An allegedly homophobic complaint against four gay police officers was sent to the now Commissioner of Police Mick Fuller for assessment before they were investigated, a tribunal has heard.
In 2015, the then superintendent of the Newtown Local Area Command, Simon Hardman, raised suspicions that the officers, Shane Housego, Steven Rapisarda, Christian McDonald and Christopher Sheehy, were taking drugs.
Mr Hardman made a complaint that included references to the four being homosexual and frequenting gay bars, claiming that drug taking was "thought to be fundamental" to the "notorious" promiscuity of some in the group.
The complaint suggested some of the officers may have shaved their hair and taken time off to avoid drug detection. No evidence to support the claims was found.
The detective who led a six-month internal investigation into the men, Martin Kiernan, told the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal on Tuesday that the complaint had gone to the Central Metropolitan Regional Command to be assessed. That command was headed by Mr Fuller, then an assistant commissioner.
The gay officers' barrister, Brett Eurell, asked: "The complaint went to the Central Metropolitan Region to be considered by Assistant Commissioner Fuller because it had to be made to a more senior officer than Superintendent Hardman, because he was the complainant?"
"Correct," Mr Kiernan replied.
He said the complaint then went to the police force's professional standards unit for further assessment, before landing on his desk.
In a statement, Mr Fuller has said he would not tolerate discrimination in any form.
"A Professional Standards Command investigation was undertaken to resolve this issue and subsequently cleared all four officers," he said. "I was satisfied with this given the matter had the full oversight of the Ombudsman."
In further evidence, the investigator Mr Kiernan described how his team analysed the gay officers' Facebook pages, looking for photographs of their hair lengths, as well as their leave request records. He said on two occasions he directed drug testers to attend police stations when he knew the officers would be working.
He said the instruction was to test randomly once at the station.
"It was a bonus if they got tested," Mr Kiernan said, explaining he was more interested in the officers' reactions.
But he did not tell the testers to look for reactions in particular officers, instead trusting they would report back anything unusual.
"You tried to dress it up as random testing," Mr Eurell, for the gay officers, said.
"It was random testing," Mr Kiernan replied.
The hearing continues on December 14.
