It appears the police officer knew he shouldn’t lay hands on the young lady, so he thought it would be easier to just take her bag and she would follow. Is there a reason given a future situation like this one that the person having her bag taken couldn’t call just take lots of pictures of both police hopefully capturing enough identifying information about who they were and then call the police and let them know that she had just been robbed by 2 men wearing police uniforms? She may not be able to retrieve her purse, but it would be far easier to charge the people wearing police uniforms with theft. If she had enough value within the bag, it might even be grand theft (a felony in the United States).

I agree with those who say the police are in a nearly impossible position of having to try to enforce tyrannical edicts. The real criminals are the tyrants who put these edicts in place. It doesn’t even matter that the WuFlu is less dangerous than the annual flu. This foolishness is putting the ignorant and fearful against those who have chosen to do their own research and obtain the truth and police are being directed to enforce the edicts.

Having said that, I also believe the police have a responsibility similar to that of the military. That responsibility is to refuse to follow unlawful or immoral orders of their superiors. For that reason, I have no problem with that police officer being charged with theft (even grand theft). If that makes him ineligible to remain a police officer, so much the better. Maybe somebody that is willing to use his badge as a weapon against an innocent citizen shouldn’t carry a badge anyway. Also it might give the other police a reason to reconsider their choices WRT choosing these tactics against innocent citizens.

When I was a younger man I seriously considered a move to Australia because, at the time, it was described as something like America but without the B.S. I had it in my mind's eye that it was a wide open "frontier" where individualism was prized. Maybe it was...then.

I have 2 thoughts.

Whoever and whatever the government now is, it seems not to represent the citizens. I think that probably started when gun confiscation hit.

I imagine the police are shit-beat out of their minds enforcing this crap. That's the problem with a law enforcement job. You're supposed to know everything about every law, etc., etc. Impossible. And you don't get to make a mistake, ever. I'm pretty sure that these guys got the "zero tolerance memo," which is an easier read than wading through sections 73, 101, 115 of the Covid law (and so on). They've been put in a really shitty position.
I hope they get a reprimand and that's it. You don't have to hang them from a cross. A public apology should do it.

The problem isn't the Australian police. The problem is Australian Law.

Back the Blue! Follow the Law! Don't Resist!

What Americans call civil asset forfeiture.