`top Cop' May Face Charges

Illawarra Mercury

Saturday July 1, 2000

By LISA CARTY

Former top Illawarra cop Dave Care may face a criminal charge over his involvement in a Cabramatta hotel.

The Police Integrity Commission's (PIC) report into the conduct of Mr Care - who was the region's police commander from 1994 until 1997 when he transferred to Sydney - was tabled in State Parliament yesterday.

The PIC investigated Mr Care's links to his wife's business, the Stardust Hotel, after an internal police inquiry found there was no evidence that he had engaged in improper or unlawful conduct.

The PIC report found Mr Care, a superintendent who was suspended without pay in April, had a direct financial interest in the hotel and was in effect engaged in secondary employment without official approval.

The PIC report said Mr Care, who worked in Newtown after leaving the Illawarra, had `` ... engaged in unauthorised secondary employment when participating in negotiations which resulted in establishing the licensed premises known as the Stardust Hotel".

He had also provided $500,000 which his wife invested in the hotel, the PIC found.

The Police Commissioner's instructions about secondary employment were designed to limit the involvement of police in licensed premises except where explicit approval was given, the report said.

The report also found that Mr Care, who joined the police in 1965, gave false evidence to the Equity Division of the NSW Supreme Court.

These statements related to an investment he and his wife Clare Haig had made in a prawn farm.

Consideration should be given to charging him with criminal offences in relation to the prawn farm investment, the report said.

The report also found that Mr Care had been guilty of a conflict of interest in 1994 when he used the police computer to make inquiries about two friends and his then-future wife Ms Haig.

And Police Commissioner Peter Ryan should consider sacking Mr Care, the report said.

`` ... there is material available capable of establishing to the satisfaction of the Commissioner of Police that he can no longer have confidence in Superintendent Care's suitability to continue as a police officer, having regard to Superintendent Care's competence, integrity, performance or conduct," the report said.

Mr Care could not be contacted last night but Deputy Police Commissioner Ken Moroney said the laying of criminal charges was a matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions.