The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has rejected a claim by a senior Canberra barrister that a steep drop in the criminal conviction rate is partially due to shoddy police work and a "cowboy" culture among some officers.
The guilty rate in the ACT Magistrates Court collapsed in recent years, the latest Productivity Commission data shows.
In the five years before 2019-20, 95 per cent of defendants pleaded guilty or were found guilty.
That sank to 65 per cent and 66 per cent in the following two years.