JAIL FOR CORRUPT POLICEMAN

For eight years, Victoria Police drug squad detective Lachlan
McCulloch was isolated and condemned as obsessive by many colleagues
for his fight against corruption in the squad.

Yesterday he was vindicated when a one-time mate, former detective
Kevin Hicks, and a long-term enemy, career criminal Peter Pilarinos,
were sentenced to lengthy jail terms.

And this time McCulloch was not alone. A month ago he received a phone
call from his former boss, Detective Chief Inspector John McKoy, who
declared: "I would be proud to walk into court with you."

As he sat in the Supreme Court public gallery, McCulloch felt no sense
of triumph - just a wave of relief that his long battle to expose
police corruption was finally over.

Many times some colleagues has branded him as obsessed over his fight
to discover who had "sold out" his investigations into Pilarinos.
Often McCulloch wondered who he could trust. In November last year he
resigned from the force.

But sitting in the Supreme Court yesterday, McCulloch drew comfort
from the men around him. He was flanked by drug squad detectives,
including McKoy. He also knew he now had the support of the vast
majority of police in Victoria.

As the drug squad chief and his whistle blower sat in the gallery, the
corrupt detective and his partner sat in the dock below-neither
acknowledging the presence of the other.

Hicks, a former senior detective, and Pilarinos were the core of a
corrupt group responsible for stealing drugs from a police storage
depot in Attwood.

Hicks was in charge of all drugs seized by the drug squad and accepted
bribes to let Pilarinos steal them back.

They may have got away with it too, if it hadn't been for Lachlan
McCulloch, who as a young detective in the drug squad in 1992 realised
his investigations into Pilarinos were being sold out from within. He
started a campaign to find out who was the rat in the drug squad ranks
and was to spend five years gathering evidence against Hicks and
Pilarinos before they were charged by Ethical Standards Department
investigators in 1997.

McCulloch was vilified by some police who refused to believe that the
popular Hicks was crooked. They blamed the young detective for the
arrest and believed the case against their friend was flawed. It was
described as a "souffle" - solid on the outside and hot air in the
middle.

Then Hicks pleaded guilty. Yes, he had sold out police operations and
yes, he had helped Pilarinos sell drugs.

Now Hicks sat in the dock, wearing his grey court suit, steel rimmed
spectacles, and his Blundstone boots. He had been led to believe that
he was likely to get four years jail for his crimes.

His lawyers had argued for a four-year non-parole period during an
earlier plea hearing and prosecutor Bill Morgan-Payler, QC, said "We
do not view the defence submission as inappropriate."

Justice George Hampel is not considered the toughest sentencer in the
Supreme Court. Some police complain he can be too compassionate and
lenient for their tastes.

But Justice Hampel is his own man and if the defence and prosecution
thought they had a deal they forgot that the judge calls the shots.

Hicks was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years, with a non-parole
period of five. As Hicks heard the sentence details and realised he
was getting more jail time than he expected he let out a little sigh
and blinked slowly. He looked a little like his old nick-name - "Koala
Bear".

Pilarinos came next. In a blue blazer and open-necked shirt he heard
Justice Hampel say that claims the defendant was an important witness
in continuing police corruption matters had been "overstated".

Justice Hampel said the person who offered the bribe and the one who
accepted could be seen to be equally culpable. He sentenced Pilarinos
to eight-and-a-half years with a minimum of six.

As the two men were led out of court, Pilarinos' youngest son ran to
embrace him. The young man's grief turned quickly to anger as he swore
at a court guard and punched the door on his way out.

Outside the court McCulloch walked down the stairs. The son turned his
anger on the whistleblower. "You are nothing but a f---- dog. I hope
you rot in hell."

McCulloch did not respond. Mrs Valerie Pilarinos, recently released
from jail after a completing a sentence for perjury, was also less
than complimentary, angrily referring to McCulloch as "Australia's
Serpico" and wishing him an unpleasant after-life.

McKoy and others from the drug squad were close by. Later,
investigators from the Ethical Standards Department, who had built the
case that exposed the corruption, took McCulloch for a coffee away
from the biting cold and the bitter Pilarinos family.

But in direct contrast, many of the police who had loudly supported
Hicks after he was charged with corruption were not in court to hear
the final sentence.

Outside court, McCulloch acknowledged the role of his former boss at
the drug squad.

"It has been a difficult time for me and I appreciate the support I
have had from Mr McKoy, other members of the drug squad and the
Ethical Standards Department. Mr McKoy always encouraged me to
investigate the corruption," he said.

The message was clear for McCulloch. After fighting corruption for
eight years and sacrificing his career of 16, the battle had been worthwhile.

He was not alone after all.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Neil Comrie said the events leading
to yesterday's sentencing of Hicks and Pilarinos sent "a clear message
that the force can police itself and weed out unprofessional and
unethical officers".

Mr Comrie added: "The force will do everything possible to ensure any
corrupt officers are removed from the ranks of the Victoria Police.
The public would expect nothing less."