaves was awarded the sum of $93,000 against ex-cop Barry John Donnelly and the State of Queensland.

One would have thought that the Queensland Police Service would have been deeply embarrassed to find that a private prosecution was needed to establish the culpability of one of their officers after they had proclaimed that he had no case to answer.

Had there been any decency at the top one would have thought that prompt payment of the award accompanied by profuse apologies to Ms Eaves would be the order of the day.

Their actual response however established what low types run the Qld. cops. They say that fish rot from the head and it seems that the Qld cops are still in that category. The Fitzgerald enquiry put the Qld. police chief in jail so rottenness at the top is a reasonable expectation in Qld.

And that expectation would seem to be borne out in the Eaves vs. Donnelly matter. Instead of showing any contrition, the police decided to appeal the verdict. The scathing comments about them from Judge Samios were apparently like water off a duck's back. And that decision to appeal can only have come from somewhere close to the top if not the top itself.

But here's the amusing part: Their grounds for appeal were so weak that they had to back out of the appeal. They went to the Court of Appeal (a division of the Qld Supreme Court) but the court either point blank refused to hear them or they were quietly advised that they had no case.

What scum!

Needless to say, Renee is feeling in a very good mood at the moment after the failure of the appeal (though she still hasn't got the money) so she sent me some pix:


Renee's comment on the Pic above: "The boy's club army all to sort out one lil blonde single mum....... Chickens ... but expensive ones for the taxpayers. Sherman Oh is the Asian one and Mark Hinson the senior counsel is front right"


Renee in a place she now rather likes


A meditation

The amount the cops must have spent on legal services in the matter rather boggles the mind. It would have been MUCH cheaper for the taxpayer if they had settled out of court. But to do that would have required at least an implicit admission of fault and they were clearly not adult enough for that.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

A letter to the Qld. CMC

Sent to me for publication by the author

I wish to submit a complaint about police officer Jamie Hurley, who also goes by the name of Jamie Joseph. Issues include:

• Using police computers to access private information about me without cause

• Using police computers to access legal information and publishing same on facebook

• Using the heroic death of a police officer as an excuse to get stress leave so that he could pursue an acting career

• Taking place in a film whilst on duty (Alien Sons, filmed in Jacobs Well)

• Attending acting classes with me and a certain movie producer and performing other personal errands whilst on duty and in uniform

• Leaving his police weapon on the coffee table with a civilian whilst he went up to his car – can describe it as a Colt, also displaying it to my father

• Using a police vehicle for private purposes, and taking photos of actors in the back of his police vehicle (details enclosed)

• Earning an income as an actor whilst on stress leave

• Displaying and discharging a taser on a civilian to display it’s effect whilst they were visiting his home (kept in police safe, was removed in my presence)

• Bringing a confiscated weapon (knife) to a film set, being photographed/filmed with it and later giving same to one of the crew – can offer it back as evidence

• Acting as a safety officer on film set whilst on duty (Alien Sons)

• Discharging his weapon without cause to “display it’s power” at Jacobs Well

• Using his badge to remove children from an area of a park to make space for filming even though he was off duty and there was no legal right for the crew to have the park to themselves

I realise that bringing an accusation against a police officer usually just results in even more harassment and no action, as he so succinctly pointed out himself, but a line has to be drawn somewhere, and I have had enough of a bad police officer abusing his privilege and making my life hell in the middle of it all.


UPDATE:  James Hurley has emailed me as follows:

I was a police officer for many years both in Victoria and Queensland. As a police officer, I NEVER did anything that was illegal or outside the boundaries of my position. I was given the opportunities to abuse my position by both police officers and criminals, yet I always refused and at times when necessary, reported the issue. I left the Qld service in 2013 suffering from PTSD. 

I am trying to get my life on track and recover from this illness and am succeeding now. 

The complaint placed on your blog was a totally fictitious complaint made up by a person wanted for impersonating a gynaecologist. This person and his partner blamed me for the QPS finding out who they were and they mdd it their goal to impact my life in a negative way. The part of this that really gets to me is the claim I used the death of my very good friend and colleague as a reason to get out of work. This really pisses me off. 

