Corruption scandal claims second victim
Monday, 12 November 2007
The Victorian police corruption scandal has claimed a second victim with police media director Stephen Linnell resigning in disgrace and admitting he lied to an inquiry. The career of a third leading figure, the head of the media unit, Inspector Glenn Weir, is also under threat after he was accused at the Office of Police Integrity (OPI) inquiry on Monday of lying to save his own job. Mr Linnell admitted showing the names of two officers being secretly investigated over links to a 2003 murder to assistant commissioner Noel Ashby, who also quit in disgrace last week. After embarrassing tape recordings of phone conversations with Mr Ashby were played to the inquiry, Mr Linnell was forced to admit he lied about showing him the names and had lied under oath when he said he had not told anyone about the OPI's secret proceedings. "I had it (the names of the targets) up on the computer screen and I showed it to him (Ashby)," Mr Linnell told the hearing. "I should have done something (to rectify it), but did I? No." The secret murder investigation - Operation Briars - is investigating allegations that Detective Sergeant Peter Lalor gave a hitman the address of a male prostitute, Shane Chartres-Abbott, who was murdered at his Reservoir home. Monday's developments partly confirm a chain of events that allegedly involve Mr Linnell showing the names to Mr Ashby, who showed police union secretary Paul Mullett, who showed union president Brian Rix who then allegedly tipped off Det Sgt Lalor. Sen Sgt Mullett will give evidence to the OPI on Wednesday. While he admitted showing Mr Ashby the names, Mr Linnell denied he leaked information about the possible arrest of Det Sgt Lalor after a confidential briefing from Deputy Commissioner Simon Overland. "I was feeling bad and already kicking myself over telling him (Ashby) about the suspects, I am going to live with it for the rest of my life, it has cost me my job," an emotional Mr Linnell told the hearing, while sounding close to tears. However, counsel assisting the inquiry, Greg Lyon SC, told him he was a highly paid media director with a job to do. "The word improper simply doesn't describe the disclosure you made. It's completely outside of your employment," he said. Earlier, Mr Linnell's lawyer, Martin Grinberg, argued the OPI did not have jurisdiction to investigate his client because he was never a sworn police officer and was no longer a public servant employed by the force. Inquiry head Murray Wilcox rejected that but gave Mr Linnell immunity from his evidence being used against him in a future court proceeding, unless it was for perjury. The OPI flexed its muscle a second time when Insp Weir smirked while a recording of him joking with Mr Linnell about possible phone taps was aired. Mr Lyon challenged Insp Weir's dismissive attitude to questioning. "You are lying, you are trying to distance yourself from your involvement in it now that you've seen what's happened," Mr Lyon said. The inquiry heard recorded phone calls in which Insp Weir agreed to Mr Linnell's request to give Mr Ashby a safe mobile phone number on which he could call Mr Linnell. This prompted Mr Wilcox, a retired federal court judge, to question Insp Weir's judgment. "You would know, as an experienced police officer with 25-26 years experience who has risen to the rank of inspector, that phone intercepts require a warrant and to get a warrant you need reasonable grounds for suspicion that a criminal act has occurred," Mr Wilcox said. "I would have thought you would have stayed a million miles away from any action that circumvented the effects of the phone intercepts." When asked outside the hearing whether he intended to hold on to his position, Insp Weir replied: "Absolutely." Mr Ashby and Mr Linnell may still face criminal charges. The hearing continues on Wednesday. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CMC PROBES INFORMER PAYMENTS
Monday October 29, 2007
POLICE and prisoners have been implicated in a scam in which they share information about crimes to pocket thousands of dollars in rewards.
The Crime and Misconduct Commission has identified several police and prisoners who have unexplained cash in their bank accounts. It is understood State Crime Operations Command - major crime investigators - and the armed robbery squad have been embroiled in the scam. It is believed police and prisoners split the cash after prisoners are paid for information about crimes.
Police use Australia Post outlets to deposit cash into prisoners' trust accounts. A fund is provided to police which is used to convince informants to provide information about unsolved crimes. Unlike Crime Stoppers rewards, cash from the fund does not rely on an arrest. Queensland Police yesterday confirmed they were working with the CMC on an investigation named Operation Capri, set up in 2005, which is probing relationships between police and convicted criminals.
The Courier-Mail first reported details of the investigation in June, revealing that prisoner Bevan Meninga - the brother of rugby league legend Mal Meninga - had received money from police. Other prisoners are also understood to have received money. Cleveland Detective Senior-Sergeant Wayne Talbot is understood to have used an Australia Post money order to transfer cash into the account of his wife, Julie Talbot.
During the investigation, Rockhampton Detective Senior-Sergeant Graham Richards was suspended with pay. Three other officers, all based in Brisbane, have also been suspended with pay or stood down. It is believed the secret operation has sparked an internal review within State Crime Operations Command and the review extends to how police informants are paid and registered.
In a statement yesterday, the Queensland Police Service confirmed it was conducting a joint investigation with the CMC. "State Crime Operations Command has policies and procedures that govern the use and management of human sources (informants)," the statement said. "Human Source Management procedures are governed by risk management and accountability measures to control rewards and other benefits given to human sources (informants). "As with many QPS systems, this is subject to continuous improvement." A watershed investigation into police corruption, the Fitzgerald inquiry, expressed serious concerns about how informants were being paid as well as the transparency of the practice.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
POLICE UNION PAID $4 MILLION TO DEFEND BENT COPS
Monday October 29, 2007
VICTORIA'S powerful police union has been pushed into the financial red after spending more than $4 million in legal fees in the past 12 months defending corrupt officers.
The Police Association's latest financial returns show it recorded an operating loss of $1,190,155 in 2006-07 after spending $4,188,457 funding the legal battles of officers facing corruption and misconduct charges. The amount spent on legal fees was more than double the $1.9 million spent in the previous 12 months and four times what the union spent in 2004-05. The financial loss, which compared with a $720,000 profit in the previous year, is expected to reignite debate within the association about the way decisions are made on which officers facing criminal charges will have their legal fees paid.
