ACT Policing has dismissed as isolated incidents the fact two suspects appeared before weekend bail hearings without criminal records being available.
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Magistrate Peter Dingwall warned that there would be a tragedy if magistrates were continually forced to make decisions about bail applications without access to the criminal histories of those appearing before them.
A spokesman for ACT Policing said police requested criminal histories for all matters to be heard in the court at 7am on the day the court was sitting.
''The request goes to AFP Criminal Records, who process these requests as their highest priority. Criminal Records then conduct checks across all jurisdictions to determine if the person has a criminal history in those jurisdictions,'' the spokesman said.
''The two incidents on Saturday, February 1, referred to by Magistrate Dingwall were isolated issues. Staff in Criminal Records are consistently available at weekends to respond to these matters … ACT Policing take these matters extremely seriously and have engaged with stakeholders, the DPP and the courts to ensure all relevant documents are available to the court in relation to bail oppositions and other matters''.
Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker said she had never experienced the problem.
''If someone does have a criminal history and we don't know about it, then you are working on limited information,'' Ms Walker said.
''We use the criminal history to determine bail.''
Simon Rice, a law professor at the Australian National University, said magistrates could not make a valid decision without a complete criminal history. ''You can't sensibly make a bail decision without a criminal history, and if a prosecutor wants to oppose bail, then they have to have material on which to rely,'' Professor Rice said.