A stood-down Queensland detective sergeant has appeared in court accused of improperly charging the girlfriend of a man later acquitted of shooting a bystander.

Jason Ricardo, 39, briefly appeared in Brisbane's Roma Street Magistrates Court on Friday charged with an abuse of office.

His Queensland Police Union lawyer Calvin Gnech asked magistrate Paul Kluck to read out his client's full charge to address "some unbalanced media reports".

The magistrate told the court Ricardo allegedly abused his authority by laying criminal charges for "improper purposes" against Kylie Cunnington on March 7, 2011.

Her boyfriend Rick El Masri, 37, was this month acquitted by a jury of attempted murder of a bystander from a high-rise balcony at Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast in December 2010.