Kyla
04-19-2004, 02:49 AM
Hood-wearing police to be sacked
By Tim Clarke
19apr04
WESTERN Australia's police chief today said he had no choice but to sack two officers who drove past a speed camera at more than 120km/h while wearing Ku Klux Klan-style hoods.
Police Commissioner Barry Matthews has recommended to the state's police minister that the two officers, from the south-west town of Bunbury, be removed from the service over the August 2001 prank.
And he said although he accepted there was no racist element to their actions, the deception during the incident and their failure to admit their complicity for more than two years meant they should be sacked.
"I accept it was done as a prank, and I accept there was no racist intention. There was no suggestion they were trying to masquerade as Ku Klux Klan," Mr Matthews told Perth radio 6PR.
"They were just disguising themselves and they thought they were being smart, but I think afterwards they realised it was incredibly stupid and foolish.
"It's been my recommendation after weighing up the options that the only choice really was to remove them from the police."
The officers were on duty when they donned white hoods, obscured the licence plate of their unmarked police car and drove past a speed camera at 126km/h in a 60km/h zone.
An obscene notice was stuck on the front of the car, while the passenger was also photographed making an obscene gesture with his finger.
After describing the stunt as dangerous at the time, police were embarrassed when it emerged the two experienced officers from Bunbury were the culprits.
One of the officers, a senior constable named only as Frank, today said the prank was borne out of frustration with the force.
"I am not a corrupt cop, I just stuffed up on the night," he told 6PR.
"I was really peed off with the job, and I was not getting the support of the hierarchy. In hindsight I should have quit the job then."
After the two officers argued in November last year, one of them confessed the stunt to a senior officer.
By that time, the statute of limitations to charge the driver had expired by two months.
Mr Matthews denied there had been a cover-up within the force, saying the only duplicity had come from the officers involved.
"As a result of the outrage within and outside the police they obviously thought that discretion was the better part of valour," Mr Matthews said.
"That is all a factor of the deceit that was really part of the incident itself."
The officers are both permitted to appeal the commissioner's recommendation.
By Tim Clarke
19apr04
WESTERN Australia's police chief today said he had no choice but to sack two officers who drove past a speed camera at more than 120km/h while wearing Ku Klux Klan-style hoods.
Police Commissioner Barry Matthews has recommended to the state's police minister that the two officers, from the south-west town of Bunbury, be removed from the service over the August 2001 prank.
And he said although he accepted there was no racist element to their actions, the deception during the incident and their failure to admit their complicity for more than two years meant they should be sacked.
"I accept it was done as a prank, and I accept there was no racist intention. There was no suggestion they were trying to masquerade as Ku Klux Klan," Mr Matthews told Perth radio 6PR.
"They were just disguising themselves and they thought they were being smart, but I think afterwards they realised it was incredibly stupid and foolish.
"It's been my recommendation after weighing up the options that the only choice really was to remove them from the police."
The officers were on duty when they donned white hoods, obscured the licence plate of their unmarked police car and drove past a speed camera at 126km/h in a 60km/h zone.
An obscene notice was stuck on the front of the car, while the passenger was also photographed making an obscene gesture with his finger.
After describing the stunt as dangerous at the time, police were embarrassed when it emerged the two experienced officers from Bunbury were the culprits.
One of the officers, a senior constable named only as Frank, today said the prank was borne out of frustration with the force.
"I am not a corrupt cop, I just stuffed up on the night," he told 6PR.
"I was really peed off with the job, and I was not getting the support of the hierarchy. In hindsight I should have quit the job then."
After the two officers argued in November last year, one of them confessed the stunt to a senior officer.
By that time, the statute of limitations to charge the driver had expired by two months.
Mr Matthews denied there had been a cover-up within the force, saying the only duplicity had come from the officers involved.
"As a result of the outrage within and outside the police they obviously thought that discretion was the better part of valour," Mr Matthews said.
"That is all a factor of the deceit that was really part of the incident itself."
The officers are both permitted to appeal the commissioner's recommendation.