Association secretary Paul Mullett said the lengthy Supreme Court trials of two detectives convicted last year of drug trafficking were the main reason for the jump in legal costs. Senior drug squad member Detective Senior Sergeant Wayne Strawhorn was convicted in October last year of trafficking 2kg of pseudoephedrine to murdered gangland figure Mark Moran. He was sentenced to seven years in jail. Detective Sergeant Stephen Allan Cox was found guilty in September last year along with two other officers of selling more than $1 million of heroin to a Melbourne drug dealer. He was also sentenced to seven years. "That's the clear reason why there was a (financial) loss," Mr Mullett said. The association may face a hefty legal bill in the current financial year after agreeing to pay the legal costs of three Armed Offenders Squad detectives fighting charges of assault and perjury following an Office of Police Integrity investigation. Under a secret deal negotiated between the union and the Victorian Labor Government prior to last year's state election, the Government agreed to reimburse the union for legal fees in cases where officers were cleared.
Mr Mullett said the $4.18million legal bill in 2006-07 was a one-off and unlikely to be repeated. "It was the extraordinary expenses funding Strawhorn and Cox, and those types of trials rarely occur," he said. "We expect to come back to our normal profit-making this year." The allocation of money from the union's legal fund has been at the centre of infighting, with allegations that friends of Mr Mullett and his supporters on the association's executive received preferential treatment. The association has also been criticised by OPI director George Brouwer for throwing "all its weight ... behind protecting or supporting people who have serious question marks about them" rather than acting for the vast majority of honest officers. Mr Mullett has denied the allegations, claiming all requests for financial aid were given equal consideration. The association's annual financial statement, lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, shows that despite the operating loss, the association remains in a healthy financial position.
It received $3.95 million in membership fees from the state's 11,000 police officers in 2006-07, an increase of more than $150,000 on the previous year. The association's total net assets, including investments and a number of properties, are valued at $26,664,696, down from $27,854,649 in the previous year. Its legal fighting fund, which earned $1.9 million from a compulsory membership levy and a further $928,316 in interest on investments, has assets of $16,009,140, down from $16,944,036 in the previous year.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SACKED DETECTIVE GETS KEY AIRPORT SECURITY ROLE
Monday, 29 October 2007
A disgraced detective banished from Victoria Police is now a security boss at Melbourne Airport.
Kerry McNamara was sacked from the police force amid claims he bashed, robbed and stole drugs from dealers in Melbourne. However Victoria Police and three other agencies later cleared him for a vital airport security pass because he had no criminal convictions.
Mr McNamara is divisional manager for ISS, an international company that provides security at the terminals of most airlines at Tullamarine. Its work includes operating passenger scanning sections and transport gate checkpoints. Mr McNamara has an aviation security identification card, despite a police internal investigation that was highly critical of him.
Melbourne Airport said yesterday ASIC cards are issued after checks with Victoria Police, the Australian Federal Police, the Federal Department of Transport and ASIO. The Victoria Police disciplinary report on Mr McNamara branded him UNETHICAL and DISGRACEFUL. The damning report stated: "You have consistently assaulted members of the public, stolen their money and stolen any drug material you found on them. "Your behaviour has been without regard for the law or the rights of members of the public and has been completely unethical."
Mr McNamara did not appear before a police disciplinary hearing into the allegations. He was sacked from Victoria Police in late 1998. He never faced criminal charges because there was no reasonable prospect of securing a conviction. He was earlier thrown out of the police Special Operations Group amid claims of bastardisation, in which recruits were allegedly shocked with a stun gun and paint balls shot at their bare buttocks.
Mr McNamara also organised the costly Tasty nightclub raid of 1994, which cost the force $10 million in compensation after 450 patrons were strip-searched. And a gunman who wounded a policeman in 1999 later claimed he had opened fire on the officer because he did not want to be handed over to Mr McNamara.
Mr McNamara's involvement in airport security continues two years after the Federal Government approved tough measures, including tighter background checks on airport staff, after recommendations by British airport security expert Sir John Wheeler. Mr McNamara said the allegations were old news and it was "strange" they had emerged now. "This was dealt with 10 years ago. I passed all my probity checks at both state and federal level. I don't see what the issue is," he said.
ISS chief executive officer Charles Blinkworth said Mr McNamara had never been charged, and he believed he had not been sacked by Victoria Police but had quit. "From my understanding, he resigned," he said.
Mr Blinkworth said Mr McNamara had been with ISS for six years and would have gone through the most rigid of checks before being given airport security clearance. "There are very stringent tests. They don't pass them out lightly," he said. "There's never been an issue with (Mr McNamara). He's very good. He's had a commendation for some very good work. A lot of it's just hearsay. "We want to be transparent. There's nothing hidden."
The Herald Sun newspaper reported in December 2000 that Mr McNamara was sacked in late 1998. A police spokesman said then he was "dealt with swiftly". "We followed all procedures. The bottom line is, he was dismissed from the police force," spokesman Kevin Loomes said.
A spokesman for Melbourne Airport said yesterday anyone who wanted to work for a security company had to apply to Victoria Police's licensing services division. The person would then have to go through an aviation security identification card check involving state police, the Australian Federal Police, the Department of Transport and Regional Services, and ASIO, he said. Victoria Police said its criminal checks were done against state and national databases in order to determine if job applicants had convictions.
A spokesman said the organisation did not check on character. He said if someone had been sacked for poor behaviour, it was up to the new employer to check their references or to obtain the opinions of previous bosses. A DoTaRS spokesman said it would be inappropriate for it to comment on questions relating to Mr McNamara based on "claims or allegations" about criminal behaviour. "Questions relating to his employment, his performance, or alleged criminal background are matters for his employer and, where appropriate, the police," the spokesman said. "Screening is overseen at airports by screening authorities. "These screening authorities are specified by the secretary of the department. "The screening authorities are responsible for the employment of screeners at airports."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
POLICE CHASES NOT AUTHORISED :
REPORT
Saturday, 27 October 2007
More than one in six police pursuits in a sample reviewed by the New South Wales Ombudsman last year had involved dangerous and unauthorised manoeuvres, unauthorised use of three or more cars or following a offender's vehicle after the pursuit had ended, the Ombudsman's report tabled in NSW State Parliament yesterday says.
