FAILINGS AT TOP LEVEL LET CORRUPT POLICE FLOURISH

While Detective Bob Irwin regarded J2, a convicted heroin dealer, as a
good mate the drug dealer had other ideas - in tape-recorded evidence
presented to the Police Integrity Commission J2 refers to Irwin simply
as "my resource".

What the PIC, the body charged with carrying on the work of the NSW
Police Royal Commission, found when it began investigating Task Force
Bax in 1997 was that in the eyes of some police the royal commission
had never happened.

It also found that the service's management had failed to heed the
warnings of Justice James Wood and take responsibility for the
detectives below them.

Superintendent Geoff Wegg, the officer in charge of the unit, knew
that Irwin was friendly with the drug dealer but did nothing to remove
him or ensure that confidential information was not leaked, the PIC
found.

And while the staff at Bax said that there were anti-corruption
measures in place, none could say what the policy was as it was not
written down.

The hearing also provided a valuable insight into the mind of
Detective Craig "Snidley" McDonald, who was disillusioned with the
police force, off on sick leave and out for everything he could get.

These are the people the former commissioner Mr John Avery used to
call the "P.O.P.0s - passed over and pissed off".

In trying to get a young detective (who was wired up by the
commission) to take a $5,000 bribe to wipe some fingerprints off an
exhibit, McDonald had said that by taking the bribe the young
detective would now be "playing first grade".

"I am not trying to corrupt you, right?" Irwin said. "I am just trying
to educate you."

Being a member of first grade came with its own set of rules as Irwin
told the young detective "I've got a family, your gonna get a f---in'
family, you hurt me, and my f---in' people will hurt you, right? But
don't get me wrong, I love you like a brother, you know that."

The hearings also highlighted one of the continuing problems with the NSW
Police Service: the way that its officers deal with informants. Irwin
claimed that J2 was an informant of his but this was never recorded
anywhere.

"If you have to get information out of someone, sometimes you have to
give a little bit back," Irwin said.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry