Senior NT Cop disciplined for drawing gun on youth ‘denied procedural fairness’

A senior Territory cop disciplined after pulling his gun on a suspected youth offender was denied procedural fairness by the Disciplinary Appeal Board, a court has ruled.

A SENIOR NT cop disciplined for “disgraceful or improper conduct” after pulling his gun on a suspected youth offender was denied procedural fairness by the Disciplinary Appeal Board (DAB), a court has ruled.

Acting Senior Sergeant and 30-year veteran of the force, Len Turner, sought a judicial review in the Supreme Court of the disciplinary finding following the incident in September 2019.

The court heard Sr Sgt Turner had drawn his service weapon and pointed it at a suspected youth offender during the course or arresting him after he exited a stolen vehicle.

He reported the “use of force” to Senior Sergeant Robert Jordan who concluded the use of the firearm was “appropriate in the circumstances” but the matter was then taken over by Professional Standards Command (PSC).

The PSC’s Acting Superintendent Glenn Leafe prepared a memo recommending overturning Sr Sgt Jordan’s decision based on his view “that it is a reasonable assumption to suspect that a youth could be armed with ‘edged weapons’”.

“It is not appropriate to suggest that firearms should be drawn on arrest targets who fit a particular demographic or type,” he wrote.

“Each instance must address the threat and risks associated on a case-by-case basis. The above rationalisation is prone to dangerous precedence (sic).”

Following Supt Leafe’s recommendation, Sr Sgt Turner was issued with a notice declaring there was reasonable grounds for believing he had committed four breaches of discipline, including “disgraceful or improper conduct”.

“Turner’s response was essentially that his use of force was appropriate in the circumstances because the suspect had exited a stolen vehicle, the occupants of which had been throwing ‘missiles’ at police, there was poor lighting, the suspect was coming towards him rather than running away, the suspect did not obey directions to stop, Turner did not know whether or not the suspect had a weapon and Turner had only seconds to decide what to do,” the Supreme Court’s ruling reads.

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Sr Sgt Turner appealed to the DAB which refused to allow him to call his own evidence and as a result, he sought further review in the Supreme Court, claiming he was denied procedural fairness.

In remitting the case back to the DAB, Justice Sonia Brownhill ruled it was possible that if Supt Leafe had had an opportunity to review Sr Sgt Turner’s own expert evidence, he may have concluded no breach of discipline had occurred.

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