The findings follow years of concern about deaths and injuries from police pursuits throughout the country, including the injury of a motorcyclist after a police pursuit on the M4 last weekend, a fatal crash on the Pacific Highway near Grafton in August and a fatal crash on the Camden Valley Way south of Sydney in March.
Research findings published in Canberra in November showed more people were injured or killed as a result of pursuits than by police use of firearms. The Ombudsman, Bruce Barbour, said in his report that, of 184 pursuits reviewed by his office, 32 had not complied with police policy.
Dangerous manoeuvres and using multiple cars in the pursuit had occurred without police radio approval. Following a vehicle after a pursuit had concluded was "a known risk factor". In April 2005 up to six police vehicles had joined a pursuit despite repeated directions from supervisors to limit it to two. Police had crossed double lines, "forcing oncoming traffic to brake to avoid a collision". The car being pursued crashed and the offender was arrested.
The Ombudsman found police disciplinary response was limited.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THREE NSW POLICE SACKED IN CORRUPTION PROBE
Friday, 26 October 2007
Three NSW police officers were sacked as a result of corruption probes in 2006-07, while five more face dismissal.
The Police Integrity Commission (PIC) Annual Report 2006-07 also shows the NSW Police Force disciplined four officers on the commission's recommendation. One of the dumped officers was charged with providing false evidence to the PIC during its investigation of two police officers accused of involvement in supplying illicit drugs.
Another was dismissed following a PIC probe into alleged thefts by a police officer and his associates from automatic teller machines. The third was sacked in January after a long period on suspension for taking illegal drugs, using a firearm and driving a police car while intoxicated, drinking alcohol on duty and other offences.
The five still facing the chop are caught up in a number of investigations, ranging from the assault of a man in custody to the sale of illegal firearms and drugs. There were 55 full investigations open during 2006-07, including 17 major investigations, the report stated. Twenty-five of these were completed over that period.
The probes looked into a range of issues including drug-dealing and use, suspect financial transactions, unauthorised access and release of police information, misuse of authority, and improper relationships with criminals. Two of the more high-profile investigations were into the handling of allegations of a gang rape involving Sydney rugby league stars, and the disappearance of a blood sample belonging to former NSW Supreme Court judge Jeff Shaw after he was stopped for drink-driving.
The report stated the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had looked at seven people referred to him by the PIC, involving 19 recommended charges, and approved proceedings against five of them on 17 charges. Submissions against a further 13 people involving 78 charges were awaiting DPP determination. The PIC received and assessed 1,201 complaints in 2006-07, a five per cent increase from the previous year. Of these complaints, about half were at the more serious end of the scale.
The commission also closely assessed how the risk of misconduct was managed at the NSW police specialist counter-terrorist unit. The report stated the PIC was satisfied with the implementation of its recommendations, such as the inclusion of relevant material from the Wood Royal Commission report in training documents and regular audits to prevent the establishment of dirt files.
However, the report expressed "disappointment" that two recommendations from its 2004 report into bribery - requesting greater use of technology and increased supervision of the execution of search warrants - remained outstanding.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'BAD APPLE'- cops rule from the outside
Thursday, 11 October 2007
Corrupt former officers are controlling syndicates in Victoria's police, relying on a gossip-based strategy to undermine reforms, the state's chief corruption fighter says. In an annual report of the Office of Police Integrity (OPI), director George Brouwer described how corruption was operating with links to organised crime. Although a very small minority of police were corrupt, they had adopted a deliberate strategy to undermine efforts to make Victoria Police more professional and accountable, the report said. "Using extensive contacts that are embedded throughout Victoria Police, they rely on the power of gossip and innuendo to undermine the current Victoria Police leadership's reform agenda," the report said.
Corrupt officers work in small groups and most syndicates had joined forces with criminals and organised crime figures. "These groups appear to be organised hierarchically, with those at the top of the group often connected by long-standing relationships, some of which are intergenerational," the report said. "Sometimes the most influential member of a group is a former police officer who continues to connect with, and exert influence over, current serving members."
Many of these former police resigned while under investigation for corruption, Mr Brouwer said. Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe said he was not surprised by the report's finding that "only small cells" were operating. "We have a very effective Ethical Standards Department and one of their focuses is to ensure we eradicate those ongoing associations," Mr Walshe said. Victorian Police Association Secretary Paul Mullett dismissed the report as "lacking substance" and said Mr Brouwer had made rash generalisations aimed at justifying his own job.
Senior Sergeant Mullett said the OPI's $16.5 million budget should instead be used for the force's Ethical Standards Department. "There's certainly no endemic or systemic corruption in the Victoria police force - he refers to it as sporadic only," Snr Sgt Mullett said. "We have the occasional bad apple, but we must remember that 99 per cent of police officers every day go to work, they do a difficult and hard job on behalf of the community." According to the report, nine police and 11 civilians had been charged since July 2006.
In the same period, six police under investigation had resigned.
The OPI was awaiting advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions on five briefs of evidence. The report also revealed Mr Brouwer planned to recommend a "complete overhaul" of the police discipline system later this year. He also expressed concern that some police take the law into their own hands and others were failing to register their informants so they can secretly reward them, or potentially "greenlight" their criminal activities.
Mr Brouwer said Victorian police were risking their integrity by failing to test officers for recreational drugs. He gave an example of an officer who was arrested with 11 other people last October for allegedly using and dealing in ecstasy, cocaine and ice, while working out of hours in the adult entertainment industry. "The case serves as a telling reminder that the integrity and ethical conduct of police cannot be restricted to the hours a person is rostered on for duty," the report said. The association and police command have agreed to introduce voluntary, but not random, drug testing.
