Jesse Baird (centre) and Luke Davies (right) were allegedly murdered by police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon.
Jesse Baird (centre) and Luke Davies (right) were allegedly murdered by police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon.
The recruitment and assessment processes that allowed Beau Lamarre-Condon to join NSW police ranks will form part of an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his alleged double murder.
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb welcomed a class of 158 new recruits in a ceremony at Goulburn on Friday, stressing the accused killer was only one officer in an 18,000-strong force.
“[These recruits] know that this is much bigger ... than one person that’s currently before the court,” she told reporters.
Senior Constable Lamarre-Condon, 28, is in custody charged with murdering Luke Davies, 29, and Jesse Baird, 26, using a service firearm at Paddington in inner-city Sydney on February 19.
“The force is still reeling with the facts that are currently before the court, an officer that’s been charged, and that person now is an accused,” Webb said.
Anything in Lamarre-Condon’s file, from his recruitment process to the period of his service, would be examined as part of a review triggered by the criminal case, she said.
The 28-year-old joined the force in 2019 and previously ran a celebrity blog, posing with dozens of A-listers including Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus and Harry Styles.
Police management has announced an independent probe, overseen by a senior Victorian officer, would look into the access and storage of officers’ firearms following the double killing.
Beau Lamarre-Condon pictured with Taylor Swift. Lamarre-Condon often posted photos online when as a celebrity blogger he was pictured posing with dozens of A-listers including Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus and Harry Styles.
Webb previously revealed she had read part of Lamarre-Condon’s file before serving documents that began the weeks-long process of dismissing him from the force.
But she branded Lamarre-Condon as an outlier, describing his case as unique “in all of history that I can remember”, adding that she hoped it would be the last.
Webb said she would not attend Friday night’s vigil for mourners remembering Davies and Baird to avoid “interfering in their grief”.
But she would be pleased to attend Saturday’s Mardi Gras parade in Sydney after an agreement was reached for police to march out of uniform.
A couple embrace at the Paddington residence of Jesse Baird in Sydney. Photo / AP
The cohort was initially uninvited by organisers after Lamarre-Condon’s charges, before the compromise was struck.
“I’m hoping that next year we can go back to what we have done previously,” Webb said.
The ongoing debate over police presence in the parade had created a difficult situation for participating officers, with some opting not to attend.
“They belong to the police, but they also, most of them, are members of the LGBTIQ-plus family as well,” Webb said.
