Members of the ACT police force have been investigated for botched searches, recreational drug use and firing their weapons in the toilet, The Canberra Times can reveal.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The incidents are described in internal reports that detail professional conduct breaches within the Australian Federal Police.
One report, finalised in 2016, described how an employee had been investigated for firing his Glock 19 pistol inside the male toilets at the AFP complex in Majura.
"PRS investigators attended [the] Majura complex in response to the notification of the unauthorised discharge of the Glock firearm in the male toilets," read the report, obtained by The Canberra Times.
"The evidence establishes, on balance, that [the officer] drew his AFP-issued Glock 19 pistol from his holster, while alone in the male toilets, obtained a sight picture and depressed the trigger."
Although the officer was alone in the toilet at the time the shot was fired, two other employees heard the bang and immediately reported the incident to senior staff.
Investigators discovered a hole in the toilet wall after the gun was fired and concluded that the incident amounted to "serious negligence".
In a separate incidents, another employee was drug tested following an early morning tip-off to the force's professional standards team.
"At 6.45am…the on-call PRS team member and resulting investigating officer received a telephone call…reporting alleged illicit drug use," investigators wrote in a 2015 report.
"[The officer] came to the notice of police patrols as a result of a disturbance between an unknown male and another off-duty police officer," they continued.
Forensic testing undertaken by police identified the officer had been using the recreational party drug ecstasy, otherwise known as MDMA.
"The forensic process provided a range of comments, including information in a second report which explained that the presence of the MDMA could be explained as either previous chronic drug use that has now ceased or occasional low-level drug use over the past three months," the report read.
Two officers were disciplined for breaching the AFP's code of conduct after they identified a quantity of cannabis during a search at an ACT property - but failed to seize it.
"[The officers] seriously breached Section 8.2 of the AFP Code of Conduct when [they] failed to seize a quantity of cannabis when [they were] obliged to do so," investigators concluded in 2015.
Investigators also found that the officers had failed to seize stolen goods from the property, concluding the incident "had a major impact on the reputation of the AFP".
Other incidents outlined within the tranche of investigation reports include sexual harassment, officers failing to attend dispatched call-outs and employees failing to declare associations with criminals.
In one instance an officer was disciplined for leaving his unloaded Glock pistol on top of a locker in the gun room, while another report recommended disciplining an officer for obtaining restricted ACT government information without permission.
A spokeswoman for ACT Policing said all instances of misconduct were thoroughly scrutinised both internally and externally.
"All issues raised regarding conduct of ACT Policing members are subject to scrutiny against the AFP Code of Conduct through AFP Professional Standards," she said.
"AFP Professional Standards is responsible for developing and maintaining the highest professional standards throughout the organisation.
"An individual may be dealt with in a number of ways depending on the case and includes options ranging from counselling, warnings, increased supervision and training activities to criminal charges and employment termination."