Police Minister Bob Cameron said the report gave a clear indication of how corrupt police operate. "We have exposed the problem and we are responding to it," Mr Cameron said. The report said a disproportionately high number of complaints about police came from indigenous people and a pilot program had been established to improve relations. The annual report was tabled on Wednesday in the Victorian parliament.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CORRUPT OFFICERS HAVE "EXTENSIVE INFLUENCE" IN VICTORIA
Wednesday Oct 10, 2007
The OPI says there are small pockets of corruption in Victoria Police
Concerns about corruption in Victoria Police (Getty Images: Simon Fergusson) A report tabled in the Victorian Parliament today says there is sound basis for concern about corruption within Victoria Police. The Director of the Office of Police Integrity (OPI), George Brouwer, has used the annual report to warn that small cells or syndicates of corrupt members are operating within Victoria Police.
He says that cells are sometimes led by former police officers who continue to influence current members. Investigations by the OPI show most of the syndicates are linked to crime figures, some to organised crime networks. Mr Brouwer says while the number of corrupt police is small, some have been in policing for many years and created extensive spheres of influence. The OPI is currently investigating five cases of alleged criminal activity by police.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COP JAILED- over drink-drive death
Friday, 28 September 2007
A Queensland police officer has been jailed for 18 months over the death of a mate in a drink-driving accident.
Logan district police officer Senior Constable Shane Peacock, 31, pleaded guilty in Beenleigh District Court to the dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death while intoxicated and drink-driving. Judge Ian Dearden sentenced Peacock to five years in jail, suspended after 18 months. Peacock was also disqualified from driving for four years.
The court was told Peacock, who was off-duty at the time, crashed his car while driving through Loganholme, south of Brisbane, on October 29 last year. A passenger, Trevor Pearson, was thrown through the windscreen and died at the scene. Peacock was suspended without pay after he was charged on December 18.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COP GUILTY - over teen sex charge
Wednesday, 26 September 2007
A former police officer has been found guilty of procuring a child to engage in sexual activity over the internet after he was caught by an undercover cop.
Lloyd Alexander Gedling, 40, of Katherine in the Northern Territory, was a serving police officer at the time he was caught, the District Court was told today. The court heard that Gedling was arrested after he began chatting on the internet to a police officer who was pretending to be a 14-year-old schoolgirl. While chatting, Gedling asked sexually explicit questions and said that if she wanted to see his penis they would have to meet. Gedling also provided his phone number.
The court heard Gedling asked for a photograph was sent a picture of someone who was obviously under 16. Gedling was arrested at a Semaphore house in March 2006 while he was still online chatting to the undercover police officer. Gedling resigned from his job as a police officer three months later. He was remanded in custody for sentencing submissions next month.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DETECTIVE RESIGNS AFTER CORRUPTION TIP
Thursday, 20 September 2007
A senior detective has resigned from Victoria Police amid allegations he tipped off another officer about a corruption inquiry
The former detective sergeant, from the force's human source management unit, a unit that safeguards against the mismanagement or corrupt use of informers, is alleged to have informed another police officer about details of an Office of Police Integrity (OPI) investigation, Fairfax newspapers reported today. The unnamed former detective is alleged to have warned an associate of the OPI's activities, a move a source told Fairfax was driven by poor judgment and “blind loyalty” rather than corrupt intent.
A Victoria Police spokesman yesterday confirmed the detective had resigned, but would not comment further. The OPI declined to comment. The news comes as a high-level Victoria Police anti-corruption taskforce, codenamed Briar, is investigating allegations that a serving officer and a former policeman had ties to a contract killing during Melbourne's bloody underworld war. Suspended Detective Sergeant Peter Lalor is alleged to have ties to the contract killing of male prostitute Shane Chartres-Abbott in 2003 at the height of Melbourne's bloody gangland war. A Fairfax newspaper investigation said a hitman had told the taskforce that Det Sgt Lalor gave him the address of Chartres-Abbott.
Taskforce Briar is one of two units investigating connections between serving and former police officers and the underworld war. Pressure is increasing on Victorian Premier John Brumby to call an independent royal commission into police corruption, with critics including the state opposition describing the OPI model as flawed
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENT COPS LINKED TO GANGLAND MURDERS
Friday Sep 14, 2007
Victorian police say they have direct evidence of a link between corrupt officers and gangland murders
Victorian police have for the first time confirmed links between senior officers and Melbourne's gangland murders. Deputy Commissioner Simon Overland, the former head of the Purana taskforce, has refused to reveal the details of the links, but says detectives recently uncovered evidence of police involvement in two separate matters. He would not say whether one of the cases involved the murders of police informer Terence Hodson and his wife. Hodson had agreed to give evidence against two police officers in a drugs case.
Deputy Commissioner Overland has told ABC Radio's AM program he would have preferred to have kept the links confidential while the complex investigations are carried out. "We've got specific information now that says there is a direct link between police corruption and gangland murders," he confirmed. "It's obviously devastating to the vast majority of Victoria Police officers. It's not something that you expect to have to do. But the point is we've found it, we will follow it
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FORMER NSW COP CHARGED WITH CORRUPTION
Monday, 03 September 2007
A disgraced former NSW police officer has been charged with 20 corruption offences nearly three years after admitting to his wrongdoings.
Christopher Laycock was sacked from the force in November 2004 after admitting to a Police Integrity Commission (PIC) hearing that he had been involved in theft, robbery, extortion and other corrupt behaviour. The PIC recommended in December 2005 that criminal charges be laid against the former detective-sergeant.
In April last year, the NSW government was criticised by the state opposition when charges against Laycock had still not been laid. The PIC announced on Monday that charges were laid last Thursday. They include three counts of corruptly receiving benefit, two counts of aggravated theft from a person, conspiracy to demand money with menaces, perverting the course of justice and obtaining money by deception.
He is also facing six counts of knowingly giving false or misleading evidence to a hearing of the PIC. A PIC spokesman said Laycock's solicitors were provided with court attendance notices last Thursday but would not elaborate if there were any delays in charging Laycock. "Quite simply, the investigation has run its full course and as a result we could issue those notices," the spokesman said. Details of Laycock's first court appearance would be revealed this week, the spokesman said.
