ACT: ACT police cells under scrutiny after assault charge

AAP General News (Australia)
02-12-2007
ACT: ACT police cells under scrutiny after assault charge

CANBERRA, Feb 12 AAP - Watch-house operations in the ACT will be examined in the wake
of a federal police officer being charged with assault.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Commonwealth Ombudsman said they would
jointly review police cell procedures following a number of complaints in recent years.

AFP officer David Arthur Fearnside was stood down after a woman accused him of assaulting
her with capsicum spray last October while she was being detained in a Canberra police
cell.

Fearnside, who resigned from the force, has pleaded not guilty in the ACT Magistrates
Court to assault charges.

Without mentioning the case, Acting Commonwealth Ombudsman Vivienne Thom said serious
complaints over several years about watch-house procedures prompted the audit.

"While the Commonwealth Ombudsman receives a relatively small number of complaints
each year about watch-house custodial procedures, some of those complaints are sufficiently
serious to warrant us undertaking this review," Dr Thom said.

The ombudsman and the AFP said the move was timely following the upgrading last July
of a closed circuit television camera system at the City Watch-house.

Practices under scrutiny include the use of force and physical restraints, handling
people with special needs and the training and supervision of AFP members in the watch-house.

The team carrying out the study also will consider individual complaints and comments
by courts and oversight bodies.

"ACT policing is strongly committed to best practice in the treatment of detained persons
and I welcome this review to help us ensure those high standards are being met in our
watch-house operations," ACT Chief Police Officer Audrey Fagan said.

The review is due to be completed at the end of April.

AAP pw/sb/it/cdh

KEYWORD: WATCHHOUSE

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