Absurd Charges Part 3 - Offensive Language, Resist Arrest, Assault Police ("The Trifecta")

The Trifecta is well known amongst criminal lawyers, and unfortunately, amongst many ordinary Australians. It is a common set of charges often used by the police to maliciously and unnecessarily punish people they meet who are apparently impolite or disrespectful - usually because they just don't happen to like them.

This Week's Actual Example

You have epilepsy. You're prone to petit mal seizures. You know it can happen at any minute, so you don't leave the house alone. You're walking down the street with your girlfriend one sunny day when a seizure hits. You're lying on the footpath, with your girlfriend assisting, when the police pull up. She tries to explain, but they simply won't listen and think you're drunk. They try to arrest you. She's screaming now, hysterical, worried for your safety. "He's a fucking epileptic, you fucking morons, leave him alone!". No use. They pull out the handcuffs. She tries to snatch them away from the officer. "If you handcuff him now he could break his arms, you stupid, stupid people. Can't you see he's having a seizure?!" The other officer grabs your girlfriend, who struggles all the way into the wagon.

You wake up in hospital. You have both been slammed with the Trifecta!

To defend the charges, you both now need a lawyer. You need medical reports. You both need time off work. There are no witnesses that you know of. It's your word against that of the police. And if you are successful in defending the charges, there is virtually no way to get any of your costs back.

What's Wrong With This Scenario?

I would estimate that of all the people I have assisted who had the Trifecta, 60% were totally, indisputably and completely innocent of any actual wrongdoing. They were in no way endangering the community, or themselves, or causing trouble worthy of being arrested and charged. In fact, in these situations (such as the one above), the trouble only starts when the police arrive!

So much time and effort of the police, the courts and the general public goes into prosecuting and defending these charges. Haven't we all got better things to do?

Court Dude's Solution

Firstly, ensure police are trained to understand what an epileptic fit looks like!

Secondly, the word "fuck" is used by police themselves, regularly, and cannot be said to be offensive to police. This is the law (for example, the decision of Anderson, an unreported decision of the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal in 1995) and many people who have defended these exact charges are found not guilty. It is a complete double standard for the police to prosecute for "offensive" language they use themselves. But the trend continues, across the country. There were a staggering 17,000 offensive language and offensive conduct charges last year in NSW alone!

Are we really all that offensive?

Thirdly, resist arrest and assault police are relatively serious charges. Police should only levy these charges in serious circumstances. Senior police, who are responsible for deciding whether to proceed with prosecutions or not, need to be held accountable when a court finds the charges entirely unfounded - particularly when the charges are part of a systemic abuse of the law - as is happening now, Australia-wide. There were over 7700 resist arrest or hinder police charges and 2600 assault police charges last year in NSW alone.