90% of the rest of the complaint was discounted by investigation. i.e.: the downloading of the Taser to prove an activation had not occurred. There are a couple of things I can’t prove didn’t happen but believe when I say they didn’t.

My request is, can you please remove this story from your blog? It is completely untrue and it does continue to haunt me.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Senior NSW cop who led the coverup of an unwarranted police killing should be fired

Detective Inspector Russell Oxford is a crook and a liar

THE NSW Police Force is under mounting pressure to take disciplinary action against one of its most senior homicide detectives, and to reassess how officers are trained to deal with mentally disturbed people, after the coroner slammed the police response to the shooting death of Adam Salter.

Nearly two years after police claimed Mr Salter, 36, was shot in the kitchen of his Lakemba home because he was threatening police with a knife, a Deputy Coroner, Scott Mitchell, set the official record straight yesterday, finding that it was likely that he posed a threat only to himself.

Mr Mitchell described the entire police response as an "utter failure" and said that there was "real doubt" that the shooting was justified.
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He said it was likely that Sergeant Sheree Bissett, who called "Taser, Taser, Taser" before shooting Mr Salter in the back, had intended to use her Taser but mistakenly chose her Glock pistol instead.

Sergeant Bissett's explanation that these were "the words that just came out of my mouth" was "no explanation at all".

"There is very strong evidence that her description of the risk posed by Adam Salter is exaggerated, real doubt as to whether she gave any consideration to an appropriate means of dealing with Adam Salter, real doubt as to whether shooting him was justified and whether a less drastic means of appropriately dealing with him was not available," Mr Mitchell said.

Sergeant Bissett's apparent mistake was the last in a string of serious errors in the immediate police response, including failing to remove the knife Adam Salter had used to harm himself and the decision to leave him "in the care of a young and inexperienced and … unresponsive officer" - probationary constable Aaron Abela.

Mr Mitchell slammed the police's critical incident investigation, led by Detective Inspector Russell Oxford from the homicide squad, describing it as "seriously flawed".

He said the recorded walk-through interview Detective Inspector Oxford conducted with Sergeant Bissett was a "failure and a disgrace" and that the high profile officer "gravely misrepresented the truth" in claiming that the evidence of the ambulance officers involved was consistent with that of police.

"As an exercise in the type of scrupulous impartiality, rigour and balance advocated in the critical incident guidelines, it fell far below an acceptable standard, " he said.

Although Mr Mitchell elected not to recommend Detective Inspector Oxford and the others involved in misrepresenting the shooting to the Police Integrity Commission, Mr Salter's father, Adrian, said yesterday it was likely the family would refer the matter themselves.

They are also considering a range of other options including civil action. "I do believe that the people involved should be held to account for it - for the misrepresentations that were made," Mr Salter said.

When asked whether action would be taken against any of the officers involved or new training introduced, a spokesman said: "The NSW Police Force notes the findings of the NSW Coroner's Court … NSWPF will review the judgment before making any further comment."

SOURCE
Coverup attempt by NSW police killers

Panicky dickless Tracy the killer. Female police should not be deployed into volatile situations while armed

POLICE killed a man they were supposed to be helping, then carried out an inadequate and flawed investigation "to avoid embarrassment" to the force and officers involved, a Coroner said today.

In a scathing assessment yesterday, Deputy State Coroner Scott Mitchell said Adam Salter's death was likely a horrible accident, a police officer choosing her gun instead of her taser in a fatal mix-up.

But describing the police response as an "utter failure", Mr Mitchell said the report into the critical incident written by Homicide Squad Detective Inspector Russell Oxford was "seriously flawed".

Salter was shot and killed in the kitchen of his Lakemba home in November 2009 after police responded to a call that the 36-year-old was stabbing himself with a knife.

The shooter, Sergeant Sheree Bissett, and other police claimed that Salter was threatening another officer with a knife and that lethal force was her only option. But Mr Mitchell said the evidence indicated to him that Salter's only threat was to himself - not any of the officers present.

During the inquest, Mr Mitchell was told Sgt Bissett had shouted "taser, taser, taser" before firing her gun. "There is a very strong flavour of confusion and mistake and, given (that taser) cry ... I think it is more likely than not that Sergeant Bissett mistakenly chose her Glock, having intended to employ her Taser," he said.

