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Media Release - Police giving favourable treatment to friends is serious misconduct - Law Enforcement Conduct Commission report
Monday, 2 February 2026
In a report tabled in Parliament today, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission highlighted the challenges for police officers stationed in regional or rural areas, in particular the risk of police giving favourable and improper treatment to community members who are friends or close associates.
In Operation Maddington, the Commission found that 2 police officers working in a regional town had developed a close relationship with a local hospitality business owner. This relationship led to serious misconduct on the part of the 2 police officers.
The officers shared confidential police information with the business owner and ignored infractions of the Liquor Act 2007. On 2 occasions, the business owner sent CCTV footage of intimate acts by accommodation guests to his police officer friends, but no police action was taken.
One police officer became aware that the business owner had potentially sexually exploited a young female employee. The friendship improperly influenced the advice the officer gave the young woman’s parents which effectively discouraged them from making a formal police complaint.
The other police officer counselled the business owner on how to import prohibited firearms into Australia, which is potentially a criminal offence. The Commission will refer this officer’s conduct to the Commonwealth DPP.
Both officers have disengaged from the NSW Police Force. Had they still been serving, the Commission would have recommended their dismissal.
The Chief Commissioner, the Hon Peter Johnson SC said:
“Working as a police officer in a regional or rural area has been likened to living in a fishbowl, with officers more likely to have to respond to calls relating to family and friends.”
“The actions of the officers considered in this report undermine the good reputation of the NSW Police Force and are contrary to the NSW Police Force Code of Conduct and Ethics by showing that police are willing to overlook known or suspected criminal acts of friends.”
“These issues have extra significance as the NSW Police Force’s ‘Be a Cop in your Home Town’ program is actively encouraging people to join the NSW Police and then live and work in their own regional or rural community.”
The Commission recommended to the Commissioner of Police that the issues discussed in Operation Maddington be used as a case study in police officer training.
A copy of the Commission’s report is available on our website.
LECC Media
T (+61) 425 317 535 E media@lecc.nsw.gov.au