‘Idiotic’ and ‘cruel’ Victoria police welfare policy leaves detainees too tired for a fair trial, judge says

Justice Michael Croucher said Victoria police’s practice of unnecessarily waking up people in custody during the night under the guise of welfare checks was ‘bone-headed’. Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP

A Victorian supreme court judge has strongly criticised police for the “idiotic” and “cruel” practice of unnecessarily waking up people in custody during the night under the guise of welfare checks.

Justice Michael Croucher said Victoria police needed to rethink its approach or it would result in the end of criminal trials “of any substantial duration” in regional courts where the accused had to be held in the local police station.