Police 'break laws' out of uniform

THEY pledge to serve and protect but NSW police officers sometimes stray outside the law when not in uniform, a report shows.

Men, senior constables, and those aged in their late 30s are the most common offenders, a research paper into off-duty officer misconduct released by the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) has found.

Misconduct allegations against off-duty officers during a three-month period starting on May 1, 2009, included criminal matters such as sexual assault, illicit drug supply and dealing, dangerous driving and drink-driving.

The paper also lists lesser allegations such as drunken behaviour, posting "inappropriate" comments on social networking sites, "rorting sick leave", releasing confidential information, and possessing pirated DVDs.

Other misconduct issues included unauthorised second jobs.

In summary, the paper lists 13 issues punishable by conviction, 15 of secondary employment, 11 of improper associations and 10 of harassment.

During the three-month snapshot there were 169 allegations of officer misconduct while off duty.

They were among an overall 973 accusations of misconduct against officers in the three-month period but the research paper specifically dealt with the off-duty allegations.

The paper, released on Friday, said complaints about alleged off-duty misconduct by police officers were "relatively common," and prevention of such behaviour when employees were not at work was a challenging task.

"It is particularly difficult because even though employees of the NSW Police Force are bound by the Code of Conduct and Ethics and other policies while off duty, they are not at their workplace and hence are not in a controlled operational environment.

"They are not necessarily accountable for all of their actions while off duty and they have no supervision or peer support."

The paper recommends training which includes supplying officers with examples and scenarios of inappropriate behaviour while off duty.

It recognised the efforts of NSW Police to address off-duty misconduct but says the problem continues.

However, a NSW Police spokesman said complaints against officers while on and off duty decreased about 12 per cent between 2005 and 2009.

"In the same period (2005 to 2009) the size of the police force increased about eight per cent - we have more officers and less complaints," he said in a statement on Friday.

NSW Police continued to enforce a "zero-tolerance" approach to officer misconduct, he added.

More than half (58.4 per cent) of misconduct complaints against officers came from fellow police, the paper said.

The highest percentage of alleged offending officers were aged 36 to 40 years, and men accounted for more than three-quarters of alleged offenders.

While investigations into some of the allegations continue, the paper showed action was taken against more than 41 per cent of finalised cases.

This ranged from restrictions on duty to dismissal.