Blow .05, just don't blow the whistle By Terry Lane June 23 2002 In Tuesday last week, a member of the Victoria Police was in court on a drink-driving charge. He had hit a tree and his blood alcohol reading was 0.16 per cent, about three times the legal limit.
A character reference from a "senior police officer" was tendered to the court, testifying to the good repute of the policeman. The magistrate said that the man is entitled to "draw on his otherwise unblemished record". And a police PR person said that the officer in question "might face either a fine, demotion or reduction in rank, transfer or dismissal". Might? What do you have to do to be found unfit for the Victoria Police? It so happens that we know the answer to that question, because on the very day that the drink-driving charge was being heard with such compassion former policeman Karl Konrad was in the Federal Court, yet again, seeking reinstatement to the force and compensation for wrongful dismissal. The lawyer representing the police said that they had spent about $1 million trying to keep Konrad out of the force, from which he was sacked in 1996 for blowing the whistle on police corruption. The judge said: "It doesn't say much for contracting out government legal work to the legal profession, that's all I can say." And the lawyer representing the cops complained that Konrad was doing "no more than buying time at the state's expense". You will remember the Konrad story: window-shutter installers were paying kickbacks to cops who tipped them off about broken shop windows. The ombudsman, acting on the alert from Konrad, uncovered 1819 incidents of kickbacks and 244 officers were disciplined in one way or another. But only one was sacked. Karl Konrad. At the time the ALP opposition made noises in support of Konrad. Now that they are in office and, like all Labor governments, terrified of the police, it is a different story. The Police Minister has not intervened to put an end to this expensive farce. Karl Konrad did the community a great service, for which he was punished. Of course, he could have just accepted his dismissal and gone quietly into oblivion. Or, on the other hand, a colleague could have tendered to the court testimony to his unblemished record and pleaded for leniency. Or perhaps he should have got a medal and been fast-tracked to the position of chief commissioner. The ombudsman, Dr Barry Perry, in his report on the shutter kickback scam, wrote: "Constable Konrad told me that he had become aware, in September 1994, that police were receiving payments from shutter-service operators. After reporting a specific incident to his senior sergeant at Moorabbin, he suffered harassment, including damage to his car, verbal abuse and release of his private telephone number to a mentally disturbed person ..." Just keep in mind that no cop was sacked for any of this. At the time police were not permitted to take their suspicions and allegations to anyone outside the force, including the ombudsman. That rule has now been changed, thanks to Karl Konrad's courage. The ombudsman goes on: "It would be remiss of me in this final report not to observe that a significant number of Mr Konrad's allegations were found to be substantiated. Indeed, in recent months, members under investigation in the course of Operation BART have admitted the truth of certain allegations made by Mr Konrad... "I must give credit to Mr Konrad, who brought to my attention the shutter-services scam. It was this action on the part of Constable Konrad which directly led to Operation BART and indirectly to changes in policing in Victoria." So there it is. Get drunk and run into a tree and get your unblemished record taken into consideration. Bravely and persistently expose police corruption and get the sack. It says something about the Victoria Police, does it not? This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/06/22/1023864513880.html -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