The shooting, he said, was swift and without just cause. "Without any proper warning or even challenge, Sgt. Bissett fired the fatal shot ... apparently without taking time for any thoughtful consideration of the alternatives on offer," he said.

Mr Mitchell went on to slam the investigation into the incident, saying at least two officers failed to take notes and another admitted his were "most inadequate". "To talk about if formal recognition of their actions in the performance of their duties is ridiculous," he said.

"And all this was followed by an inadequate and apparently prejudiced Critical Incident Investigation, chiefly directed, as far as I can tell, to avoid embarrassment to Police."

Mr Mitchell declined to refer the case to the DPP for charges, make recommendations nor send it to the Police Integrity Commission for further investigation. However he suggested Salter's family "may be advised" to do the latter.

Outside the court, Adrian Salter said they were still considering whether or not they would pursue the matter with the PIC. "What's important to us is that Adam's life was taken unexpectedly, tragically and unnecessarily," he told reporters.

"I think that what happened was a tragic mistake and wouldn't have happened had the police not been carrying guns."

SOURCE

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Queensland Police crime figures flawed and unreliable, say criminologists

QUEENSLAND Police keep two sets of books on crime - only one of which they release to the public. The other they keep to themselves.

Queenslanders get district and regional figures, which criminologists say cannot be used to measure crime accurately because the reporting method is flawed and unreliable.

By contrast, residents in NSW can access crime statistics by suburb, collected by an independent body and published online.

Since 2006, the QPS has made 41 changes to police district boundaries, making "apples to apples" comparisons impossible.

In 2009 the Gold Coast police district shrank from 1140sq km to 374sq km after the QPS created a 3004sq km Coomera police district. Crimes figures for several Gold Coast crime categories declined as a result.

Police Minister Neil Roberts told The Courier-Mail that police had provided him with recent crime statistics on Gold Coast crime based on the old district boundaries but the QPS has declined to provide these to The Courier-Mail.

The minister's office has yet to respond to a request to supply this data.

Police also record "divisional" figures on a consistent basis but they are kept secret.

On the Gold Coast, divisional figures are collected for Coolangatta, Palm Beach, Broadbeach, Surfers Paradise, Southport, Runaway Bay, Mudgeeraba, Nerang, Coomera and Robina.

With the exception of Robina, boundaries for those areas had not changed during the past decade, a senior police source told The Courier-Mail.

The QPS said it could not release the divisional statistics because they had not been "verified" by their statistics unit. "We don't do anything further down than the districts," a spokeswoman said.

The QPS told The Courier-Mail it would have to make an application under Right To Information laws to see the divisional statistics, which also are routinely denied to academics.

"You have to go through a research committee and they are likely to refuse you," said leading criminologist Paul Wilson of Bond University, adding he knew of no researcher accessing the data.

Professor Wilson said of the police figures: "You can't get any consistent trends over time. They are quite inadequate."

A QPS spokeswoman said the geographic boundaries were "operational police boundaries and as such are amended over time to meet operational needs" such as when new housing estates were created.

LNP police spokesman John-Paul Langbroek said he had never been provided the divisional crime figures for the Gold Coast district he represents.

SOURCE

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Investigation of NSW police killing a 'disgraceful whitewash'

Another dickless Tracy panics and somebody is needlessly shot -- so a big coverup ensues. A previous dickless Tracy was responsible for This. Female police are too nervous to be entrusted with firearms

An internal police investigation into the death of a mentally ill man who was shot at close range by an experienced sergeant has been branded a "disgraceful whitewash" by lawyers for the victim's family.

Adam Salter, 36, was shot dead by police as he stabbed himself with a knife at his father's Lakemba home on November 18, 2009.

A critical incident investigation into the shooting, carried out by homicide officer Detective Inspector Russell Oxford, absolved of blame the officer who pulled the trigger, Sergeant Sheree Bissett.

But lawyers for the Salter family have told an inquest into the death that the investigation was biased and should be reviewed by the Police Integrity Commission (PIC).

