Former Gold Coast Senior Constable Peter Chapman was sacked in September last year for having oral sex with an associate of the Finks motorcycle gang.

He had also accessed confidential police files and passed on information to her about a drug dealer.

Chapman was originally fined $150 by an internal police disciplinary hearing but the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) appealed against that decision, saying it was too lenient.

Chapman was then found guilty of all three charges by the Misconduct Tribunal and sacked.

At a judicial review of the case, Chapman's barrister argued the tribunal failed to consider all aspects of the case when coming to its decision.

Justice James Douglas will deliver his ruling in one month.

Source: ABC Online

QUEENSLAND police are faking alcohol breath tests so they can meet a "stupid" political quota of three million drink driving checks a year, senior officers say.

They claimed overworked frontline police routinely manipulated SD-400 alcometers to generate dozens of false "zeroes" in a few minutes.

The trick was done by blocking airholes on the devices with fingers or straws, which causes a negative alcohol reading.

Although motorists are not directly affected, the fake results distort data so it appears Queensland roads are safer than in reality.

State politicians have repeatedly used the data to claim Queensland has Australia's highest testing rate and a relatively low offence rate of one drink driver per 100 motorists.

Parliament's Travelsafe Select Committee chairman Jim Pearce said he wasn't aware testing devices could be manipulated.

"I've never heard that before. If that is happening, it's quite alarming," he said. "It would mean there are a lot more drunk drivers out there than we think."

The quota was established before his tenure and might need to be reviewed, he said.

A police media spokeswoman claimed there was no evidence of fake testing. However, the officers spoken to by The Courier-Mail claimed police did not have enough resources to carry out three million breath tests a year on top of their other duties.

"Too often we turn up to jobs where they needed us two days before. We're flogged going from job to job," the six-year veteran said.

"There isn't time to spend hours setting up road blocks."

Police Minister Judy Spence said: "Any police officer who is found to have engaged or be engaging in this highly unethical conduct or committing acts of deception will be severely disciplined

A police officer with six years experience said he faked alcohol tests for two years before eventually refusing to do it any more and claimed he had witnessed "hundreds" of bogus tests.

"The quota system is purely a statistical exercise and that exercise is a stupidity," he said.

He said police referred to the fake tests as "Car-B-Ts," a play on RBTs, or roadside breath tests.

They were often performed in vehicles, where police manipulated their alcometers at stop lights or between more pressing duties.

"Faking RBT figures is an absolute reality. It's widespread," the officer said.

A high-ranking police official said an internal inquiry was launched a few years ago into the practice. The findings were never made public but believed to be inconclusive.

Another police veteran with 20 years experience in the service, estimated that up to a third of the state's tests have been faked. He confirmed the practice was intended to please supervisors who were under pressure to meet quotas with limited resources.

"It's been going on for years and it's still going on," he said.

RACQ spokesman Gary Fites said his organisation relied on accurate data from police. "If police have to resort to this kind of subterfuge it would be very disappointing," he said.

"It would be distorting the data."

Source:  News.com.au

Acknowledgement:  The Courier Mail

Police said the 45-year-old officer was stood down in July after he was charged with two counts of stalking and one count of serious assault.

It is alleged he was involved in disputes with his neighbours between April 2005 and June 2007.

He was today charged with breaching bail and has been released on bail to appear on October 9 in the Southport Magistrates Court, a police spokeswoman said.

Details of the condition that was allegedly breached were not available.

Source: Brisbane Times

Detective Senior Constable Shane Peacock had a blood alcohol content of four times the legal limit when the car he was driving crashed into a power pole at Loganholme south of Brisbane last October.

His 29-year-old passenger Trevor Pearson who had also been drinking was thrown through the windscreen of the car and died at the scene.

Thirty-one-year-old Peacock was off duty at the time of the accident and initially told investigators he was not the driver, but today he pleaded guilty.

He was sentenced to five years jail, to be suspended after 18 months and lost his drivers licence for 4 years.

Source:  ABC Online

The Queenland Police Union says it will decide on Wednesday whether to hold statewide ballots on Commissioner Atkinson's performance.

The union says staff shortages are the main concern but Commissioner Atkinson has told ABC Radio's Madonna King he believes there is some union politicking at play.

"I'm not talking about me personally, but I don't think the Police Union should determine who the Police Commissioner is for the state of Queensland," he said.

"I don't think there's any doubt about that [the influence of politics] in part.   I don't doubt as well that they're absolutely genuine as we are about providing the best possible policing service to the people of Queensland."

Source:  ABC Online

On Monday, Gold Coast police failed to respond immediately to a domestic dispute where a 36-year-old woman died.

Her teenage son has been charged with her murder.

QPU acting president Denis Fitzpatrick met police on the Gold Coast today and says the Commissioner failed to deliver enough frontline officers.

"I have no confidence in his ability to manage resources," he said.

"We have spoken one on one when he came to power, when he was made the Commissioner of this state he said he wanted to do something for first response.

"He said specifically he wanted to do something for general duties.

