When a senior member of the NSW police force was pulled over in July, law enforcement officials were shocked to see the man not only blow over three times the legal limit on a blood alcohol test, but also to find he had been driving without a license for 25 years.
Detective Sergeant Andrew John Clarke was pulled over in the west Sydney suburb of Windsor on July 10, where he blew 0.17 on a random breath test. The legal limit is 0.05. After further questioning by police, it was revealed Clarke did not have a valid license, and had not held one since 1990.
Detective Sergeant Clarke went on to tell police he was holding a license in his wallet, but in a different name. The license was apparently for a fake identity.
Assessing the matter at Downing Centre Local Court, Magistrate Gary Wilson was provided information including a detailed report on the police officer’s significant mental health issues. Clarke had served periods of undercover investigation, which Wilson conceded offered some explanation as to why he had been driving without a license.
"The matters that have confronted you in your position as a police officer have been very confronting and disturbing," Mr Wilson said. Crown prosecutor Andrew Charleston refuted this with what most of us are thinking, adding "He was a detective sergeant, he simply should have known better,” before stating Sergeant Clarke had "breached the trust the community has placed in him in his role."
Sergeant Clarke was found guilty and will have an alcohol interlock fitted to his car for 24 months. His employment with NSW police is ‘under review’.
