A senior Auckland policeman who admitted driving with a blood-alcohol level nearly one and a-half times the legal limit was let off the hook after a judge decided it was more important he stay working.
Sergeant Jason Lamont (39) was pulled over last August and returned a blood-alcohol reading of 113mg. He was charged with drink-driving and pleaded guilty at his sentencing in the North Shore District Court in April.
But Judge Phil Gittos discharged Lamont without conviction, telling the court the officer's role and experience outweighed the importance of the conviction.
"The judge basically took the view that it effectively wouldn't be in the public interest for an experienced and well-regarded senior police officer to be out of a job," defence lawyer Steve Bonnar said.
"That the public's better served by having him remain in the police."
Mr Bonnar had applied for the exemption under section 106 of the Sentencing Act, which says anyone charged with an offence who is found or pleads guilty may be discharged without conviction unless "by any enactment applicable to the offence the court is required to impose a minimum sentence".
However, Judge Gittos disqualified Lamont from driving for six months and ordered him to pay court costs.
Mr Bonnar said his client had misjudged the amount of alcohol he drank before driving.
"The facts were a little bit strange," he said.
"It was a situation where he'd only had a couple of beers, but he'd had a family gathering earlier in the afternoon. He believed he was perfectly fine and he was only just over the limit."
A Police National Headquarters spokesman said a convicted officer "would be the subject of an ongoing investigation".
Auckland City Police spokeswoman Noreen Hegarty said Lamont was the subject of an ongoing code of conduct inquiry.
