NSW: Two officers reinstated over email porn

AAP General News (Australia)
12-18-2001
NSW: Two officers reinstated over email porn

By Natalie Davison

SYDNEY, Dec 18 AAP - Two officers have been reinstated to the NSW Police Service despite
sending and receiving pornographic emails on internal computers.

The officers were among three sacked by Police Commissioner Peter Ryan after an internal
investigation into abuse of the police email system.

One officer left the force while the two other officers, Paul Burrows and Rick Giardini,
pursued a joint unfair dismissal case.

The NSW Industrial Relations Commission on Friday ordered they be reinstated.

In his decision, Justice Roger Boland found the emails offensive and vulgar but the
removal of the officers was flawed and manifestly unjust.

During the case it was revealed an internal investigation began after an officer at
Gladesville Police Station inadvertently sent a pornographic email to a superintendent
in November 1999.

An investigation unveiled 471 officers, of ranks up to and including inspector, were
detected receiving and or disseminating pornographic material over the police memo system.

Of those, 462 were dealt with at Local Command level and nine were referred for assessment
by the commissioner for competency to remain in the force.

Commissioner Ryan issued warnings to six of them, but three officers were removed,
after the commissioner found he no longer had confidence in them.

The IRC however found that one officer, Mr Giardini, was stood down less than two months
after he was seconded to work at a special protection unit at the Sydney Olympics.

An officer for 12 years, Mr Giardini had been under investigation since December 1999,
but was appointed to the special unit to protect dignitaries, including prime ministers
and heads of state during the September games.

During the case Mr Giardini had admitted receiving and sending porn emails to more
than 60 recipients, including one that displayed an act of bestiality.

But Justice Boland found there was a "marked inconsistency" in the treatment of Mr
Giardini compared with other officers who engaged in the same conduct.

In the case of Mr Burrows, Justice Boland said while the pornographic emails he sent
and received were vulgar in the extreme, there was a lack of fairness in dealing with
Mr Burrows.

The senior constable was removed from the service in October 2000 after he was found
to have received and disseminated offensive material over an eight month period in 1999.

In his decision, Justice Boland said one email, named "Hook, Line and Sink-Her", was
received and sent by a number of other officers, none of whom were removed from the service.

Mr Burrows acknowledged he engaged in sending and receiving emails of a "sexual nature"

but denied being a "sexual deviate".

He also agreed to emailing another officer with a message that went back and forth
over a five month period, with the aim of seeing who could outdo the other in terms of
insults and vulgarity.

But Justice Boland said of particular concern was the decision to stand down Mr Burrows
in December 1999, before reinstating him a month later.

An internal investigation continued before he was finally removed from the force later
in the year.

"It is difficult to escape the conclusion that Mr Burrows was punished twice for the
same offence," he said.

He said while the emails were offensive, too many other officers, including more senior
officers, had been sent emails that were even grosser than Mr Burrows', yet were not removed
from the service.

In reinstating both officers, Justice Boland found Commissioner Ryan had "acted unreasonably
or unjustly" in removing them.

AAP nd/arb/mg/br

KEYWORD: PORN

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