Shonky SAPOL Cop Christine Baulderstone is ICAC’s Director of Investigations. What a Sick Joke.
The Independent Commissioner Against Corruption is a government-operated and therefore non-independent clown show that pretends to be about fighting corruption.
One of ICAC’s supposed roles is investigating police corruption. If ICAC was sincere about this role, the last thing it would do is give a senior position to a shonky cop.
But that is exactly what ICAC has done.
Christine Baulderstone is a SAPOL cop with a highly dubious record. So naturally the corrupt ICAC gave her a job, endowing her with the position of “Director Investigations”.
In November 2013, Baulderstone drove her car into pedestrian Sharon Smith.
A parliamentary hearing heard that Baulderstone failed to assist her at the scene and offered no apology after the collision.
Baulderstone had stopped her car in the CBD’s Bent Street, but then inexplicably accelerated forward as Ms Smith walked across the road in front of her.
Ms Smith lost her balance and injured her knee in the collision
In typical asshole SAPOL fashion, Baulderstone and a colleague attempted to shift the blame to the victim.
Ms Smith said Baulderstone told her she “shouldn’t have crossed the road in front of her”.
“At no time did she ask if I was OK, either physically or emotionally, or express any concern for my wellbeing or render assistance of any kind,” she said.
“Her attitude towards me was aggressive and accusatory, which left me rather confused and even more upset.”
“She had been the one in the wrong while I was injured and upset, yet she was behaving as if I was some kind of criminal.”
Following the crash, Ms Smith required an operation on her right knee and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Ms Smith said another officer also threatened to fine her for crossing the road.
“A police officer tried to tell me that, because Bent Street was a common thoroughfare for police officers leaving the police station, the usual road rules were reversed and that onus was on pedestrians to give way, rather than on drivers,” she said.
That police officer was clearly a dishonest scumbag. While police officers do indeed treat Bent Street as their own private lane, regularly parking on footpaths, it is a public thoroughfare and there is no ‘reversal’ of traffic laws in that thoroughfare.
Despite her behaviour, Baulderstone received a promotion to superintendent position in January 2014 – two months after the incident.
“While I was threatened with being penalised for getting injured crossing the street, the person who hit me was promoted within SAPOL.”
She said her lawyer later lodged a Freedom of Information request to access security footage of the collision, but it was denied on the basis that the images had “gone missing”.
“I have never had so much as an apology of any kind from SAPOL,” she said.
During the parliamentary hearing, Baulderstone said she recalled hitting Ms Smith, but refused to answer some other questions because she did not believe they were relevant to the committee.
Presiding member Frank Pangallo said the questions were within the scope of the inquiry, and they related to a history of disclosure issues.
What have you got to hide, Baulderstone?
Baulderstone’s repertoire of shitty behavior is by no means limited to running down pedestrians and then engaging in victim-blaming cover-ups.
Baulderstone was recently named in an inquest into the 2021 death of SA Police Band member Sergeant Russell Nash, who committed suicide after allegedly being bullied by Chief Inspector Cameron Devey, who was supervisor of the band.
Nash killed himself after a disgraceful chain of events involving Devey, Baulderstone, and Assistant Police Commissioner Philip Newitt, who just happens to be a personal friend of SAPOL commissioner Grant Stevens.
In addition to being bullied by Devey, Nash was forced from the band by Baulderstone and Newitt, only hours after he had offered constructive criticism about a missed PR opportunity for the band.
Nash had cc’d Newitt and the Police Association of South Australia assistant secretary in an email sent at 3.15pm on September 8, 2021. That email expressed his disappointment that the police media team did not attend one of their performances.
The school performance was in support of National Child Protection Week.
“In my view this was a wonderful opportunity to not only promote the relevance of our Band, but also SAPOL as an organisation in support of the nation’s stance against the abuse and neglect of children,” Sergeant Nash wrote.
Nash was under the naive impression that SAPOL actually gave a shit about child protection. It doesn’t. It has a long history of harbouring and protecting pedophiles.
In the forwarded email chain, Newitt said Nash’s behaviour was out of line.
“Can you please manage this situation and Sgt Nash’s thinking that it is o.k. to email this group of people, and the PASA member, on such an issue,” Newitt wrote.
Newitt – whose shit driving almost killed a motorcyclist in 2015 – did not explain what made him and his fellow elitist toss-pots so special that other more ‘lowly’ officers should not contact them with genuine concerns. His behaviour does go a long way though towards explaining why SAPOL’s top brass are so widely despised by rank-and-file officers.
The same day at 4.18pm, former Superintendent and officer-in-charge of “Community & Engagement Branch” Baulderstone wrote to Devey instructing on behalf of the Assistant Commissioner to “move (Sergeant Nash) on from the Band”.
How’s your conscience, Chrissie? Proud of your role in victimizing an innocent cop, who eventually killed himself thanks to SAPOL’s shitfuckery?
All evidence points to Baulderstone being a rotten cop and an awful human being.
This alone should have immediately disqualified her from a role at ICAC.
When footage showing Baulderstone driving into a pedestrian mysteriously went missing, it was not by accident. To appoint someone to a position that potentially involves investigating SAPOL corruption, when that person owes their former SAPOL colleagues a big favour for burying incriminating evidence against her, is a complete fucking joke.
