WA Speeding Fines Recall

[bungarra]

Gotta love this!!!

WAPOL at it again, using equipment that the officers weren't qualified to use.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-...g-fine-fiasco/

WA Police have been forced to cancel or refund about 100 speeding fines handed out over four days in February after two officers used the wrong equipment to catch speeding drivers.

In an extraordinary move, letters of apology have been sent to dozens of people caught in the blitz, promising that their infringements would be withdrawn, fines refunded and demerit points reinstated.

The embarrassing error also forced an urgent audit of hundreds of other speeding fines handed out by the force's Cannington branch over several months.

Police confirmed the large-scale cancellation of fines yesterday, saying that the two officers involved had been disciplined but said there was no indication the problem stretched further than the force's south-east metropolitan district.

A police spokesman said the infringements were withdrawn not because the equipment was faulty but because the officers had used a new speeding gun model which they were not qualified to operate.

"While legislation makes the tickets they wrote out perfectly valid, our own internal policy requires that they have a certificate of competency in the exact model they are using," he said.

The problem was discovered during a routine station check of infringements which had been handed out, coupled with equipment which had been checked out and used by officers.

An internal investigation was carried out but police said there was no suggestion of corruption or benefit by the officers involved.

"They were just doing their usual job but with the wrong equipment," the spokesman said.

He said a subsequent audit of all infringements handed out by the south-east district found no other suspicious fines.

In a letter sent out over the past two weeks to affected drivers, the police say the infringement notices were "not issued correctly according to the Western Australia Police policy on speed measuring devices".

The letter continues: "Although the laser device was found to be operating correctly and within the required specifications, the operator 'police officer' has not followed the correct operating procedures (operator error)."

It was police policy to withdraw any infringement notices issued outside of training guidelines, the letter states.
"Therefore this infringement has been withdrawn effective immediately," it goes on. "If you have paid this infringement notice a refund will be made in full and any demerit points added to your licence will be subtracted."