WA Police Assistant Commissioner on Trial for Stalking Subordinate

A WA police assistant commissioner has gone on trial accused of stalking a subordinate officer and using a restricted computer system to track her movements to try and salvage a friendship.

Gailene Sharron Hamilton is accused of continuing to contact the woman after she asked her to stop, and the officer said she didn't feel "comfortable" with the friendship.

Ms Hamilton was stood down last year and the charges relate to alleged incidents in 2024 and 2025.

Prosecutor James Bennett told the court it was a "story of a friendship gone wrong" and Ms Hamilton allegedly stalked the female officer "in order to maintain some personal or social connection".

Mr Bennett said the pair had become friends in late 2023 and early 2024, communicating with texts and phone calls, leading up to home visits.

Visits 'became intrusive'

The prosecutor said the complainant felt the amount of time Ms Hamilton stayed at her home "became intrusive".

The woman asked Ms Hamilton to stop contacting her on January 8 last year, but the messages, calls and emails continued.

Mr Bennett said only some of these communications were work-related, and the complainant suffered "fear, anxiety and distress".

The complainant spoke to an inspector who asked that work-related communications between the superintendent and the officer went through him.

The prosecutor told the court the woman then felt "much better".

But in May 2025, he said, Ms Hamilton — now promoted to assistant commissioner — attended a work conference and turned up at the woman's office "unannounced", pressuring her to "catch up".

The prosecutor said Ms Hamilton allegedly unlawfully used a restricted access computer system four times in 2024 and 2025.

He said the system, known as SILVA, had a '"locate" function which could track officers when they were at work, and Ms Hamilton used it to check the complainant's location.

Complainant felt 'smothered'

Taking the stand in court, the woman said she saw herself as a "sounding board for the super" and was happy for her to stay at her home on occasion.

She told the court the "visits became quite frequent" and she "didn't feel comfortable with it but I couldn't verbalise that".

She said she didn't want to cause offence, but she "just didn't want Gailene staying as often as she did".

The officer told the court she wasn't comfortable with the friendship because a superintendent had the power to make life difficult.

"I have seen bad behaviour," she said.

The officer said when she eventually confronted Ms Hamilton, she told her "I feel like I'm in a relationship" and felt "smothered", after which Ms Hamilton started to cry.

"I felt bad, I felt mean," the officer told the court.

When Ms Hamilton offered her own home for the woman to stay in during a temporary transfer, the officer said she turned her down.

"Lots of messages came after that," the officer told the court, with Ms Hamilton asking to have a conversation about it.

It led the woman to sending a message she said she'd "never sent" to anyone before.

"Please stop contacting me," her message to Ms Hamilton said.

She told the court she thought that would be enough to stop the contact but "it continued".

Ms Hamilton's lawyer Andrew Culshaw has said his client was attempting to contact the woman in relation to the breakdown of their friendship.

Mr Culshaw said the complainant was "overwhelmed by the defendant and was trying to distance herself".

The identity of the complainant has been suppressed for legal reasons.

Ms Hamilton has pleaded not guilty to one charge of pursuing another to intimidate from January to April 2025, and four charges of unlawfully using a computer system in 2024 and 2025.