A warning to anyone showing intimate pictures of someone else to another under WA laws. The “test” for what is considered as “intimate” and more importantly what is considered “distribution” including the circumstances of the alleged offending fails the imagination.
Distribution of Unlawfully Intimate Image
The case of Detective Senior Constable Christine Frey is on point. DSC Frey was found not guilty in the Broome Magistrates Court yesterday on a charge of unlawfully distributing an intimate image depicting topless adult women.
We now find out that DSC Frey had shown another police officer (distribute) an image of a topless adult woman (intimate image) in the course of investigating a police matter. “Talk about the police eating their own.” Broome Magistrate Elizabeth Langdon accepted Frey’s argument that she was merely acting in the course of an investigation by showing the photo to a colleague for advice.
How that situation turns into DSC Frey being charged by a colleague whom she sought advice from at her own police station simply beggars belief.
Where is the lesson in any of this. Well the police union naturally are aghast at State Solicitor for continuing with prosecuting the case. An understandable response. But what about the DSC’s career with WA Police not to mention the hell she has had to endure over the past 12 months this has taken to get to trial.
