While taking almost an hour to look for a woman who was bashed to death, a police officer never got out of his car to search the address where he was told the assault took place.
Lindy "Kimmy" Lucena, 64, was beaten to death by her partner of five years, Robert Karl Huber, on January 3, 2023.
With Huber jailed in September over the manslaughter, the spotlight has turned to NSW Police and its slow response.
An informant first called police at 7pm the night of Ms Lucena's death, alerting them to an incident occurring behind a charity store in Ballina, in the NSW Northern Rivers region.
"There's a man bashing the hell out of his woman at the back of the Salvation Army in Ballina," the caller said, in a recording played to the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission on Wednesday.
But officers didn't go to the scene until 7.55pm and one admitted on Wednesday his search of the address given by the informant didn't even involve stopping his patrol car.
The senior constable, known as Officer D for legal reasons, conceded he did not look beyond a pool fence where Ms Lucena's body was later found.
But he insisted he did conduct a reasonable search given he was told the incident occurred at the rear of the property.
"All the correspondence (from dispatch) indicated the rear of the Salvation Army building, which would indicate to me the car park," he said.
But counsel assisting the inquiry asserted Officer D and his colleague did not adhere to correct police procedure.
"A proper search required you to get out of the vehicle and look in that area," Emma Sullivan said.
"It would have taken you all of about 20 seconds to stop the car, get out and look."
The incident was entered into the police system at 7.03pm, three minutes after the first call was received.
Though this kind of crime is supposed to be broadcast to police within 90 seconds, it was not aired until 7.10pm - seven minutes later.
From there, it is meant to be re-broadcast every 60 seconds.
But on that night, it was not played again until 7.24pm, before a third and final broadcast aired 10 minutes later.
After the fruitless search, police would not find out Ms Lucena had been killed for another four-and-a-half hours.
In earlier evidence, the dispatcher who broadcasted the initial job to officers admitted he fell short of his requirements, but said the system used to track jobs as they were reported was no longer fit for purpose.
"It was designed for smaller areas, so when it is busy you can't see every job," the man known as Mr B said of the monitoring system used by dispatchers.
"It's past its use-by date."
The hearing was earlier told police in the area were dealing with up to 12 jobs at the time.
The other officer involved in the first response to the assault is set to give evidence on Thursday morning.
Huber, 69, was jailed in September for at least nine years, after being found guilty of the manslaughter of Ms Lucena.
His trial found he had drunk half a bottle of gin and popped sedatives when he attacked his partner with at least five blows that seriously injured her.
At trial, he was acquitted of the more serious charge of murder, with Justice Stephen Rothman finding Ms Lucena died from a combination of factors, not simply the wounds caused by the beating.
They included having a coronary heart disease and a small amount of methadone in her system.
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Men's Referral Service 1300 766 491