A man allegedly enlisted to help Laycock in extortion, Jahangir Shagaev, has also been charged along with three other people but they've not yet been given notice to face court.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ex-COP LIED ABOUT HIS WEALTH
Wednesday, 15 August 2007
A Ferrari and boat-owning former cop once accused of receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from Sydney ATM thefts has admitted he lied about his assets in other court proceedings Daniel Francis Ryan, sacked from the NSW Police Force last year, appeared in Downing Centre Local Court yesterday.
It has been more than three years since allegations about his actions were made to the Police Integrity Commission. The PIC found Ryan processed extraordinary amounts of money in private transactions at a time in late 2001 when more than $700,000 was stolen from automatic teller machines. While the PIC could not conclusively link the two, its report in March last year noted the officer's brother-in-law Wayne Dixon worked for Chubb Security Services - which serviced ATMs.
The PIC's public hearings were told Ryan hid up to $130,000 in his garage, bought a $60,000 boat, spent more than $125,000 on Sydney real estate and put more than $200,000 into a bag ostensibly for investment in Melbourne property. Charges were recommended - but not over the ATM thefts. He yesterday pleaded guilty to knowingly giving false statements in court. He will be sentenced next week.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Police chief quizzes JAILED COP Backers
Wednesday, 08 August 2007
Queensland's police chief is demanding answers from officers who attended court to support a disgraced colleague who had pleaded guilty to bashing a female suspect and trying to cover up his offences.
Commissioner Bob Atkinson has launched an internal audit into which officers attended the Beenleigh District Court, where Constable Justin Anthony Burkett was jailed for three years. Up to 15 uniformed officers and dozens of plain clothes detectives visibly supported Burkett outside the courtroom. It is unclear whether officers who attended will be subjected to disciplinary action. The Police Union yesterday did not return The Courier-Mail's phone calls. Burkett's offences were uncovered by a police officer on her first day.
The rookie constable was identified in court as the person who notified superiors about an email sent to her by Burkett, 34, asking her to perjure herself. Burkett pleaded guilty to attacking an alleged shoplifter and later lying in testimony during magistrate's court and Crime and Misconduct Commission hearings in April 2004. Prosecutor Mark Whitbread on Monday said false allegations made against Dulcie Isobelle Birt only surfaced when Burkett sent an email to two officers, including his superior and co-accused officer Sen-Constable Craig Stuart Ablitt.
Mr Whitbread said Burkett sent the email the day after he gave false testimony at Birt's summary trial in the Beenleigh Magistrate's Court in December 2004. The court was told the email asked the officers to back up his version of the incident involving Birt, in particular asking them to deny any knowledge of a video taken at the Loganholme Police Station Watchhouse. Mr Whitbread said the constable who witnessed Burkett punch Birt repeatedly correctly referred the matter to her superiors, who referred it to the police ethical standards branch and the CMC.
The Courier-Mail has withheld the officer's name as it remains unclear if she will be called to give evidence at a possible trial of another officer charged over the incident. CMC chairman Robert Needham said: "It would be concerning if police did show public support for the conduct of a police officer who is guilty, by his own admission, of such serious criminal offences."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COPS BACK WOMAN-BASHING MATE
Tuesday, 07 August 2007
Up to 50 serving Queensland police officers turned out at court yesterday in a show of support for a disgraced colleague and confessed woman basher as he was jailed on charges of perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
As the state's 10,000 police officers were given pay rises worth $450 million, Constable Justin Anthony Burkett, 34, stood in the dock of the Beenleigh District Court to be sentenced to three years' jail for a savage attack on an alleged woman shoplifter. He also pleaded guilty to giving false testimony at both the woman's summary trial and to a Crime and Misconduct Commission hearing and to asking fellow officers to lie for him. Despite his admission of guilt and the "enormous shame" Judge Ian Dearden said Burkett had caused the police service, many detectives and up to 15 uniformed officers offered comfort, hugs and words of encouragement and remained at the courthouse for the duration of the three-hour hearing.
Burkett was even given the opportunity to shake his father's hand then comfort his weeping mother before being led to the cells – a privilege not normally afforded to criminals. One of the officers present yesterday was Burkett's girlfriend Constable Nicole Helen Castley, 29, who was also in attendance when Burkett bashed Dulcie Isobelle Birt, 25, at the Loganholme Police Station on April 5, 2004. Charges against Constable Castley were dropped last week.
A third officer is yet to face other charges related to the bashing. Crown prosecutor Mark Whitbread told the court the attack on Birt occurred shortly after she was taken into custody for suspected shoplifting and had an argument with Burkett who pushed her into a watch-house cell. A 10-second video recording of the attack showed Birt being flung into the cell, followed by Burkett who grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her back against the cell wall. The video was turned off after it showed Burkett walking towards Birt with his fist clenched. Burkett then "lost it" and punched Birt about the head and body about seven or eight times. As Birt collapsed to the ground, Constable Castley yelled for Burkett to stop, the court heard. Burkett also sent an email to two other officers asking them to give false testimony, in particular knowledge of the videotape later found in his work desk. Barrister Steve Zillman, for Burkett, said his client's future was now in tatters. "His career of course is finished. He has tendered his resignation to the (Queensland Police) service."
Judge Dearden ordered the three-year term be suspended after nine months. Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson condemned Burkett, saying in a statement: "The behaviour of the former officer in committing perjury and serious assault was completely unacceptable, the Queensland Police Service does not support this behaviour and individual officers should not support this behaviour."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CORRUPT POLICE MAY BE USING FALSE ID TO GET SECRET DATA
Monday July 23, 2004
Senior police fear corrupt officers could be using bogus identities to gain illegal access to confidential information from protected computer records.
They have ordered an immediate tightening of security after privacy safeguards were breached earlier this week. A memo from the commander of D24 to Emergency Communications Victoria this week warns that a "false unit" gained access to confidential vehicle and individual records on Monday. The unit radioed in a request for details but used a false identity call sign. The police memo reported a "suspicious incident involving what appears to be a false unit coming up on the radio on 19/7/04 and requesting car and person checks. "It is especially important to preserve the privacy of individuals from what may have been an unauthorised access to confidential data." The memo asks the emergency operators to report any attempts to get information via unauthorised call signs.
