Five elite Australian policemen accused of drunkenly running round an unmarked van in the buff at a series of city traffic lights were suspended pending an investigation, officials said.
The men, members of Queensland’s explosives and hostage negotiation squad, will be probed by an ethical standards committee over the incident in Brisbane during a stag party.
“The investigation relates to officers allegedly running naked around a police vehicle whilst stopped at several sets of traffic lights in Brisbane,” police said.
The men, using an unmarked police van to travel from a stag party event, stopped at least four times at traffic lights to run naked around the bus in a prank known as a “Chinese fire drill.” At least one of the officers was on duty.
The scandal comes after a Queensland policeman was suspended for allegedly urinating in public and another over an unauthorized high-speed pursuit.
The sergeant, acting sergeant and three senior constables involved in the latest incident have been removed from operational duties and will “probably” be disciplined, said Commissioner Bob Atkinson.
Criminal charges of willful exposure, public nuisance and unlawful use of a motor vehicle were also possible, he said.
“We have a problem now. We will fix the problem,” he told state radio. “It doesn’t represent the whole organization. It’s a small group of people doing the wrong thing.”
Queensland’s Police Union has called for the highly trained officers not to be sacked, arguing they were on call 24 hours a day, rarely drank alcohol and that the behavior was “completely out of character.”
“You can’t have that role and then say that we can behave like any yobbo,” Atkinson said.(AFP)
in the buff
一絲不掛的
Somebody who is in the buff is naked. The expression can be traced back to the 18th century when soldiers wore buff coats, made of flesh colored material.
Examples: “Orville’s colleagues challenged him to run across the company car park in the buff,” or “I was surprised to see my neighbors walking around their garden in the buff.”
「in the buff」就是裸體的意思。這個說法可追溯至十八世紀，當時的士兵身穿膚色軟皮革外套。
例如：「奧威爾的同事賭他不敢在公司停車場裸奔」，或是「看到鄰居一絲不掛地在他們的花園裡閒晃，我感到很驚訝」。
澳洲官員表示，被指控帶著醉意，接連在好幾個紅綠燈口繞著一輛沒標記的廂型車裸跑的五名精英警察，已被停職等候調查。
這些員警隸屬昆士蘭省爆破及人質談判小組，道德標準委員會將調查這起在布里斯本參加男士聚會期間所發生的事件。
警方表示：「委員會將調查這些員警是否如指控所說，在布里斯本趁著紅燈時下車繞車裸跑。」
這些員警駕駛一輛未標示的廂型警車從一場男士聚會離開，途中至少遇到四次紅燈的他們，竟趁機下車繞著這輛車裸跑，還開玩笑說這是「中國消防演習」。其中至少有一位員警當時正在值勤中。
在這起醜聞之前，昆士蘭省也有一名警察因涉嫌在公共場合隨地便溺遭到停職，還有一名員警則是擅自在路上高速追車。
調查委員巴布．亞特金森說，涉及最近這起事件的巡佐、代理巡佐和三名資深警員已被調職，並「可能」受到紀律處分。
他說，他們可能被控蓄意暴露、妨害公共利益及非法使用機動車輛。
他告訴國營廣播電台：「我們現在出了一個問題，我們將解決它。這不代表整個警界都有問題，犯錯的只是少部份的人。」
昆士蘭省警察協會呼籲，不應解僱受過嚴格訓練的警員，並認為他們一天二十四小時待命，根本很少喝酒，當天的行為「純粹是意外」。
亞特金森說：「你不能一面扮演這種角色，一面還覺得自己可以像年輕人一樣放縱。」（法新社╱翻譯：袁星塵）
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