Man wrongly arrested for a second time over a misspelling of his name

A man was wrongly arrested twice and spent a night in jail over a stolen boat after an emergency dispatcher misspelled his name.The Western Australian Corruption and Crime Commission blasted the actions of WA Police in a report about two incidents involving a man named Marc Smith (a pseudonym), but whose name was entered as Mark Smith into the police system.A person called to report a man was stealing a boat, about the same time the alleged offender phoned emergency services to report he felt threatened by the boat owner and requested police assistance in January 2023.The phone dispatcher misspelled the alleged offender’s name as Mark, attaching it to an outstanding breach of bail and arrest warrant for another person.When police arrived, they took statements from the pair but did not check the alleged offender’s name or address, and found he was in possession of a public transport SmartRider card that belonged to someone else.He was arrested on suspicion of stealing a boat, possessing a stolen SmartRider, and having an outstanding warrant, and taken back to a police station.The man saw his name written down incorrectly and tried to tell officers, but they did not check, and he was not asked to confirm any other details.His fingerprints were taken, but did not match the outstanding arrest warrant, and officers never confirmed the prints.Because of the outstanding warrant, police refused bail, and he spent the night in lockup.The following day in court, a magistrate picked up the error and noted the man had been wrongfully detained, dismissing the charges, but three months later, he was arrested again at the same police station.The man was seeking help when an officer entered the incorrect spelling of his name into the police system.The officer saw a photo of the man attached to the other Mark’s outstanding warrant, he was arrested a second time and detained in lockup.The man told officers this was the second time he had been wrongfully detained over the incorr...