This page is dedicated to police whistleblowers in Western Australia in the 70's & 80's who bravely tried to expose corruption and were persecuted for doing so.
Breaking the code
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Under the RadarDeputy Commissioner Frank Peters.hen Deputy Commissioner Frank Peters complained to the Commissioner of Police Brian Bull in 1989 about the failure to investigate large scale drug importations to remote airstrips in the remote north of Western Australia an investigation was launched. Not into the illegal drug flights but instead into the Deputy Commissioner.
His office, car and home were bugged and he was put under constant surveillance. As one police officer said, "you could not go into Mr Peters' office without a can of insecticide because of all the bugs in there". Mr Peters explained to me in 2003 why the dogs were set on him. "A surveillance officergave me information that there was planes flying in from Asia, lower than the radar to a remote airfield and three or four hours later they would fly back out in the same direction. They flew them in that low that they couldn’t be detected even by the jumbo jets from Asia”, Peters complained that nothing was being done to investigate this serious allegation. The Commissioner, Brian Bull didn't take kindly to criticism and unleashed the internal affairs unit on Peters despite there being no allegation of corruption against the 39-year career cop. In the end Peters was forced to go public and The West Australian recorded the bizarre level of surveillance into Peters. The Commissioner had no choice but to admit he was spying on Peters for the wrong reasons. Peters said. "If you want to speak out against a system that is wrong and it's able for that system to suppress you by being dogged and your phone bugged, well I say God help the police force and God help society. "No way am I corrupt and no way am I bloody well dishonest," he told Leroy Betti of the The West Australian in 1989. " If I don't speak out the end sufferers are the police force which in turn directly affects the community." Dangerous delving
Senior Sergeant Frank ScottFrank Scott left the police force in 1993 after years of victimisation by senior officers who thwarted his attempts to investigate the liquor and gaming branch. Here's some of his allegations.
WHISTLEBLOWERS
Read more from Whistleblowers Australia here: http://www.bmartin.cc/dissent/documents/#Australia The most devastating consequence of the code of silence is that it prevents the vast majority of honest officers from doing what they inwardly want to do: help keep their Department corruption free. It is not surprising that the honest cop wants corrupt cops off the job. The consequences of corruption for honest cops are grave: it taints their reputations, destroys their morale and most important, jeopardises their very safety. The Golden TroughInspector Athol Monck and Detective Ivan RobsonKnown as the "jewellers shop" the Frasers Gold Mine at Southern Cross was an incredibly rich mine. Brothers Barry, Dudley and Claude bought into the mine in 1974 and were staggered at the scale of systematic looting from the mine but when they complained to WA government ministers they would come under surveillance.
The Shreeves estimated $200 million dollars of virtually pure gold was stolen from the mine. Barry Shreeve told Investigative journalist Avon Lovell in 1989. “Only 121 ounces were declared out of 397 tonnes in the first few months of 1974. The rest was sent out of the country illegally, either as religious statues and artefacts or taken directly to Bali in a luxury cruiser out of Fremantle port.” Ransacking at "the jeweller's shop was of such gargantuan proportions in 1974 that the Shreeves delivered a complaint to the then-Premier of Western Australia, Charles Court and to the then-police Minister, Ray O’Connor. The brothers were perturbed to find that as a result of their letter they themselves were placed under police surveillance. Workers at the mine told them that several senior Government ministers has visited the site and had gone underground to see the rich gold pipe known as the Jeweller’s Shop themselves soon after their complaint was lodged. The Shreeves approached an Inspector of Police, Athol Monck, a family friend who then instructed the Company Fraud Squad to investigate. A detective, Ivan Robson, undertook the inquiry. The Shreeve’s statement continued: Ivan Robson checked the Frasers production and found only 121 ounces of gold from 397 tonnes had been declared up till the end of April 1974. About 12 men worked the mine and it can produce a minimum of 300 to 500 ounces of gold per day as they are working a rich pipe 15 feet high and four feet wide with a solid seam of gold running through it from one inch to four inches thick. C- estimated its value from 60 feet mine in 1973, with gold at $55 an ounce, to be $1,500,000. the price of gold in the meantime has nearly doubled. Kalgoorlie Gold Stealing Squad detectives were notified but nothing was done to assist the Shreeves or investigate their claims of massive thefts from the Jeweller’s Shop. Complaints to the Mines Department led not to inquiry, but to pressure and intimidation against them from proposed defamation writs to death threats. “Think of your wives and children” they were told. The Shreeves realized they had little chance of gaining the title to the mine or the stolen gold when given evidence that the son-in-law of one prominent politician was riding gold to an illicit smelting plant in suburban Wembley. Bars of gold were illegally poured and being smuggled to Hong Kong using air hostesses and airline pilots. One Yugoslav participant had small flat bars sewn in to his coat, visiting overseas cities frequently, until terrorist scares caused the introduction of metal scanners at airports. Ingeniously, he then had the gold moulded into religious statues and artifacts which were not covered by international duties or restrictions. Robson, the honest cop, gained photographic evidence showing illegal pouring of gold, speciments of the nearly pure seam of gold and a prestigious Perth jeweller surrounded by the specimens which he was illegally trading.. Nothing ensued from his investigative efforts and Robson was later transferred to remote postings in far northern towns of WA for several years. No charges were laid. Ultimately the Shreeves were given vendor shares in the succeeding ownership of Frasers when some other leases they owned to the south of the mine were joined to make a large and profitable open-cut mine. Source- Avon Lovell -Split Image You can buy Avon Lovell's books - The Mickelberg Stitch, Split Image or Litany of Lies by CLICKING HERE |
