Use the legal system too, Potts urges
QUEENSLAND Law Society president Bill Potts has questioned why police do not appeal the decisions of magistrates when they fear bailed alleged criminals are an unacceptable risk of reoffending.
Mr Potts said police are entitled to immediately appeal the decisions of magistrates who are often faced with information which is not properly tested during bail applications.
“If they are serious enough about it and angry enough about it, then why did they not appeal?” Mr Potts told the
“It’s very easy for nameless police officers, or their union, to shout from the rooftops about the system they think is working imperfectly, but the very system has a power for them to appeal.”
Prosecutors were entitled to immediatley appeal the decisions of magistrates in the District Court.
He said he appreciated that police often work in difficult circumstances but the courts often “get it in the neck in the court of public opinion” when a person breaches bail. He said judicial officers often make decisions based on the information presented to them by police.
Mr Potts said police statements of facts (QP9) and objection to bail affidavits were often incorrect because they are usually written by different officers.
“The QP9s are notoriously inaccurate,” he said. “Often police do different tasks so one police officer might draft the QP9, and another might draft the affidavit for the opposition to bail. Often they reflect facts which are not in the QP9 or contradict matters that are in the QP9.”
Following Magistrate Joan White voicing serious concerns over alleged inconsistencies in police documents, Mr Potts suggested police could do submitting documents that were consistent. “I’m not aware of the case, but it seems Magistrate Joan White has pointed out that perhaps they should do their jobs better so that the QP9 and the affidavit were accurate.”
Mr Potts said bail laws were a hallmark of a democratic society and more than “99 per cent” of those released on bail did not breach their conditions. He said it was expensive for taxpayers to keep alleged offenders behind bars and many often spend more time in custody than they were sentenced to.