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| NEWS > 03 December 2007 |
Other related articles:
Ex-officer blasts hearing
This hearing has taken away any possibility of a fair trial for these officers.'' Neil Patterson
FORMER district police superintentent Neil Patterson has blasted the State Government over the Office of Police Integrity hearings involving major crime squad members.
Mr Patterson, who lives in Warrnambool, said when he read reports of the proceedings he thought it seemed like some proceeding being run in a Third World country.
Angered by the development he emailed Melbourne's two daily newspapers an open letter to Premier Steve Bracks describing the
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 Article sourced from
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The Age - Melbourne,Victoria,A
03 December 2007
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Victoria Police
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Australia: Police ethics face
VICTORIA Police's credibility will come under further pressure as the state's corruption watchdog turns its attention to the trouble-plagued St Kilda station.
Office of Police Integrity hearings on the station, which has been embroiled in controversy this year, could intensify calls for a royal commission on police corruption.
St Kilda police are bracing themselves for interrogation by the OPI after being told by a member of the police ethical standards department during a training day last week that several officers would be quizzed over the next fortnight about misconduct allegations.
The exact nature of the allegations was not disclosed but they were informed of their rights and responsibilities under the Police Regulations Act and advised about confidentiality rules surrounding OPI hearings. The ethical standards investigator warned them to think carefully about withholding the truth to protect their colleagues because it could have career-ending consequences.
Several St Kilda police have been suspended in the past year while being investigated and other senior officers have been moved elsewhere within the force without being told why.
Victoria Police declined to comment about the latest hearings when contacted by The Age. A spokesman for the OPI also refused to comment.
News of the probe comes as the latest blow to the state's already fragile police force, which is still coming to terms with last month's OPI hearing into the unlawful release of confidential information surrounding the 2003 murder of male prostitute Shane Chartres-Abbott.
The force's media director, Stephen Linnell, and the man tipped to become Victoria Police's next chief commissioner, Assistant Commissioner Noel Ashby, were forced to resign in disgrace last month after they admitted they had lied under oath about their involvement. Both could face criminal charges.
The Age revealed last year that St Kilda Sergeant Rick Lewis was one of two police being investigated over involvement in Shot Dogs, a hot dog business operating outside popular Melbourne night spots.
The ethical standards department was probing claims that the business, believed to be making up to $10,000 a weekend, paid off-duty officers cash to sell hot dogs and that marked police cars were seen delivering bread rolls and other food to vans when supplies ran low. They were also accused of intimidating other operators and threatening to drive them out of business.
Sergeant Lewis has since been shifted to Collingwood police station.
He is also believed to be under internal investigation for interfering in the relocation of two junior officers from St Kilda.
In a separate incident, former St Kilda Sergeant Nathan Kaeser was criticised by a magistrate for his role in the alleged assault of a man in custody at the station. He is now working at police headquarters.
And St Kilda Sergeant Chris Lim was investigated last year over his interests in a property company in which a fellow investor is an associate of Mick Gatto, the man acquitted of murdering Andrew Veniamin in Melbourne's gangland war.
More recently, Sergeant Tony Juric was suspended from the station in October over claims he intimidated a member of the public.
The same member of the public is understood to be connected to the suspension of two officers last year who were accused of threatening her after she refused to make a statement about a road crash she saw.
Problems at the station date back decades. In the 1980s, 40 grams of heroin disappeared from a drug raid carried out by St Kilda police.
Then a senior officer at the station, detective sergeant Dennis Tanner, was named by the Victorian coroner as the person responsible for his sister-in-law's death.
And in 2000, guns, knives and cannabis seeds were found in the police station's ceiling during an investigation into poor work practices at St Kilda. A 19-month investigation found that none of the items could be linked to any member at the station.
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