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A BALLARAT sergeant who has had 18 complaints made against him puts him in the top one per cent of most complained about male officers in the Victoria Police force.
Complaints made against Sergeant Christopher Taylor have been revealed during an investigation into police misconduct to be more than five times the average of male Victorian police officers.
The allegations emerged during the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission examinations in Ballarat on Wednesday with CCTV footage showing the sergeant involved in a number of aggressive incidents with women.
After watching the footage played during the hearings he conceded it “didn’t look good”.
The footage showed Sergeant Taylor putting two separate women, known as Persons C and D, in chokeholds on April 25, 2009.
“I know it doesn’t look good, but there is obviously more to it than I can remember,” he told the hearing.
Sergeant Taylor went on to tell the inquiry incidents could escalate quickly and get “out of control”.
VIEW THE CCTV FOOTAGE HERE
The hearing heard Person C had attended the Ballarat Police Station to inquire about her son who had been arrested, before forcibly being removed by the sergeant, who told the hearing she had become “aggressive and fired up”.
The same footage shows a second woman, Person D, being brought back into the station in a chokehold only seconds later.
The hearing heard another three complaints had been filed against Sergeant Taylor since 2010, including an alleged assault on October 7, 2011, failure to take appropriate action on September 31, 2013 and allegations of improper aggressive behaviour on October 4, 2013.
Sergeant Taylor told the inquiry no charges had been laid against him, but he was made to complete a disciplinary course.
Earlier in the examinations on Wednesday, more video footage showed Sergeant Taylor and a constable pulling on the arms of, and carrying a woman, who had attended the Ballarat Police Station to complain about the treatment of her son.
