More than twenty NSW cops involved in cover-ups, assaults and other breaches to keep jobs

TWENTY law-breaking police have been allowed to keep their jobs despite being involved in cover-ups, assaults and destroying drugs which have been seized.

The officers, whose identities could not be released by the NSW Police Force, continue to work in the organisation despite serious breaches of trust with the community.

Their punishment was "forced disciplinary transfers" allowing them to work as law enforcers by accepting moves to different commands.

The most notorious case involved a detective who had "sexual intercourse with a civilian in a police car while on duty" which was uncovered by The Sunday Telegraph last year.

The married officer - formerly of the Redfern command - was demoted but kept his job despite the police taking out an AVO to keep him from the woman, a teenage model.

The other cases of serious and at time criminal misconduct include:

A senior constable who sprayed a colleague with insulin as a "practical joke".

An officer who allowed a civilian to drive a police vehicle with the siren on - and then tried to cover it up.

Two budding forensic investigators who cheated on their physics exam.

An officer who turned a blind eye to a drug detection and destroyed the evidence.

A sergeant who badly bashed his wife and kept an unlicensed air rifle at home.

Details of each case were provided to The Sunday Telegraph following a Freedom of Information request, which took two months.

The officers received their disciplinary transfers between July 2009 and March 2012.

Another damning case involved a junior officer, a constable, who notched up a shopping list of offences and other breaches of protocol.

Case notes on the officer state that he failed to investigate an armed robbery, a domestic assault and "a number of incidents reported to him".

He also "covered up" a knife-search on a group of men, "inappropriately disposed of an exhibit" and "falsified records" on the matter.

In a separate case, two officers were transferred for cheating on a physics exam by "obtaining a copy of the exam paper prior to sitting it".

In another case, a senior constable, believed to be a teacher at the Police Academy, lied to investigators about his "close personal relationship" with a female student.

He also warned the girl that "she was going to be interviewed regarding their relationship", and was "untruthful" with investigators when they quizzed him on the matter of the prior warning.

Details at which police station or police commands the officers were attached to when the offences occurred, or where they were transferred, were also concealed.

A police spokesman said: 'In a number of these cases, the officers appealed to the Industrial Relations Commission and their matters were settled through conciliation.

"It is (also) important to note other sanctions may well have been issued in conjunction with a disciplinary transfer."

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