A man was wrongly arrested twice and spent a night in jail after a Triple 0 operator misspelt his name

West Australian

13-05-2025

A man was wrongly arrested twice and spent in a night in jail over a stolen boat after a triple-0 operator misspelt his name.
The Western Australian Corruption and Crime Commission blasted the actions of WA Police in a report about two incidents involving a man named Marc Smith (a pseudonym), but whose name was entered as Mark Smith into the police system.
A person called triple-0 to report a man was stealing a boat, about the same time the alleged offender phoned emergency services to report he felt threatened by the boat owner and requested police assistance in January 2023.
The phone operator misspelt the alleged offender's name as Mark, attaching it to an outstanding breach of bail and arrest warrant for another person.
When police arrived they took statements from the pair but did not check the alleged offender's name or address and found he was in possession of a public transport SmartRider card that belonged to someone else.
He was arrested on suspicion of stealing a boat, possessing a stolen SmartRider and the outstanding warrant and taken back to a police station.
The man saw his name written down incorrectly and tried to tell officers but they did not check and he was not asked to confirm any other details.
His fingerprints were taken but did not match the outstanding arrest warrant, and officers never confirmed the prints.
Because of the outstanding warrant, police refused bail and he spent the night in lockup.
The following day in court a magistrate picked up the error and noted the man had been wrongfully detained, dismissing the charges, but three months later he was arrested again at the same police station.
The man was seeking help when an officer entered the incorrect spelling of his name into the police system.
The officer saw a photo of the man attached to the other Mark's outstanding warrant, he was arrested a second time and detained in lockup.
The man told officers this was the second time he had been wrongfully detained over the incorrect spelling of his name and was released after police made further inquiries.
Police conducted a criminal investigation into the first incident and found there was insufficient evidence to lay charges for deprivation of liberty, but the corruption watchdog questioned the decision.
The WA CCC found police investigations were inadequate resulting in a vulnerable man wrongfully spending a night in police custody.
'The gravity of this should have been considered appropriately from the start,' the report stated.
'This matter could have been avoided if the officers had undertaken basic checks on the information (the man) provided.
'The failure to follow basic procedure is concerning.'
A WA Police spokesman said the force always strived to do its best for the community, however they accepted they did not always get it right.
'In this instance, following the internal investigations, three officers received sustained managerial outcomes,' a spokesman said.
'Our agency and our officers are dealing with roughly 1.5 million calls for help every year. But we accept that even one mistake is one too many.
'WA Police are always looking at ways our systems, policies and procedures can be improved to better protect our community and better support our officers.'