Two West Australian cops admit to falsifying records but "No case to answer"!
Go figure! No wonder relations between cops and community are so bad in W.A.
TWO police officers who admitted to falsifying records to avoid a speeding fine have walked free after charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice were thrown out of court today.
Constable Mark Philip Raine and Senior Constable Martine Francina Gesina Baas had been fighting the allegations after they tried to evade a $75 speeding fine, incurred while on duty on August 13, 2010.
The pair, who have since left the force, were captured by a speed camera travelling 7km/h over the 60km/h limit in a marked police car on Stirling Hwy, Cottesloe.
Constable Raine, who was driving, made a false entry in his notebook about conducting a vehicle stop, while his off-sider Sen-Constable Baas made a similar claim on the police radio and computer system.
But last year, police said a review of several seconds of video footage taken by the camera after the alleged offence revealed there were no other cars in sight.
Today, District Court Judge John Staude said the officers, who had each been charged with one count of attempting to pervert the course of justice, had no case to answer.
Outside court, WA Police Union president George Tilbury said the officers should never have been charged and Sen-Constable Baas would fight for her job back.
"There was never enough evidence to support the charge which is why the judge threw the matter out of court,'' Mr Tilbury said.
"The union made a submission to the agency and DPP that there was no case to answer but they still chose to continue with the prosecution.
"These former officers have been treated appallingly and serious questions need to be asked about the decision-making process. "An immediate review is required as this is a clear abuse of process.''
Mr Tilbury said Sen-Constable Baas "desperately'' wanted her job back and called on Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan to immediately reinstate her.
But Mr O'Callagahan said the officer would not be re-employed with WA Police. "The officer resigned and police will not re-employ her,'' Mr O'Callaghan said.
"Her conduct that gave rise to the criminal charge was the same conduct that caused police to pursue the Loss of Confidence process against this officer. "The officer admitted falsifying police records and the WA Police cannot allow such conduct.''
Under the Road Traffic Code, police and emergency services personnel are exempt from speeding tickets if the offence occurs during "official duties'' and the driver is taking reasonable care with blue or red flashing lights or a siren.
The investigation into Constable Raine and Sen-Constable Baas sparked an internal affairs review of other suspect cases, where it was believed police had incorrectly "written-off'' speeding fines.
In December, another officer, Kim Vary Rainier, pleaded guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice after she falsified paperwork to suggest she had been catching up to a vehicle that was being driven erratically when she drove at 72km/h in a 60km/h zone in South Perth in September 2010.
At the time, Judge Staude issued Rainier a spent conviction and fined her $300 [Another tap on the wrist for a crook]
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The list of this sort of crap is endless. A $300 fine for the prosecutor that hid evidence that sent Andrew Mallard to prison for a murder he did not commit. The other party (Caporn) allowed to escape with a reward of a job with $140.000 income.There is a pandemic of corruption within the top echelons of the WA police force. Public respect is in free fall.
ReplyDeleteit is standard conduct in the western australia police force to pull over the first car when you blow a speed camera. karl o'callaghan looked after caporn and others. o'callaghan refused to cooperate with investigators, the dpp or john quigley towards freeing an innocent man (Mallard) because he was looking after his corrupt mates. karl actually promoted caporn to assistant commissioner whilst the true facts were coming out and then sent him on full paid leave as assistant commissioner, $130 000pa of tax payers money for 2 years of doing nothing. when the writing was on the wall and these guys were proved to have given false evidence taking away 12 years of an innocent man's life, karl got together with his corrupt mates at the wa police union and got all of the sacked cops better paying jobs outside. what does that tell you about who's running things in wa. the biggest idiots are the poor cops who pay exorbitant fees to the union, but what they don't know is that the union are in the commissioners back pocket. sure, if you get in the shit, they'll give you a lawyer but what they don't know is that if they're not one of the boys, you're gone. the right of appeal to wairc is nothing but a fraud perpetrated by the wapol union to jack up the funds for the board days out. there is, in reality, no right of appeal because the police act and commissioner overrule it.
ReplyDeleteWhat is curious though, as an interesting side aspect to this saga, is that ex-Const Raine managed to get himself once again employed in the public service (Health Dept) as a Security Officer at SCGH!
ReplyDeleteI mean, somehow got another government job while still going through the courts - months before the case was thrown out, inexplicably.
Did the new employer not go through the usual requisite selection process that includes background checks, reference check and determining reason for leaving previous employment or did the applicant simply not declare his legal woes and previous admitted dishonesty at the time of application the employer simply failed to follow through with established and expected due diligance?
Something very fishy about all this.