"The critical incident investigation started as a disgraceful whitewash ... and ended in the same way," Stephen Rushton, SC, told the inquest on Friday. He said Detective Inspector Oxford's report into the death was "unbalanced, partial and ... false and misleading".

Detective Inspector Oxford was also accused of asking leading questions of Sergeant Bissett, an officer of 22 years' experience, during a walk-through reconstruction of the shooting. Mr Rushton added: "It highlights, in my respectful submission, the problems where police investigate police."

Counsel assisting the coroner Chris Lonergan told the inquest he did not believe that Mr Salter, who had a history of depression, psychosis and schizophrenia, should have been shot.

The inquest has previously heard that Mr Salter was on the floor of his father's kitchen when he suddenly got to his feet, grabbed a knife from a sink and began stabbing himself in the throat.

Sergeant Bissett shouted a warning that she was discharging her Taser stun gun, but instead fired her pistol.

Detective Inspector Oxford's report into the incident said Sergeant Bissett's use of her gun was justified, the inquest heard.

"Was the discharge of the police pistol appropriate?" Mr Lonergan asked." "The answer is, in short, no, it was not appropriate."

"In those circumstances it is, to say the least, unfortunate and regrettable that the situation that presented itself to Sergeant Bissett did not call for her to consider other alternatives such as capsicum spray or another method."

Mr Lonergan said firing the gun in those circumstances was not in line with police protocols.

Mr Rushton asked Deputy Coroner Scott Mitchell to refer the investigation into Mr Salter's death to the PIC. The Salter family was also seeking an apology from the police, he added. But it is not seeking a referral of the case to the Department of Public Prosecutions.

The death of Mr Salter was a "tragic and wholly unnecessary loss", Mr Rushton added.

Sergeant Bissett believed there was an "immediate, dire risk" to those present in the kitchen when she shot Adam Salter, her lawyer Les Nicholls told the inquest. The law provided for Sergeant Bissett to fire her gun if she was concerned about the safety of herself or others - even if in hindsight that proved not to be the case, Mr Nicholls said.

"There was a very limited period of time that existed between Adam Salter getting up off the floor and the discharge of the firearm," he said. "This was a very unexpected event, described quite rightly as chaotic."

Mr Salter grabbing the knife amounted to a violent act in a confined space, Mr Nicholls said. "There was an imminent and dire risk to those present."

Deputy State Coroner Scott Mitchell adjourned the inquest until next Friday, when he will deliver his findings.

SOURCE

Thursday, October 6, 2011

CCTV catches out South Australian police too

Once again it took newspaper coverage to bring it to light

JENNIFER Lee Ruppelt is an 18-year-old country girl who claims she was strangled by police and passed out during an aggressive arrest. But police say they are the victims of an assault by Ruppelt who hit out at them and gave one officer facial injuries.

The matter caused commotion in the Barossa Valley town of Tanunda yesterday when Ruppelt appeared in the local Magistrates Court on charges of disorderly behaviour and assaulting police.

Ruppelt, of Nuriootpa, denies the allegation she purposely struck police in an incident in May and will now stand trial. Community members yelled support for the teenager as she left the courthouse.

Michael Lloyd, for Ruppelt, said yesterday any physical abuse from his client toward police had been unintentional and the charges would be vigorously defended. "If there was any contact it was the result of excessive manhandling by a police officer," he said.

Mr Lloyd said his client claimed both the arrest and a later incident at the Nuriootpa Police Station were aggressive. He said after a scuffle at the station's charge counter, Ruppelt was assaulted. "(Ruppelt) suggests at that stage she was strangled by a police officer and blacked out."

CCTV footage from the police station leaked to The Advertiser shows Ruppelt being pushed against the charge counter by a male officer while her arms are pinned. At one stage Ruppelt's shoulder and body are forced against the counter while an officer puts his right arm to her neck. The same officer also kicks her legs apart. The alleged strangling is not seen on the footage.

A spokeswoman for SA Police said the incident was being investigated. "A report will be forwarded to the Police Complaints Authority for assessment," a statement said.

Police allege they attended Ruppelt's flat on May 3 where they observed her behaving in a disorderly manner.