It says that no computer checks "are to be performed for any unit unless that unit is correctly logged onto CAD (computer aided dispatch) and using an authorised call sign". Advertisement Advertisement A police spokesman confirmed yesterday that the breach was being investigated. He said the ethical standards and crime departments were trying "to establish the authenticity of the call or whether it had been made by an outside person". It is believed that after the phantom unit got the information it effectively disappeared. The inappropriate access to police information has become a major issue for police.
In October, Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon announced strict privacy guidelines banning police from surfing the police computer and checking files without authority. All police had to sign a statement that they would view confidential police material only as part of official duties.
Police log into the computer when accessing files. They leave a trail that can be audited. Accessing the files through radio using a false call sign effectively destroys the audit trail. All police have been told that inappropriately accessing files could lead to their dismissal. The controversy over use of the police computer began when five police checked records relating to independent state political candidate and victims' rights activist Kay Nesbit in 2002. A further breach occurred when up to 35 police were found to have accessed the police computer to check information on Zdravko Micevic, the security guard charged with manslaughter over the January death of former Test cricketer David Hookes.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RAPIST COP COULD BE OUT IN TWO YEARS
Saturday 21 July 2007
A Sunshine Coast police officer who raped a prisoner on a mattress in the Maroochydore watchhouse will be eligible for parole in just two years.
Peter Anthony Buxton, 54, pleaded guilty in Maroochydore District Court to 24 sexual offences against female prisoners between January and November, 2005. Buxton — who was sworn into the police service in 1976 and worked in the Maroochydore watchhouse from 1999 to 2005 — violated six women aged 19 to 40. Most of them were in their early 20s, with some behind bars for the first time.
The court heard Buxton raped a 23-year-old in January 2005 on a mattress in a window-less storeroom off the vehicle bay where prisoners are brought into the watchhouse. He procured another prisoner to masturbate in front of him in an interview room and organised a shift change in subsequent months so a fellow officer could also enjoy “the show”. In other instances, he persistently asked prisoners to expose their chest or genital area in exchange for cigarettes.
The court heard the offences occurred in areas without surveillance or in camera blind spots but the prosecution could corroborate prisoner movements using camera footage. Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Paul Rutledge said the women were scared of what might happen to them if they did not comply with the police officer’s requests. He said the women no longer trusted police and had lost respect for the blue uniform since their violation. "The offences were persistent, premeditated, calculated ... it’s a gross abuse of trust. It’s a gross abuse of authority,’’ Mr Rutledge said. "This was no fleeting, succumbing to a passing temptation. There was a clear pattern of control over female prisoners. "If you were a female going into that watchhouse while that officer was on duty, there was almost a one in 10 chance you would be interfered with. “(The women did not make complaints because) they simply thought they would not be believed. He was a police officer. “These offences strike at the heart of the administration of justice in this state.”
Judge John Robertson sentenced Buxton to six years in jail, with parole eligibility in July 2009. He noted Buxton would “experience greater difficultly in prison than an ordinary prisoner” and had already been publicly shamed for his actions. Judge Robertson said the women were “significantly adversely affected by your abuse”. “You have brought shame and disgrace on your family and your police colleagues, the vast majority of who provide a vital and often thankless service in this state,” he said. “(The offences were) clearly planned and carefully carried out to avoid detection. “These women were clearly vulnerable, which you ruthlessly exploited by your sordid conduct. “(Your conduct) undermines respect for the administration of justice.” Barrister Stephen Zillman said his client wanted to “publicly apologise to the complainants, to his family and friends and to the Queensland Police Service and police colleagues”. He said by resigning from the police force, he lost significant superannuation entitlements and future earnings. “He will be next to unemployable when released from prison ... financially he is next to destroyed,” he said.
Buxton’s charges included eight counts of procuring a sexual act by intimidation, 10 counts of attempting to procure the same, three counts of sexual assault, two counts of deprivation of liberty and one count of rape.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
POLICEMAN JAILED FOR WATCH HOUSE RAPES
Friday July 20 2007
A senior Queensland police officer who sexually assaulted six women held in custody at the Maroochydore watch -house in 2005 has been jailed for six years.
Peter Anthony Buxton, 54, has pleaded guilty to 24 charges, including rape, sexual assault and procuring sexual acts by intimidation in the Maroochydore District Court this morning. He will be eligible for parole in two years. Buxton's co-accused, a 50-year-old long-serving officer from Nambour, has not yet been committed to stand trial on similar charges.
The charges follow an eight-month investigation by the police ethical standards command. The investigation found Buxton sexually assaulted six women aged between 19 and 40 years in the Maroochydore watch-house in 2005.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JAIL TIME REDUCED FOR EX-NSW PROSECUTOR
Thursday July 19, 2007
A decision by a judge to cut two months off the jail sentence imposed on former NSW crown prosecutor Patrick Power for possessing child pornography has sparked political anger. Power, 54, sentenced in May to a minimum eight months jail after he pleaded guilty to the pornography charge, had been granted bail pending the outcome of Thursday's appeal against the severity of the sentence.
But Power was behind bars on Thursday, after a judge refused to suspend his jail term. In Sydney's Downing Centre District Court, Acting Judge Brian Boulton sliced two months from Power's jail time, citing special circumstances including the hardship he would encounter in jail due to his former profession. However, both sides of NSW politics agreed the reduced sentence was not in line with community expectations.
"The public expect the strongest possible messages to be sent in cases like this; they will find this decision inexplicable," Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell said. Mr O'Farrell again questioned why the matter was dealt with initially by the Local Court, where it attracts a two year maximum jail term, and not the District Court, where the maximum penalty is five years. While declining to comment directly on the appeal outcome, his opposition legal affairs spokesman, Greg Smith, said he was "relieved at least the court side has finished". "Strangely, this sentence that Patrick Power has had is fairly severe compared to most of the sentences given for child pornography," he told Macquarie Radio.