Diamonds are a cop's best friendDetective Senior Sergeant Robin ThoyThe Argyle Diamond Mine in the state's far north is the world’s biggest diamond producer by volume and produces 90% of the world's supply of pink diamonds. After suspect pink diamonds turned up in Antwerp in the late eighties, Argyle Diamonds asked police to investigate. Detective Senior Sergeant Robin Thoy was appointed to head the initial inquiry. Since retired, Detective Thoy told the 2003 Kennedy Royal Commission into Police Corruption that senior officers tried to shut down the inquiry. He alleged a senior officer told him “they’re not going to kill you or anything, but Robin, you have got to write it off. Just write it off. They’re going to make you ill, or you’re going to get ill. Just write it off and it can’t hurt you. Or words to that effect.’ Thoy also asserted that his filing cabinet was broken into and tape-recordings he made with senior officers were removed. In his closing report he recommended the association between Mine Superviser, Barry Crimmins and crime figure, Lindsay Roddan should be investigated. He also recommended further investigation into the Western Australian Diamond Trust. He complained of a concerted effort to undermine him and then left on stress leave. Argyle complained to police who informed the company there would be no further inquiries and Sgt Thoy was dumped from CIB and transferred to Midland for allegedly “paranoid behaviour when he believed everybody was acting corruptly”. Persistent complaints from Argyle lead to another inquiry this time headed by Det. Snr Sgt Jeff Noye. During the investigation Noye regularly met with Lindsay Roddan in cafes and on one occasion handed him a report relating to the testing of the diamonds. It was alleged other police documents were also handed to Roddan by Noye. Lynnette Crimmins former wife of mine supervisor, Barry Crimmins later testified Noye was regularly in the company of Lindsay Roddan and she recalls him discussing a pay-off of cash and diamonds. The case was again written off within a year, with Noye declaring that “I can categorically state that at no future time will any evidence be disclosed that will provably show that the diamonds claimed by (Roddan’s company) were illicitly removed from the control of the complainant”. Sgt Noye was later charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice. The case was dropped by the Director of Public Prosecutions a few weeks before the trial in 1998. The following investigations revealed a conspiracy between Argyle mine superintendent, Barry Crimmins, Lindsay Roddan and police, involving systematic organised theft from the mid- 1980’s until 1990. Barry Crimmins, a former Victorian police officer, and head of Argyle Security was systematically stealing millions of dollars worth of diamonds from the Argyle diamond mine. The diamonds were for organised crime figure Lindsay Roddan, a regular of Il Trovatore. Both were later convicted over the scandal. Roddan acted as an intermediary for the stolen diamonds, which were moved offshore for trading and processed. The diamonds then passed through a highly regarded well connected diamantaire in Switzerland to legitimate buyers in Hong Kong and Europe. Crimmins’ wife, Lynette turned witness and testified that Roddan told her he had paid $40,000 to “Uncle Max and the boys - Through them, (her former lover) Lindsay Roddan knew exactly what was going on at all points of time in the investigations.” She also said “Lindsay told me how he had paid half and was waiting for Thoy to be kicked out of the force altogether. He was furious when he found out that Robin Thoy had only been demoted and was in uniform.” Roddan denied to the Royal Commission that he had ever said this. As well as referring to “Uncle Max and the boys” on numerous occasions, Lynette Crimmins claimed Roddan and Noye regularly referred to other officers “Zed, Kim, Bernie, Barney and Barnsey’ who she believed assisted Roddan. When her marriage to Barry Crimmins soured, she began a relationship with the cocky racehorse owner, Lindsay Roddan. Destitute she began working as a prostitute for two years and later pleaded guilty with Barry Crimmins to conspiring with Mr Roddan to steal Argyle diamonds valued at $2 million. Mrs Crimmins was taken into witness protection where she alleged she was sexually assaulted by one of the police officers assigned to protect her. A Federal police inquiry in 1996 found police reaction to her complaint was unsatisfactory and unprofessional. That same year Mrs Crimmins was dropped from the witness protection program. She complained to the Police Royal Commission in 2003 that she was still receiving harassment calls. The value of stones stolen from Argyle was estimated to be in excess of $30 million. The Eucla IncidentConstable Paula JohnsonPaula Johnson was a junior constable in 1989 when she travelled with a more senior officer from Esperance to assist police at Eucla in WA's remote south east. Two men were arrested in Eucla and 11kilograms of Cannabis later found in their Valiant panel van. At their trial before Judge Clark in Perth, the two men didn't deny they had the drugs, just the details of the arrest and interviews. The Judge became concerned about the conduct of a number of police officers and a number of enquiries followed.
The evidence of Paula Johnson differed from other officers at Eucla that day. Enormous pressure was put on her to change her evidence, but she was able to support her information. Johnson was ostracised by her fellow officers, intimidated so as to try and make her change her evidence, slandered and possibly denied equal opportunity in choosing the direction of her career.
An inaccurate report was used by defence counsel at the trial to discredit her. A parliamentary committee found that after her initial and inadequate attempt to support the Senior Officer's account of the journey from Esperance to Eucla, she proved remarkably resilient and consistent in her evidence. Police officers disclosed official secrets from Occupational Health Services records to defence counsel to discredit her in cross-examination. This was of such seriousness that the DPP named four police officers and recommended an investigation by the CIB into possible breaches of section 81 of the Criminal Code. Select Committee in to the Western Australian Police Service 1996
Protection racketSuperintendent Graham LeeSupt T.G. Lee also called for gambling and prostitution to be legalised in the 1970's.. He watched as crime became highly organised in WA and warned it was clear that some people were paying protection for it to happen. He soon fell foul of the police hierarchy. He told the Sunday Times in 1976 he was victimised by department heads, denied resources and the opportunity for promotion. After he retired he spoke to the Western Mail. Read what he said here.
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Evil triumphs because good men do nothing.
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