Mr Lloyd said Ruppelt also contests that allegation and said she may have shouted the word "f..k" several times but that should not be considered "disorderly".

Magistrate Terry Forrest remanded Ruppelt on continuing bail to appear at trial in May next year.

SOURCE
CCTV captures cop kicking woman inside Victorian police station

And the scum at the top are investigating it now only because a newspaper covered it. Victoria police stink to high Heaven. And what was she arrested for in the first place? She was never charged in court with anything she did prior to her arrest

POLICE have launch an internal probe after the Herald Sun revealed CCTV footage showing an officer kicking a female prisoner. Closed-circuit TV footage has captured a policeman kicking a woman inside a police cell before she is abandoned in pain from capsicum spray, the Herald Sun reports.

This morning Police Command confirmed its Ethical Standards Division would now conduct an investigation into the incident.

The footage was captured inside Victoria's Dandenong police station. It came to light only after it was given to the woman in a recent court case.

The woman, who has been diagnosed with a psychiatric condition, has told the Herald Sun she was humiliated and planned to complain to the Office of Police Integrity.

Acting assistant commissioner Derek Lamb told Neil Mitchell on 3AW radio this morning that police would now act. "It will be investigated by our Ethical Standards Department," Mr Lamb said. "That was decided this morning." Mr Lamb said police had not acted before as the woman had not previously complained.

"There was no complaint made, this woman didn’t make a complaint . . . had she chosen to make a complaint, then that would have been investigated at the time," he said.

Senior police yesterday defended the officer's actions. A sergeant had "pushed" her back into the cell with his foot, which was "reasonable in the circumstances". This was because the sergeant was acting in fear. [What a poor baby: Scared of a woman!]

"It doesn't appear to be a kick to me ... " Mr Lamb said yesterday. "I don't believe it's a kick. He says just that, it was about getting space. It's simply designed to push her back in and that's exactly what they're taught."

It's a position reinforced by the police union today. Police Association secretary Greg Davies said the officer did what he was trained to do. "That's something operational members are trained to do, put distance between them and an individual so that neither they nor the individual end up being physically assaulted," Sen-Sgt Davies said.

He said he was comfortable with the current use of force training. "Creating space between a police officer and someone who that police officer (feels is) violent ... is a far better practice than going back to the 1980s where people got belted with a bat at the first sign of aggression," Sen-Sgt Davies said.

"We don't particularly want to have people sustaining severe or lasting physical injuries and if putting distance between them or using capsicum spray is the way that that's done then that can only be seen as a benefit and, I might add, something that various community legal services have been calling on for years."

Police action unjustified - lawyer

Lawyer Sam Norton, of Robert Stary Lawyers, said his client had been treated appallingly. Two angles of the CCTV footage show the woman calling out to police and gesturing that she would strangle herself before they open the cell door.

There is pushing and shoving before an argument at the door. She tries to walk out of the cell and is sprayed and kicked. A female officer involved in the incident can be seen smiling as the officers walk away.

An officer can be seen hosing down the outside of the door to stop fumes affecting them.

The woman rubs her burning eyes and appears to struggle for breath for 16 minutes before the officer returns with a towel and leads her to a sink to provide after-care, contravening regulations.

"The actions of the officers were completely unjustified," Mr Norton said. "In the immediate time after he sprays her he is hosing the outside of the door so they won't be affected. "Meanwhile, she is screaming out in pain.

"I believe they then charge her because they realised they have overstepped the mark."

A charge of assault was withdrawn at court and she pleaded guilty to a charge of "act in a manner prejudicial to the good order of a jail cell". It was proved and dismissed without conviction.

The incident happened a year before the death of Chinese national Gong Ling Tang, 53, who died on May 13 last year. Mr Tang was dumped in a puddle outside the station on a wet and cold night and an ambulance was called. It is believed he died of hypothermia.

The Herald Sun has been refused under Freedom of Information from obtaining the footage. A Coronial inquest is yet to be held on Mr Tang's death.

Homicide detectives have completed a brief of evidence, but no charges have been laid against any of the officers, many of whom have been moved to other stations. One of the officers is believed to have sat in a heated police van as he watched Mr Tang on the ground.

