Cops union slams lazy magistrates over new bail courts regime - which comes into effect across NSW today

The police union has taken aim at magistrates, saying cops shouldn’t have to babysit offenders overnight and instead new bail courtrooms should stay open until late at night.

President of the Police Association of NSW, Kevin Morton. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

The police union has sensationally taken aim at magistrates they say should keep the government’s new bail courtrooms open until late at night, to ensure cops who are already stretched-thin are not unnecessarily forced to babysit offenders overnight.

A new centralised bail court will come into effect from Monday, meaning all offenders arrested across regional NSW who apply for bail will have their matters heard via audio visual link by a magistrate at a metropolitan court.

The changes were introduced off the back of the death of Molly Ticehurst at Forces in 2024, allegedly at the hands of her partner – who at the time had been granted bail on domestic violence charges by a registrar, not a magistrate.

But the change has been slammed by the Police Association of NSW, who said it only benefited the “magistrates” who run the courts and wanted to work “school hours”, and will end up adding additional stress to the workload of police.

“Key stakeholders that use the court system have been ignored, and feedback disregarded, with this centralised model set up for the benefit of the court and the magistrates that run it.” PANSW president Kevin Morton told The Daily Telegraph.

“By law, police officers have a duty to put offenders before a magistrate as quickly as possible. Yet it is an arbitrary deadline being set by the courts that will prevent this from happening.”

Police Association NSW President Kevin Morton. Picture: NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

Under the new process there will be a midday cut-off for offenders to appear before the courts that day.

That means, if police make a morning arrest and do not have the accused’s charges laid and paperwork filed in the system - a process that can take hours - by then, the offender will have to sit on remand – potentially in a police cell – until courts open again the next morning.

Mr Morton accused magistrates of only wanting to work “school hours” and said with NSW Police and Corrective Services NSW officers working around the clock, courts should too.

“We need to see these court hours expanded, accepting paperwork for lodgement and dispensing justice from 8am and into the evening as late as 10pm,” he said.

“Access to timely justice is a right in this state.

“The courts have created a system that benefits themselves, and we fear vulnerable prisoners will be held longer in police custody, causing a greater risk and taking police off the road, preventing them from performing their core duties.

“Magistrates continue to operate what appears to be school hours while bail-refused offenders pile up in police stations.”

The state government’s new bail system has been widely criticised, with Aboriginal Legal Service and Legal Aid also speaking out publicly against it.

But specifically for police, Mr Morton said he feared the need to babysit offenders would cause a flow on effect to their ability to respond to emergencies.

“This will cause a strain on the frontline, with additional police being taken off the streets to support this system and not responding to emergency calls for assistance from the public,” he said.

“In areas where Corrective Services NSW are unable to collect them, potentially vulnerable people, including those with mental health issues, will be forced to spend hours into the afternoon or overnight in a cell at the police station waiting for the next day’s bail listing.”

Originally published as Cops union slams lazy magistrates over new bail courts regime - which comes into effect across NSW today