Filming of colleague’s genitals at work, ‘unprofessional’ not ‘criminal’, says NSW Police

An NSW police sergeant escaped with a slap on the wrist after filming a video of a fellow police officer’s exposed genitalia, which was then distributed without his consent.

A recent complaint to the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) alleged that a senior officer at NSW Police filmed and distributed a video of a colleague’s genitals without his consent, alleging serious bullying and misconduct.

As reported by the ABC, the complaint made to the LECC by a former officer, now whistleblower, alleged that the senior officer – while travelling with two junior officers – refused to stop the police car to allow for one of the officers to use the bathroom during an extended drive.

It’s alleged that instead of pulling over or finding a bathroom for the young officer, he was forced to urinate into a bottle. The sergeant then filmed the act, which exposed his genitals. This video was then distributed to a WhatsApp chat group, which included at least five other officers without the young officer’s consent.

After the complaint was made, the LECC assessed the situation and then referred it to NSW Police when it was internally dealt with. The conclusion of this internal review was that the conduct of the sergeant was deemed “non-criminal” and instead referred to as “unprofessional behaviour”.

As far as the consequences for this “unprofessional behaviour” go, the sergeant was simply given a commissioner’s warning notice and a disciplinary transfer.

Greens MP and spokesperson for justice Sue Higginson was outraged by the process, offering some scathing criticisms of the NSW Police.

“A senior officer has violated a junior officer’s privacy and right to be safe at work, and all that’s happened is a warning and a transfer. The air of secrecy and impunity around the NSW Police is reminiscent of the handling of charges of abuse against the Catholic Church,” said Higginson.

“The LECC is supposed to be the tough cop on the beat when it comes to police misconduct in NSW, but we have seen repeatedly that it is not fit to deal with the deep and systemic cultural issues within the Police that are failing police and the community.

“The system as it stands is that police investigate police, and it’s a broken system. Either the LECC needs more power or we need a new oversight and integrity body.”

“In the 2023–24 year, the LECC received 21 per cent more complaints than the year previous, representing a 50 per cent increase over the previous three years – police misconduct is an increasing epidemic. If the LECC is not properly empowered or resourced for these increases, the independent oversight of police is declining in real terms.”

Higginson believes that the “cover-up culture” that has been allowed to manifest within NSW Police cannot be eradicated by the soft approach of “another review”. Instead, Higginson called for a parliamentary inquiry into the culture of the NSW Police to truly address the issues.

“The culture of cover-up in the NSW Police cannot be resolved by another review that will only ever be considered by the police themselves,” said Higginson.

“I speak with cops and former cops regularly who say the system is broken and that it is well known that if you complain about bad behaviour or systems, you may end up the target of a complaint. The LECC is limited in what they can do, and the Minns Labor government has shown they aren’t interested in proper oversight of the police.”

“I have been calling for a parliamentary inquiry into the culture of the NSW Police to fix these issues, but the government has turned this proposal away every time. In any other workplace, if you filmed someone’s genitals and sent it to colleagues, you would be fired and on criminal charges. Why are the NSW Police treated differently?”