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| NEWS > 23 October 2006 |
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 Article sourced from
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ABC Online - Australia
23 October 2006
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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Corrupt officers still serving
Reporter: Josie Taylor
TONY EASTLEY: Weeks out from a state election in Victoria, politicians and Victoria Police management have publicly declared a triumph over police corruption.
But a serving detective sergeant tells a different story.
Victorian corruption investigator Detective Sergeant Bill Patten says there are dozens of corrupt officers in the force, and police management refuses to fully address the problem.
The serving detective says there are undeniable links between police corruption and Melbourne's gangland murders, and without a royal commission, the lives of corruption investigators are being placed in danger.
Detective Sergeant Patten admits his decision to go public with his concerns could mean he and his family are put at risk.
Josie Taylor reports.
JOSIE TAYLOR: With 28 years of police work under his belt, Detective Sergeant Bill Patten describes himself as a hard-nosed investigator.
It goes against the grain for him to speak publicly about his work, but the detective sergeant says he has no choice.
BILL PATTEN: There's people that I say are corrupt, have been corrupt, have acted inappropriately, are still within the Victoria Police.
It's just something that I say the public need to know about, and the greater police population needs to know about it, what really happened, and what the fallout really was.
JOSIE TAYLOR: Bill Patten was a member of the Ceja Taskforce, set up four years ago to investigate corruption in the former Victoria police drug squad.
A number of corrupt police have been convicted and sentenced as a result.
But Bill Patten says numerous allegations of corruption were never investigated due to a lack of resources.
The Ceja Taskforce was closed down last year, a decision Bill Patten says was premature, and left dozens of suspect police officers within the force.
BILL PATTEN: I'd put a figure between 12 and 24 that I could confidently say were either corrupt or contributed to corruption.
JOSIE TAYLOR: Still serving?
BILL PATTEN: Still serving.
JOSIE TAYLOR: And what sort of rank are we talking about?
BILL PATTEN: They range from senior detectives right up to commissioned officers.
JOSIE TAYLOR: How high up the ranks does it go?
BILL PATTEN: Ah, well I think I'd go as far as superintendent.
JOSIE TAYLOR: Bill Patten believes the Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon was kept at a distance from the true extent of corruption.
He also says commissioned officers suspected of corruption have been protected.
And now Bill Patten says the police who pursued corruption have been ostracised within the force, and abandoned by senior police.
BILL PATTEN: Well, we shouldn't have investigated it, end of story. It should've been done by another standing body, whether it be a royal commission or a standing commission, either, either.
Because we were then made vulnerable, bullets in people's letterboxes, following people around, making phone calls, you know, talking about murdering a Ceja investigator. You know, we were put at risk, and we shouldn't have been put at risk.
JOSIE TAYLOR: Bill Patten says corruption is not widespread within Victoria Police, but the kind he uncovered was extremely serious.
BILL PATTEN: Trafficking drugs, laundering money, involved in some degree in murders. The whole thing just was so interwoven. I mean, the general public would just be horrified.
JOSIE TAYLOR: Force command have always denied that there's any link between corruption and the gangland murders. Were they lying?
BILL PATTEN: I don't know if they were lying, but they were certainly, they were either misinformed, didn't want to be informed. But as I said, from what I've been exposed to, that's not the case. There is clearly a connection between corruption and the underworld.
JOSIE TAYLOR: Three detectives resigned whilst serving in the Ceja Taskforce.
Bill Patten is now considering leaving the police force. He believes more corruption investigators may follow.
His major concern is that corrupt police may now target him and his family for speaking out.
BILL PATTEN: At the end of the day, I mean, you're vulnerable. You're always vulnerable. And what I've done and what I've said, people aren't going to be happy.
TONY EASTLEY: Detective Sergeant Bill Patten ending Josie Taylor's report.
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