constable ordered to perform 200 hours of community service for breaking the law.

The sentencing of Marcus Betschart, 23, followed his guilty pleas two weeks ago to stealing a motorcycle while a Cycle Squad constable and then posing as its owner to sell it.

Betschart, still under suspension from the Police, was spared imprisonment when the magistrate bowed to the recent Supreme Court decision in the Calvin Shabazz case.

The Wor. John Judge said he felt bound by the superior court's decision which saw Shabazz sentenced to community service after a jury found him guilty of stealing more than $100,000.

At yesterday's sentence hearing, Betschart said he wanted to go away to school, but Mr. Judge said he would have to fulfil his community service order first.

Beschart will now have to wait for the Police Commissioner Mr. Lennett (Lennie) Edwards who will prepare his recommendations under the disciplinary code for the Public Service Commission.

The Betschart case brought to light a Police practice that allowed Cycle Squad members keep recovered stolen bike frames which insurance companies did not want.

Police chiefs ordered the "unauthorised practice'' to cease immediately following Betschart's March arrest.

Betschart's lawyer, Mr. Mark Pettingill, had acknowledged his client had "crossed the line in relation to a practice, that although unauthorised, he saw going on'' during his five years as a junior officer.

That "practice'' had not include stealing any bike or bike part as Betschart had, he stressed.

Mr. Pettingill had further submitted Betschart had paid back the victims of his crimes.

Betschart had admitted that on September 29 he stole a Suzuki motorcycle worth $2,195 while an officer on the Force, and on January 22 he sold it to a man for $1,750 by pretending he was the owner.

On May 7, the court heard Betschart had been investigating the theft of a brand-new Suzuki from Front Street when he got a call saying the bike had been found near Happy Valley Road.

Betschart drove to the area and found the bike fully intact, Crown counsel Mr.

Diarmuid Doorly said. He put it in his vehicle and drove it to Prospect Police Headquarters.

"Mr. Betschart filled out an impounded-vehicle index card, but he lied on it saying he had recovered the bike in stripped condition,'' Mr. Doorly said.

"And instead of following normal procedure he lifted it out of the truck and took it to his private residence.'' Mr. Doorly said Betschart "stripped down'' the bike, taking off its engine, seat, muffler and other major parts.

He then notified Colonial Insurance.

After examining the stripped bike, an agent deemed it "financially undesirable for salvaging by Colonial'' and let Betschart keep it -- as that was the "practice'', Mr. Doorly said.

He added the insurance company had been faced with a number of stripped cycles it had thought were restorable, but had been unable to sell.

The company bought a new Suzuki for the cycle's owner Ms Edwina Johnson, however she had to incur the expense of relicensing and insuring it.

Meanwhile, Betschart took the bike back to his house and began reassembling it.

He discarded the licence plate and drove it to TCD in October where he relicensed it in his own name.

Betschart advertised the bike for $1,995 in January and eventually sold it to a man for $1,750.

Mr. Doorly said that on March 12, Police confronted Betschart and informed him of their suspicions.

The prosecutor said Betschart readily admitted the crimes and made full restitution to his victims: $2,195 to Colonial, $562 to Ms Johnson and $1,750 to the buyer of the bike, which was seized by Police.

He added the "practice'' of keeping unsalvageable bike frames was "contrary to the discipline code of Police Officers'', who are not allowed to use their character and position for personal advantage.

Upon hearing of the "practice'', the Force ordered it stopped and notified insurance companies to no longer give Police officers first refusal for recovered stolen bike parts or frames they did not want.