"He's taken a completely opposite tact - he has put more police in administration and less out there on the coalface."

Source:  ABC Online 

THOUSANDS of disgruntled police officers have descended on Brisbane to march on state parliament with a list of grievances.

Around 5,000 officers from as far afield as Longreach and Cairns carried placards, some demanding a better pay rise than the five per cent they have been offered and some demanding mandatory sentencing for police assault.

Other officers just wanted a police helicopter like neighbouring state police forces take for granted nowadays or a police radio network without blackspots.

Some 2,000 people lined the footpaths, the overwhelming majority applauding and waving placards in support of officers taking part in Pride in Policing Day, the first rally staged by the force in Queensland.

The march was led by Christine Irwin, the grieving mother of Constable Brett Irwin who was shot dead on July 18 while attending a routine parole inquiry at a house on Brisbane's northside.

One of the officers at the rally was Loganholme constable Grant Sampson, who emerged from a coma after nearly four weeks in a Brisbane hospital.

He had been hit over the head with a bottle as he administered first aid to an injured party-goer attacked by gatecrashers south of Brisbane on June 23.

Police are calling for mandatory sentencing for those who assault them.

"What gives someone the right to go around assaulting people and get away with it," Const Sampson told a cheering crowd.

A police helicopter and higher wages were also needed, he said.

"I'm sure your salary is about triple mine and we're out there busting our guts to keep the streets safe for you - and sometimes I ask myself why."

Queensland Police Union (QPU) acting president Denis Fitzpatrick said Sunday's march was made partly in pride and partly in protest.

"We can no longer be silent about the treatment we have endured at the hands of the Beattie Labor government," Mr Fitzpatrick said.

The police radio network was a 'relic of the 1950s' and contained black spots which contributed to the death of Senior Sergeant Perry Irwin who was killed by a drug-crazed gunman in 2003, Mr Fitzpatrick said.

"The lack of resources in this police service is appalling and if I have to mention everything, I wouldn't have the time and frankly we'd be here until dinner," he said.

QPU general secretary Phil Hocken called on Premier Peter Beattie to retire after the government's handling of the case of Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley.

Snr Sgt Hurley was charged, and later acquitted by a court, of the manslaughter of a man in police custody on Palm Island, off north Queensland in 2004.

"The over-ruling of the DPP (Department of Public Prosecutions) to charge Chris Hurley was absolutely disgraceful," Mr Hocken said.

"Peter Beattie says he's thinking about retirement.

"Well I say, think harder, Mr Beattie."

Source:  The Age

A ROUTINE police job ended tragically in Brisbane overnight with a police officer shot dead and another man critically injured with a gunshot wound to the head.

Regan Street, Keperra (Brisbane North)

Policeman Shoot Dead

Constable Brett Irwin was fatally wounded when he and a colleague went to a house at Regan Street in Keperra, in Brisbane's north-west, to speak to a man about a warrant.

Shortly after arriving, the officer was fatally wounded, with his colleague escaping injury and calling for back-up.

A stand-off ensued and two women and two children were safely released from the building before emergency response police stormed the house, when the gunman was injured.

Queensland Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson says Constable Irwin's death is a shocking tragedy.

He has extended condolences to Constable Irwin's family, friends and colleagues and says support and counselling is being offered to the police involved.

Assistant Commissioner Peter Barron says Constable Irwin had only been inducted into the Queensland Police Service last year.

"This is a great tragedy," he said. "He's a young police officer ... and he's paid the ultimate price for carrying out his duty."

"Our deepest sympathy goes out to his family and colleagues."

Assistant Commissioner Barron would not comment on whether police shot the gunman or if he turned his weapon on himself.

"It was a routine job and it emphasises the dangerous nature of policing," he said.

Queensland's Premier Peter Beattie says the shooting demonstrates how dangerous it is to be a police officer in the 21st century.

"On behalf of all Queenslanders I pass on our condolences to the officer who has tragically lost his life this morning," he said.

"This is a tragedy of the worst kind ... and this young officer was simply doing his duty.

"I think what that does is reinforce how difficult it is and the dangers police face everyday and the fact that they do put their lives on the line." 

Source:  ABC Online

CIVIL libertarians say the acquittal of Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley over the death of a man in police custody on Palm Island raises serious questions.

Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley

Senior Sergeant Hurley, who pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter and assault of 36-year-old Mulrunji Doomadgee, was today acquitted of the charges in the Townsville Supreme Court.

"We are happy that due process has been carried out in this case," Queensland Council for Civil Liberties (QCCL) president Michael Cope said.

But he says it raises serious questions about relations between police and indigenous groups in remote communities such as Palm Island, off the north Queensland city of Townsville.

"The royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody in 1991 made over 100 recommendations - one of them that people shouldn't be arrested simply for abusing police," Mr Cope said.

"Had this recommendation been followed, this situation might not have arisen."

Prosecutor Peter Davis says he believes Palm Islanders will accept the not guilty verdict.

He says Mulrunji's family knows the prosecution team did all it could to make a case, and the jury members considered the case very carefully.

Source: Herald Sun