Mr Smith, who was a deputy DPP at the time Power's pornographic images were discovered, again defended his decision to confront his former colleague about the images before contacting police. A spokeswoman for Attorney-General John Hatzistergos said: "While sentencing is a matter for the courts, many people would hold the view that no sentence is tough enough for this particular crime." Power's lawyers had asked the court to suspend the sentence. The Victorian DPP, which prosecuted the matter, said any decision on further legal action would be a matter for the NSW authorities.
The court was told a DPP technician, whom Power had enlisted to repair his personal computer last July, found 433 images of child pornography and 31 videos depicting children - some aged under 10 - in sexual acts. Acting Judge Boulton described the images as "disgusting" and "depraved material". He said some images showed young boys in "obvious pain", with one video showing a five-year-old boy being anally raped after handcuffs were applied to his arms and feet. The court heard documentary evidence from a psychiatrist that Power was not a paedophile, but was depressed and "addicted" to downloading pornography. "I am not prepared to find (Power) was in any way acting compulsively when he downloaded the child pornographic material from the internet," Judge Boulton said. "Even if I were, it would have been perfectly obvious to (Power) from the very first download that the possession of the material was itself a criminal offence. "He was a mature man in his early 50s and a top criminal lawyer. "He can hardly avoid the predictable outcome of his behaviour."
Power's original 15-month sentence had an eight month non-parole period which was cut to six months on Thursday, meaning he will be eligible for release on January 18.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COP ESCAPES WITH FINE AND BOND
Wednesday June 13, 2007
A Victorian police sergeant who pleaded guilty to owning 10 unregistered guns has avoided conviction.
Sgt Adam Fry, stationed at Williamstown, was put on a 12-month good behaviour bond and fined $750 without conviction after pleading guilty to owning unregistered .22 rifles, 12-gauge shotguns and a .303 rifle. Sunshine Magistrates' Court heard the weapons were confiscated from a roof gun safe at Sgt Fry's former Deer Park home last August after his gun licence was revoked.
The 20-year veteran of the force lost his gun licence after suffering mental health problems after his marriage break-up. The court heard Sgt Fry, 42, who has since resumed full work duties, believed the guns had been registered a decade earlier. Magistrate Brian Barrow described Sgt Fry as "a fine police officer who has had a long and distinguished career".
He rejected an application for Sgt Fry to be deemed a prohibited person, which would prevent him carrying a gun while working as a police officer. "If every me mber of the armed forces who suffered from a mental illness was to be stood down there would be very little functioning in the community," Mr Barrow said.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FORMER CORRUPT GOLD COAST POLICEMAN SAKED
Friday May 25 2007
A FORMER corrupt Gold Coast policeman has been sacked after he was hired as a State Government investigator without disclosing his criminal past.
The Department of Employment and Industrial Relations has also transferred a second former corrupt officer and implemented a recruitment policy shake-up. Both men, who were working as workplace health and safety inspectors in the department's Gold Coast office, were stood down in February after The Courier-Mail revealed they were hired without background checks. Former Gold Coast Casino Squad chief John Swift – who was jailed in 1998 for corruption and perjury – has now been sacked by the department following an investigation into employment procedures.
Fellow ex-detective Carl Gibson, jailed with Swift over a police protection racket known as "The System", is to be moved to a non-investigative role. Gibson was Swift's superior in the Division of Workplace Health and Safety. Under government recruitment policies, Swift and Gibson did not have to disclose their criminal records.
But Department of Employment and Industrial Relations director-general Peter Henneken said yesterday that given the responsibility of workplace health and safety inspectors, it was critical to maintain public confidence in their integrity. He said the department had undertaken a review of appointment procedures. Criminal history checks were introduced for positions involving investigative or prosecution duties.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EX-COP 'filmed girls in shower'
Friday May 18, 2007
A FORMER West Australian policeman has been remanded in custody after admitting he secretly videotaped two girls as they showered.
Christopher Ronald White, 48, pleaded guilty in the West Australian District Court today to indecently recording a 14-year-old girl and a nine-year-old girl in his Fremantle home in 1996. The court was told White, who was not a serving officer at the time, hid a camera under a towel in his bathroom and filmed the girls as they undressed and showered. The tapes were found in 2005 when police investigating White on another matter raided his office at Fremantle jail.
He was charged last year after he returned to Perth from Thailand, where he had been detained on child sex offences that were later dropped for lack of evidence. White cried today as the court was told of his deep shame and how his aberrant behaviour had let down his father, who had served in the police for 38 years.
He was remanded in custody pending his sentencing on June 15. Before leaving the police force to work in security in 1990, White had been a senior constable who had spent the latter years of his 12-year career in charge of the one-man Dwellingup police station, about 100km south-east of Perth.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
POLICEMAN CAUGHT IN FRAUD
"TO HELP FRIEND"
Tuesday May 15, 2007
A FRAUD squad officer who helped a fellow policeman fraudulently secure a home loan in an "act of stupidity" has been placed on a two-year good behaviour bond.
Con Kostakidis, 45, was a detective-sergeant with the New South Wales Police assets confiscation unit until he was suspended in October following a Police Integrity Commission (PIC) investigation. The investigation found Kostakidis wrote a reference falsely claiming that he employed a colleague's wife as the head waitress at his cafe, The Red Lounge Cafe, in Darlinghurst, to help the couple obtain a home loan.
Kostakidis pleaded guilty to a charge brought by the PIC in December of obtaining financial advantage by making a false or misleading statement. During sentencing submissions in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court today, Kostakidis's barrister John Dailly, SC, said his client had only been trying to help a friend. Mr Dailly said Kostakidis became good friends with his colleague when they worked together as part of Strike Force Enoggera, which investigated the Cronulla riots. When his colleague wanted to purchase a $540,000 family home in Castle Hill, Kostakidis provided the false information on his friend's loan application.
