New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb has doubled down on her support for police officers marching in Mardis Gras, saying the alleged murder of two queer men in Sydney for which a serving officer has been charged is not "gay hate-related".
Beau Lamarre-Condon is charged with killing his ex-partner Jesse Baird and Baird's current partner Luke Davies, both of whom disappeared last Monday.
Lamarre-Condon is alleged to have used his service firearm to kill both men. Their bodies are yet to be found.
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"We have been building a bridge with the gay and lesbian community since the 78ers were mishandled by police back in the day," Webb told media today.
She was referring to the attack on marchers in 1978 who called for the decriminalisation of homosexuality, which resulted in mass arrests.
Webb said the alleged double murder of Baird and Davies was not "gay hate-related".
"This is a crime of passion, we will allege," he said.
"It is domestic related, we allege."
She said it would be a "travesty" for police to be excluded from this year's Mardi Gras march, but said if she was asked by organisers to not become personally involved, she would respect that.
"It is an event on the calendar that we as an organisation look forward to, to participate in, but including many of my officers who seek approval to participate, who are also members of the community, and to shut the door on them would set us backwards," she said.
Webb's comments follow an editorial in today's Sydney Morning Herald which called for police to absent themselves from marching in the Mardi Gras parade this weekend.
"The Herald does not believe NSW Police should permanently cease marching in Sydney's Mardi Gras festival," it read.
"There are many good people in the force, including LGBTQ officers, and the devastating deaths of Baird and Davies are not at this point alleged to be directly related to the broader issues of homophobic police violence seen over recent decades.
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"However, we do think police should not march this Saturday given the pain and anger felt by so many following the suspected deaths of Baird and Davies."
The editorial also accused NSW Police of "blatantly failing" to adequately respond to the recent special inquiry into LGBTQ+ hate crimes in the state.
Earlier, on 2GB this morning, Webb pushed back on the editorial.
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"That's one opinion and I don't agree with that, and I think it would set us all back as a community," she told host Ben Fordham.
"I certainly hope that the NSW Police will be able to march."
Webb also revealed that Victoria Police Commissioner Shane Patton would oversee a review of NSW Police's policies about officers accessing and storing service firearms.
"We can assure the public it will be an independent review of our systems," Webb said of the decision to involve her interstate peer.
