A dishonest high-ranking Sydney cop has escaped with a $1,500 fine for downing 20 drinks, crashing his police-issue vehicle and trying to cover it up.
The senior and experienced officer, 47, who held a prestigious position in the NSW Police Force but cannot be identified due to a 40-year court suppression order, was sentenced on Tuesday after being convicted of mid-range drink-driving over the May 2023 incident.
He was given a $1,500 fine and a two-year community corrections order, suspended from driving for six months, and will be required to have his vehicle fitted with an interlock device for 12 months after that, the Australian Associated Press reported.
The officer was previously charged with high-range drink driving but was given a deal by the courts in November and agreed to plead guilty to the lesser charge.
Investigators alleged he had more than 20 drinks over a nine-hour period, but there was no evidence of his intoxication since he left the scene to avoid being breathalysed.
In July last year the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) found he was treated leniently by his commander and in a police review after the crash.
The LECC report found he consumed a “significant” number of drinks at two pubs before getting behind the wheel of the unmarked police vehicle and hitting a concrete barrier on the NorthConnex motorway.
He then abandoned the car and later lied on an insurance claim form for the car, claiming he had fallen asleep.
In relation to the 40-year name suppression, the LECC noted in its report that it “had access to the confidential material provided to the Court” in relation to the suppression order, and that the order was “understandable”.
The report found that the officer was given special treatment “in his commanding officer’s approach to interim risk management; in the conduct of a Safe Driving Panel; and in the approach taken to the issue of a media release”, as NSW Police Media failed notify the public as required when an employee is charged.
The LECC found that even though the officer was treated as any other officer or member of the public would have been while being investigated and charged, the force had suffered reputational damage and senior officers had lost confidence in the integrity of the organisation.
“From day one [at the Academy] they show you the statement of values… and point one of that statement is to place integrity above all. I’ve always tried to do that from day one of my service in the cops and its just really disappointing that the people who are the decision-makers … say one thing and do another,” a witness told the LECC.
Header image credit: NSW Police
