A Sydney police officer has been handed a nine-month prison sentence after he secretly filmed a colleague while they were having sex and uploaded it to social media.



However, magistrate Clare Farnan on Friday said Timothy Michael Patterson, 28, would be able to serve his time in the community by way of an intensive corrections order.



Patterson was sentenced at Downing Centre local court after being found guilty of filming the woman in a private act without her consent and using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend.



The off-duty officers had consensual sex at a Sydney hotel in July 2017 but the woman did not consent to being filmed.

Patterson made three videos, two of which were shared with eight other officers in a Snapchat group called “No Snitches”.



He argued the woman did consent to the filming but didn’t know he was posting the videos to the group – which he did to boast to his mates.



The magistrate on Friday convicted Patterson and also put him on a two-year good behaviour bond.



“These offences are offences which in my view the community needs to recognise as being extremely harmful to both the community and to the victim generally,” she said.



A New South Wales police spokeswoman said the senior constable “is currently suspended but his employee status is under review”.