SOURCE

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Dumb NSW cops shoot the victim of a home invasion

''SHIT, I shot him.'' These are the words Justin McMaster's family claim they heard a police officer say after he fired his weapon at the 19-year-old standing just metres away.

Seconds before, the male officer's partner had lowered her Taser away from Mr McMaster's chest after his mother and sister had yelled out he was their son and brother, they said.

''I noticed her with the Taser and him with the gun and I said: 'He's my son','' Mr McMaster's mother, Georgia Karakizos, said. ''The Taser was on him for a little bit because I could see the red lights [reflected on his torso],'' his sister, Kayla McMaster, said.

The family is considering legal action against the NSW Police Force over last Monday's shooting, which they said occurred after three armed and violent robbers entered their yard and home in Colyton, western Sydney, assaulted Ms Karakizos and her partner, Paul Sciberras, and threatened to rape Kayla, 17.

Police say they are investigating all aspects of the home invasion, including all witnesses and all evidence.

''The police investigation into the home invasion is an active investigation and as such it would be inappropriate to comment further,'' a spokesman said last night.

Police initially said they arrived at the Holmes Street property following reports of an armed break-in, but later said they had been responding to concerns a woman was being threatened with a knife.

Mr McMaster, who remains in the surgical unit at Westmead Hospital recovering from the bullet wound in his abdomen, says he was carrying a length of metal from aluminium blinds to protect his sister, Kayla. He denies that he was ever carrying a knife.

Kayla told the Herald that following the assault of her mother and stepfather, one of the robbers put a knife to her throat and demanded she help find them money. She said he threatened the life of her 15-month-old brother, Dayne, if she tried to run away.

Shortly after, the intruder used the knife to force her to partly undress and said he would rape and stab her, Kayla said.

Her brother Justin ran out of the house to help her shortly after two police officers arrived outside the house and two of the robbers fled, she said.

''Justin ran out and he's screaming: 'Where's my sister? Where's my sister?,'' Kayla said. The female officer drew her Taser and the male his gun, she said.

While an internal police investigation is under way into the shooting of Mr McMaster, the family claims inquiries into the robbery, alleged assaults and threat of rape seem to have a lower priority. They said they have not been offered counselling or assistance, nor have they been updated on the investigation.

''They're saving their own arses,'' Kayla said. ''He [the police officer] gets counselling.''

The family's lawyer, Greg Walsh, said Kayla at least should have been taken to hospital. ''I'm shocked at the way these people have been treated,'' he said. ''It's a disgrace.''


Source

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Police charged with assault of rich man

ONE of South Australia's richest men has alleged he was assaulted by a police officer during a routine traffic stop.

In a case that has far-reaching implications for all police officers, Constable Norman Hoy will stand trial charged with the aggravated assault of Yasser Shahin - the head of the multi-million dollar On-The-Run fuel and cigarette empire.

The case is being closely watched by police who fear the outcome will affect their daily conduct, with many questioning why the officer is facing a criminal charge.

Sources said the incident occurred on Saturday, September 18 last year, when Constable Hoy and his partner stopped Mr Shahin in the CBD when he was driving his 2008 Rolls-Royce, accompanied by his wife, infant child and mother-in-law. The officers noticed Mr Shahin's vehicle had heavily tinted windows, which they suspected might have been darker than allowed under the Road Traffic Act.

Mr Shahin was pulled over in Grenfell St about 10.30am.

While Constable Hoy was talking to Mr Shahin, 36, on the footpath, Mr Shahin allegedly became agitated and argumentative when told the tinting would be tested using a meter kept in the patrol car.

The prosecution will allege there was physical contact between Mr Shahin and Constable Hoy when the officer allegedly tried to prevent Mr Shahin from re-entering his Rolls-Royce - previously owned by his father, Fred, who died in 2009. Constable Hoy then tested the tinting on the vehicle and found it was illegal under road rules. Car windows must allow at least 35 per cent of transmittable light - the tinting on Mr Shahin's front windscreen allowed 14 per cent and the rear windscreen just 7 per cent. Mr Shahin was issued with a defect notice, which described the breach as a "major defect", and told he had an hour to get the car off the road, driving it to his home in Burnside.

