The police association has delivered its most stinging rebuke yet of ACT Attorney General Shane Rattenbury, calling on him to "stop pursuing political ideologies" and describing the territory's sentencing and bail processes as "fundamentally flawed and dangerously inadequate".
The strident attack by the Australian Federal Police Association comes after an incident over the weekend in which police desperately attempted to stop recidivist offender 29-year-old Jackson Allred, who had been out on parole for a string of previous offences.
Allred had allegedly driven erratically throughout south Canberra and then drove at two police officers.
Association president Alex Caruana said the officers that he represents have had enough. He has called on the Attorney General to stop pursuing his own political ideologies.
He said that offenders are "gaming the system" because they know the ACT government is "soft on crime".
Allred is the latest in a long train of offenders who are stealing cars, often through breaking into homes, and "baiting" police with their dangerous driving.
Allred allegedly drove up on footpaths in Tuggeranong and on the wrong side of the Monaro Highway at oncoming traffic.
Police attempted to pursue the silver Audi and deploy stop sticks to halt the car. Allred then allegedly steered the car at police. He was finally arrested in Gowrie.
Allred appeared in court on Monday charged with two counts of driving at police and single charges of failing to stop for police, dangerous driving, drug-driving, driving with false plates, and driving while disqualified.
He was also charged with possessing an offensive weapon and possessing stolen property, after a police search of the car he was allegedly driving found a Taser and "large amount of suspected stolen property" that included power tools.
The AFPA said the Attorney-General should put the "welfare of the ACT community and ACT Policing members above that of serial criminals".
"ACT Policing are doing their job in trying conditions, and clearly without the support of the judiciary and the Attorney-General," he said.
"Policing is risky enough without having recidivist offenders on bail, intensive correction orders, or suspended sentences trying to mow them down while they commit further offences," Mr Caruana said.
The association's view on Canberra's "soft" sentencing outcomes echoed that of Tom McLuckie, the Canberra father who lost his 22-year-old son Matthew to the actions of an an offender who had been driving a stolen car on the wrong side of Hindmarsh Drive in May, triggering a collision.
A blameless victim, Matthew McLuckie died at the scene of the head-on crash. The young female driver of the other vehicle survived and was very badly injured. She is yet to be formally interviewed or charged.
An angry and frustrated Mr McLuckie has been a fierce critic of what he describes as "lax" sentencing in the territory and has taken a keen interest in outcomes relating to the ACT's courts.
He has urged a review of ACT sentencing, but it has been rejected by the Attorney General. Mr McLuckie is preparing a petition to the ACT Assembly for the review to go ahead.
Such is the level of concern at the escalating level of dangerous driving behaviour, commonly by recidivist offenders, that police have now created a dedicated taskforce targeting high-risk driving behaviours and stolen vehicles, which are often used in the carriage of other crimes such as burglaries and assaults.
Canberra has the highest rate of stolen vehicles, per capita, of any capital city in Australia.
Mr Rattenbury has been contacted for comment.
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