A portion of the event that led to the removal of two officers from operational duty while their behaviour is being looked into has been made public by the South Australian Police Department.
After examining body-worn camera footage of the two apprehending a man at a care home in Adelaide’s south, SA Police made the unprecedented move of issuing a statement regarding the disciplinary case.
It stated that during the incident, the officers employed a capsicum spray and a taser. Though the SA Police had cautioned that using the CCTV footage would violate regulations governing disciplinary investigations, the media released a portion of the arrest.
Police authorised its use in a statement released 24 hours later.”Within the past 24 hours, South Australia Police have been able to better understand the requirements of the commissioner’s inquiry,” the statement continued.
“In consultation with the deputy commissioner, the commissioner of police has authorised the disclosure and publication of CCTV from outside the care facility only.”
The individual and the policemen got into a fight on October 26, according to SA police, during which the officers used a taser and capsicum spray.
During the arrest, the man in his 60s had minor injuries. SA Police stated that after receiving a complaint about the incident on Monday, it began an investigation and looked through both officers’ body-worn video footage.
Information related to a complaint would typically not be disclosed or published under the Police Complaints and Discipline Act.
However, the police commissioner made details regarding the incident and complaint publicly available after concluding that there was a public interest in doing so.
A legislative committee is now reviewing the laws pertaining to police complaints, and its review is expected to be finished shortly.
Deputy Police Commissioner Linda Williams defended the present law’s level of confidentiality. “I’m just applying the principles of the act at the present time and trying to provide procedural fairness to ensure that we have an unbiased process,” she stated.
“We are committed to being as transparent as we can once we’ve reached the threshold of being able to make it public.”
