$500 reward fails to capture topless cop email photo

Adam Turner
Wednesday, 21 March 2007 02:16

Opinion and Analysis

In an impressive display of comradery, a $500 reward has failed to encourage police officers to leak a topless photograph of Constable Melissa Scannell - who faces disciplinary action after her boyfriend forwarded to colleagues the photo of her semi-naked whilst in uniform.

What started as naughty "get well soon" photo to her boyfriend, who is also a police officer, may now cost Scannell her job after the boyfriend forwarded it to colleagues via Victoria Police's internal mail network. They forwarded it to friends, who forwarded it again and so on until it landed in the inboxes of top-ranking officers and ethical standards department detectives.

Whilst an edited version of the image has been published by the Geelong Advertiser, the Victoria Police force has closed ranks and resisted the offer of a $AU500 reward from another website for the full image.

After initial reports Scannell was under investigation, police will not confirm whether her or her policeman boyfriend will face disciplinary action, reports the Geelong Advertiser.

Details of the photo scandal have headlines around the world as Scannell becomes the latest in a string of high profile cases highlighting the fact there's no such thing as a private message in the online age.

In 2000 an email swept around the world from Claire Swire to Bradley Chait - who worked at Norton Rose, a law firm in London. Chait felt the need to forward to six mates Swire's passing comment about how much she enjoyed their oral sex with the email quickly spreading around the world. In 2005, a email catfight between two legal secretaries which went public saw them sacked from one of Sydney's top law firms.

UPDATE: Topless cop email photo exposed as $500 proves too tempting