"This offence was then committed to help a friend, to allow him to borrow money to help him get a new home," Mr Dailly said. "He was to gain nothing from the transaction. There was no intention for anyone to be hurt. No one lost money. "He should have given more thought to the criminality ... but he didn't." Mr Dailly said Kostakidis had already suffered a great deal as a result of his crime, losing his job, his marriage and a great deal of money. "He was not just a policeman, police work was his life," he said. "He has lost his career. He has suffered amazing humiliation, embarrassment and stress. "All for this one act of stupidity."
In sentencing Kostakidis, Magistrate Julie Huber said she took into account the fact that he was not set to gain personally from his actions, and did not use his position as a police officer to commit the crime. Ms Huber described Kostakidis's work record as a police officer as "exemplary". "In the 18 years which he spent within the police force there appears to be only glowing things having been said about him," she said. "The areas within which he worked were ones of danger, and clearly he was serving the community in a very positive way."
However, Ms Huber said it was important to send a message of deterrence to the general community. She fined Kostakidis $1500 plus court costs, and placed him on a two-year good behaviour bond.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EX-COP IS A WOLLIES SHOPLIFTER
Thursday May 03, 2007
Former elite NSW Police anti-corruption unit commander John Dolan has been caught shoplifting food worth $12 from Woolworths. The former acting detective superintendent was stopped by a store detective as he left Woolworths at Bateau Bay, on the Central Coast, with a packet of beef jerky and packet of spaghetti in his pocket.
Mr Dolan, who headed investigations for the Police Integrity Commission and NSW Crime Commission, returned to the store with a security officer and paid for the food with his credit card. An unshaven and unkempt Mr Dolan, 48, appeared a broken man yesterday when he confirmed the theft to The Daily Telegraph.
BUSTED !!!!
Following Woolworths' policy dealing with minor shoplifting, Mr Dolan signed a voluntary statement of admission to record the incident. "It was a misunderstanding that didn't necessitate any further action," said Mr Dolan, once right-hand man to the internal affairs golden boy former assistant commissioner Mal Brammer.
Mr Dolan denied police had been called and that he had been cautioned. Both police and Woolworths refused to comment. It is understood Mr Dolan had been doing the family grocery shopping when he was seen slipping the items into his pocket. Mr Dolan's career ended five years ago after several adverse findings against him arising out of damaging internal inquiries into high-profile police investigations. He was later discharged as being medically unfit.
In 2001, Mr Dolan was allegedly caught drink-driving behind the wheel of a NSW Crime Commission car at Killarney Vale, also on the Central Coast, while on holiday. Police claimed he had a blood alcohol level of .075. At court, a doctor's certificate was presented stating Mr Dolan was "unfit to work or attend court or to read and complete documents until further notice".
Mr Dolan never appeared in court and the charge was eventually no-billed. The incident happened at the height of Mr Dolan's involvement with Operation Florida into corrupt Manly detectives. As commander of the Special Crime Unit that managed police undercover investigations, Mr Dolan's management style was criticised in 2002 by an internal inquiry for being "dictatorial and authoritarian" because it was "his way or no way".
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cop 'STOLE' $10,000 from car boot'
Friday March 22, 2007
A VICTORIAN policeman stole $10,000 from the boot of a stranded car then split the cash with a fellow officer, a court has heard. Anthony Imre Antal, a former senior constable at Rosebud police station in Victoria's south, pleaded guilty to one count of theft in the Victorian County Court today.
The court was told Antal stole $10,000 cash from a stranded Honda sedan and items including a torch and $110 in gift vouchers while patrolling with another senior constable on June 14, 2005. The car belonged to a Mornington Peninsula shop owner who had left it behind with $35,000 to $45,000 cash in a black bag in the boot after it got bogged near Flinders. None of the cash has been seen since.
Crown prosecutor Geoff Horgan SC said when the car owner and her partner returned to tow the car they realised the money was missing and informed police. The court heard that when pressed by his sergeant about what had happened, Antal said the car was unlocked and did not contain cash. However five days later he admitted to his boss he stole the $10,000 and gave half to the other senior constable.
The court was told Antal reluctantly carried out the theft after persuasion from his co-accused – a more experienced police officer he found "forceful" and "very intimidating". Antal had disposed of all but $800 of the cash by flushing it down the toilet and vowed to give evidence against his co-accused. Antal's lawyer Elissa Scott said Antal has schizophrenia and was in a vulnerable mental state at the time of the theft. "He was pressured into offending, immediately regretted it, got rid of the cash, then reported it when he got sufficient strength," she said.
Ms Scott said her client, now a hire controller, had been severely depressed since his mental diagnosis. She asked for a reduced sentence, saying her client was of good character, had no criminal history and had admitted to the theft early. Judge Thomas Wodak bailed Antal until April 4 for sentencing.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SECOND CORRUPT OFFICER REVEALED
February 22, 2007
A second corrupt former Queensland police officer has been revealed as working as an investigator for the same State Government department on the Gold Coast.
The Government went into damage control yesterday, standing down both men and launching an investigation into how the two convicted criminals were hired. On Wednesday, it was revealed that former Gold Coast casino squad chief John Swift – who was jailed in 1998 for corruption and perjury – had recently been appointed an inspector with the Division of Workplace Health and Safety's Southport office. Yesterday, it emerged that fellow former Coast detective Carl Gibson – jailed with Swift over a police protection racket known as "The System" – was working in the same office, as Swift's superior. Under government employment policy, Swift and Gibson did not have to disclose their criminal histories, nor were background checks carried out.
In Parliament yesterday, Industrial Relations Minister John Mickel defended the Government's recruitment policies. He said the Criminal Law (Rehabilitation of Offenders) Act had been introduced by the Bjelke-Petersen government to help rehabilitate offenders by giving them employment. "There is a view around that people who have done the time – that is, have been in jail – should have that opportunity to rehabilitate themselves," Mr Mickel told Parliament. But Industrial Relations departmental chief Peter Henneken said he had stood down Swift and Gibson pending an investigation. He said while there had been no complaints against Gibson in the three years he had been with the department, all his files were being reviewed.
Mr Henneken said he would also seek approval from Police Minister Bob Atkinson to undertake criminal history checks on staff. Currently, criminal checks only have to be carried out on government employees working in areas such as police, child safety and education.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
