Australian cop dismissed for showing pierced penis at party

SYDNEY - An Australian police officer is facing dismissal order for exposing his genital piercing while performing a “party trick” by opening a beer bottle with a bottle opener attached to it.

According to Sergeant Andrew Lawrance, no one was offended when he performed the trick to a small group of fellow officers and their wives at a Christmas party at Tommy’s Chinese Restaurant in Yamba in December 2008.

One woman, he told the Industrial Relations Commission Tuesday, had asked to see the piercing after he talked about it, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Lawrance said there were no other patrons left at the Yamba restaurant when he went to the toilet to attach the bottle opener to the piercing, before exposing it two or three times to about six other people including his wife.

But, his ultimate boss, Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione, took it as an offence and wanted Lawrance out of the force, saying he has lost confidence in him.

He argued the offence was made worse by the fact that Lawrance was one of the most senior officers at the party.

The sergeant - who now works part-time in a bottle shop - had been involved in a similar incident at a hotel in Wanaaring, west of Bourke, more than three years earlier and had received counselling, the court heard.

But Lawrance’s lawyer, Patricia Lowson, asked the commission to order a review of his dismissal, arguing it was “harsh”. “Maybe it was also unreasonable. We don’t want to press that case,” she said.

Lawrance confessed that his behaviour was “inappropriate”, but said he did not intend to offend. “I kicked myself (later) because something that was meant to be fun turned out to be a lot more serious than that.”

He said he believed the complaint came from someone who was not at the party and was “not fond” of him.

Lawrance said he had performed his trick four times since 2002, always in “closed company”.

“(Once was in 2005) when I was on the sergeants’ course in Goulburn… We had a closed off section in the restaurant. Again it was late at night. Different fellows were getting up, telling jokes. Come my turn, I did the party trick.”