AUSTRALIAN POLICE AT WORK

In two Australian States

Qld. police union backs police fraud

And no attempt is being made to find the offenders

THE police union has openly encouraged its members to keep faking random breath tests to meet "impossible" targets. At the same time efforts to track down police faking the tests have been scrapped because the police service does not have the resources despite an official investigation into the practice. The Courier-Mail last year revealed officers had been manipulating RBT machines to generate fake tests as they struggled with impossibly high targets.

The practice has probably skewed drink-driving statistics for years, hiding the size of the problem, and led police and the Crime and Misconduct Commission to set up an investigation. However, after uncovering "deficiencies" in police records and questioning some data, the investigation was wrapped up due to lack of resources even as some regions upped their targets.

Writing in the March Police Union Journal, northern region representative Mick Barnes suggested increases of up to "tens of thousands" of tests would further strain operational police, possibly leading to more "rubbery" figures. "Ask a traffic officer that's (sic) been around for a while and you'll find the best way to reduce the likelihood of drink-driving in our community is to sit off the pubs again," he wrote. "This was the tried and tested method when operational police had the time to proactively police instead of running between jobs. In the meantime keep exercising those thumbs," he said, referring to the method of placing a thumb over the machine's air intake to generate a false reading.

Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson recently offered regional assistant commissioners "flexibility" to adjust targets as police grappled to find the most effective testing strategy. "We need to find what the right amount of random breath testing is," Mr Atkinson said. "We haven't got that right yet and it may be that that varies from place to place." He admitted police did not have the resources to fully investigate the fake tests but denied the practice was widespread. "No one to my knowledge has put up their hand and admitted they fudged the tests," he said. "To conduct an extensive investigation into each RBT return . . . would tie up a huge amount of resources for a long period of time."

A police source said the internal investigation was destined to fail because of a lack of resources, but officers had stopped faking tests for a while after being exposed. Mr Atkinson said some regional assistant commissioners were reducing test quotas because the previous target of one breath test per licensed driver was "too onerous". The South Eastern Region cut its target to 85 per cent of licensed drivers, while Metropolitan South and parts of the Southern Region cut the target to 90 per cent.

Report here





Another Australian police force with high ethical standards (NOT)

There are so many crooks that they are "too many" to prosecute, apparently. So they all get off scot-free!

HUNDREDS of police officers across South Australia caught using their work computers to illegally copy movie DVDs will escape prosecution. The activity - strictly banned under federal copyright laws - was detected during an audit conducted by the information technology branch of SA Police. Senior police, including Commissioner Mal Hyde, have been briefed on the extent of the problem.

An internal email to police management said the audit had "identified a number of instances where commercial DVD movies have been copied to the hard-drives of police computers which potentially had been burnt to blank DVDs". "This practice is potentially a breach of copyright and misuse of SAPOL equipment," it said. "Branch managers are requested to take measures to ensure this practice must not occur and to remind members (officers) of the policies relating to the use of SAPOL computer equipment."

Police sources have told The Advertiser an official investigation, which could lead to criminal charges, will not be conducted because of the large number of police officers involved in copying DVDs. Mr Hyde's spokeswoman, Roberta Heather, confirmed his senior executive group had been briefed on the results of the computer audit. "A recommendation was made that identified work areas should remind members of the need to comply with SAPOL's policy in regard to the appropriate use of work systems and legislative requirements," she said. Ms Heather said police computer systems regularly were audited "and appropriate action is taken where any breach of legislation or policy is detected".

The Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft said it would write to Mr Hyde to seek an explanation. Under federal laws, severe penalties can be imposed on video piracy. Penalties include fines of up to $60,500 for individuals and up to $302,500 for corporations for each individual infringement, and up to five years' imprisonment.

Report here. (Via Australian Politics)




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