NSW Police cop a blast for illegally destroying surveillance tape

NSW POLICE broke the law when they destroyed CCTV footage crucial to a workplace safety investigation into an officer's exposure to an unknown substance in a drug safe.

NSW State Records received complaints in October and November 2010 about the disposal of CCTV footage from a police station's drug safe and surrounding areas, as well as record keeping for drug audit risk assessments.

A police officer conducting drug audits within the drug safe at a Sydney police centre in 2009 was exposed to an unknown substance during the audit.

But when the officer requested the CCTV tapes, which were relevant to the times the occupational health and safety incidents occurred, the officer was told that police had destroyed the tapes.

The director of NSW State Records, Alan Ventress, wrote to the Police Commissioner, Andrew Scipione, last May with a list of recommendations to improve standards because the tape disposal broke the law.

''For reasons outlined in the report, I believe that a breach of section 21 of the State Records Act 1988 has occurred with the unauthorised destruction of these CCTV tapes,'' he wrote.

''Failure to create and capture records documenting actions, decisions, guidance or advice into appropriate record-keeping systems can expose an organisation to a high level of risk or embarrassment. These breaches are a concern to State Records.

A separate NSW Ombudsman Office report stated: ''It is unfortunate that CCTV footage … was not retained by the NSW Police Force, particularly given Workcover attended the site and investigated the incidents.''

A police spokesman said police accepted State Records' findings and ''were working with the records management authority to implement the recommendations''. ''NSW Police Force has made significant changes to its records management practices, as part of its commitment to best practice, since being made aware of issues relating to the keeping of full and accurate records,'' he said.

Last month The Sydney Morning Herald reported a gay couple had discovered that nearly 26 minutes of vital CCTV footage was missing after they alleged police assaulted them at Rose Bay police station last June.

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