Pay same bail: Magistrate

THE Mt Hagen District Court is calling on arresting officers not to charge lower police bail for fellow police officers and high amounts for others.
Magistrates Donald Joseph urged arresting officers to follow the law under the Summary Offences Amended Act on bail and to properly impose bail amounts on civilians and police officers fairly.
Joseph said the law covered all people.
He said this yesterday when revoking K100 police bail each given to seven Hagen-based policemen and ordered them to pay K500 bail each.
He said the seven policemen, who were arrested for allegedly stealing K1,000 and assaulting a man last week, would not be treated any different from other offenders.
He ordered the seven policemen, who appeared before him yesterday, to be held in custody until they each paid the K500 bail.
Joseph would only hear their case until the bail was paid.
“I will see the police commander and check them in the police cell,” he said.
Joseph told police prosecutor Sgt Philip Poko that under the Summary Offences Amended Act, police bail had also increased.
He said that K100 bail each given to the seven policemen was insufficient and undermined the law.
Joseph asked Poko to explain why they imposed K100 police bail and Poko responded that the reasons were only known to the arresting officer.
Joseph also asked for the arresting officer to appear in his courtroom but he was not present.
He warned arresting officers to be fair when imposing police bail.
He said police officers and ordinary people were covered by the same law.
Joseph said police officers needed to be treated the same as other offenders.