Tracey Vo: [00:00:00] Earlier this hour we showed you video of the treatment of a woman with a dislocated hip at Fremantle police station while wise corruption watchdog slammed the incident as a cascading failure of duty from the roadside until the ambulance took her to hospital. So what are your rights when it comes to being dealt with by police. Simon Creek from HHG legal joins us now. Good afternoon to you Simon.
Simon Creek: [00:00:22] Good afternoon. If you feel you’re being unfairly treated what can you do about it at the time so much at the end of the day you are 100 per cent entitled to almost immediate legal representation in terms of how long it takes for your lawyer to get there and exactly the same when it comes to male medical attention. You don’t need to hesitate. Police officers have a duty to look after you in that regard.
Tracey Vo: [00:00:46] All right. What can be done to prevent it.
Simon Creek: [00:00:47] Then look at the end of the day I can only assume here that there was a systemic breakdown in training. I cannot understand particularly as all of these officers knew that cameras were on them from every angle. Why they acted in the way that they did and why not one of them challenged the other in terms of a better way forward.
Tracey Vo: [00:01:08] What are the options then Simon to make a complaint after you’ve been dealt with and how long do you have to make that complaint.
Simon Creek: [00:01:14] The immediate course of action is to notify the officer in charge of the station at the time if that doesn’t get you anywhere. Then again legal representation legal I will happily come to your cause in this regard. If you can’t afford a private lawyer but in any event private lawyers are there as well.
Tracey Vo: [00:01:32] What about officers who feel they’ve been unfairly accused and what procedures do they have to follow to make sure that they’re protected.
Simon Creek: [00:01:39] I think this is a really important question to ask so as to balance the debate at the end of the day our police officers in the mine work very very hard to ensure our safety and it’s important that the general public knows they are entitled to exactly the same legal representation and protection as the rest of us.
Tracey Vo: [00:01:57] All right we’ll see how this one all plays out. Simon Creek, thanks so much for your time.
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