He was advised the tinting would have to be changed to the legal limit after which the defect notice would be removed at the Regency Park vehicle inspection centre. Mr Shahin could also have been given a $313 on-the-spot fine, but Constable Hoy elected to give him a warning only.

Shortly after the traffic incident, Mr Shahin engaged prominent Adelaide barrister Michael Abbott, QC, and a complaint was made to the Police Complaints Authority concerning the alleged conduct of Constable Hoy.

Senior police launched a Professional Standards investigation and Constable Hoy was interviewed on November 10. He was charged on August 1 this year with one count of aggravated assault. He will appear in court on Tuesday to face the charge.

While such charges are usually dealt with in the Magistrates Court, his lawyers have elected to have the matter heard before a jury in the District Court.

Constable Hoy's lawyer, Tindall Gask Bentley managing partner Morry Bailes, told the Sunday Mail "police would undoubtedly be concerned if Mr Hoy were convicted. "As he will tell it, he was only doing his job."

Police Association president Mark Carroll said the association was concerned the matter was before the courts. "Our understanding is the prosecution is proceeding only because of a recommendation by the Director of Public Prosecutions," he said.

"It has had a negative impact on the member and his family and the association is supporting him in his legal defence. He was acting in the execution of his duties and it is disturbing a charge of this nature has been laid."

Mr Shahin declined to comment yesterday because the matter is before the court.


Source

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Police misrepresented shooting, court told

A SERIES of official reports produced after the police shooting of Adam Salter falsely stated the mentally disturbed man had been told by police to drop the knife he was holding before he was shot, leading to accusations in the NSW Coroners Court of a ''monumental police cover-up''.

As evidence was played yesterday from the police officer who shot Mr Salter in November 2009 after shouting ''taser, taser, taser'', the court heard that police had misrepresented the events to the public and their own senior command.

The initial situation report prepared by Campsie police, and a situation report prepared for senior command including the Police Commissioner, Andrew Scipione, falsely stated that before Mr Salter was shot police asked him to drop the knife he was holding.

At least one of the reports stated he had then come at police with the knife.

The acting Assistant Police Commissioner, Stuart Wilkins, told a media conference that day Mr Salter had ''confronted'' police.

The lawyer representing Adam Salter's family at the inquest, Stephen Rushton, suggested to the author of one of the reports - Detective Inspector Russell Oxford, of the NSW homicide squad - that a section of it was ''complete nonsense'' and part of a ''gross police cover-up''.

That section of the report included a claim police assisted ambulance officers to restrain Mr Salter. Detective Inspector Oxford denied there was a cover-up. He said the false section of his report had been ''cut and pasted'' from an earlier false report.

The inquest also heard that NSW Police's critical incident investigation, also led by Detective Inspector Oxford, had found that all police officers involved had acted appropriately.

Sergeant Sheree Bissett had acted according to police protocols when she shot the disturbed, bleeding man, because she believed the life of another officer, Constable Aaron Abela, had been in danger.

In a video walk-through interview that formed part of the critical incident investigation, Sergeant Bissett said: ''When he turned, I thought he was going to stab him and kill him.'' ''So, I've just drawn my gun and gone 'taser, taser, taser' and he turned … and so I shot him here [in the back near the shoulder].''

When questioned over her call of ''taser'', Sergeant Bissett said ''it was just the words that came out of my mouth''.

The inquest heard that Detective Inspector Oxford and the NSW Police Professional Standards Command accepted the evidence of the police officers involved in the shooting. They effectively disregarded the evidence of three ambulance officers and Mr Salter's father, all of whom said Mr Salter did not represent a danger to anyone other than himself when he was shot.

Deputy state coroner Scott Mitchell asked why none of the paramedics had been asked to do a walk-through interview. ''I don't understand why the police evidence has been accepted almost completely, while that of the paramedics has been so undervalued.''

Detective Stephen Tedder from the Professional Standards Command - which gave the police actions and the investigation into them a clean bill of health - said critical incident investigations always focused on the actions of police, not ''civilians''.

Speaking outside court, Mr Salter's father said: ''We're confident that the circumstances surrounding Adam's death have been thoroughly explored.''

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