TOP COP COPS IT NOT

DW downtime meant I didn't blog this on Satdee....

How embarrassment!

Even a top police prosecutor cannot escape Victoria's speed limits fiasco.

VICTORIA'S top police prosecutor has taken on the system and beaten an embarrassing speed camera fine.

Victoria Police Superintendent Kerry Stephens, who is on stress leave, is the head of Victoria Police prosecutions, including those for speed camera fines.

But in a one-minute hearing in Ringwood Magistrates' Court yesterday, the top cop and his wife escaped a speeding fine case on a technicality.

Politically, that's got to bite. With words like "chaos", "disaster" and "fiasco" flying around, and with the rest of the state getting milked by speed cameras, one person who does manage to get off is a top cop. On a sneaky technicality....

Supt Stephens said many people were unaware of their rights when issued with speeding fines.

"What the traffic camera office doesn't tell people – and perhaps they should – is that there is a provision in the legislation that allows the owner of a car, if there is any doubt in relation to who was driving it, to provide a statutory declaration.

Stevens might find himself in trouble with Andre Haermeyer who's instructions to police are clear. "Admit nothing and get as much as you can before they wake up."

Anyway, it would seem to back up last week's 3AW report and Herald Sun article that insiders are getting an inside run.