Flexistentialist
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From the 4 Corners website
8.30 pm Monday 8 March (except Victoria - see below).
A decade ago detectives from the Victoria Police drug squad came up with a new weapon in their war on the dealers. It was called, prosaically, "Controlled Chemical Delivery".
To help them track down clandestine laboratories, police obtained the precursor chemicals used to make methylamphetamine - speed - and sold them to criminals, via informers. The aggressive new strategy yielded results. Speed dealers who fell for the sting were busted and jailed.
But the Victorian Ombudsman describes the policy as "an unmitigated and foreseeable disaster". Huge amounts of chemicals were "lost", and converted to speed. And some officers became corrupt, selling drugs and chemicals for their own private benefit.
For more than two years the Victoria Police's "Task Force Ceja" has been gathering evidence and laying charges. But its operations are veiled in secrecy. No one knows who it's investigating, or when it might conclude. So far two corrupt Drug Squad detectives have been jailed; 12 more Victoria Police members - eight of them former or serving members of the Drug Squad - have been charged with drug-related corruption. More charges may well be imminent.
Public confidence in the police and in Victoria's justice system has been seriously shaken. While CEJA's investigations continue, most of the men accused of running Melbourne's speed market remain free on bail, their trials postponed; because too many star police witnesses are themselves in prison, or facing charges, or are under investigation.
"This is unprecedented," says one QC. "We've never had such a large group of serious drug prosecutions tied in with such a large group of police corruption charges against the investigating police."
Two years ago the new Chief Commissioner, Christine Nixon, halted Controlled Chemical Delivery and disbanded the old Drug Squad. It was replaced by a new unit, with new commanders and new rules. She claims the Major Drug Investigation Division has been highly productive. But a recent case of serious corruption raises the question: have the old problems been solved?
The Chief Commissioner and the Minister deny that there's systemic corruption in the Victoria Police. They point out that the Royal Commissions that have sought to purge police in other states have cost millions, but produced few convictions. Task Force CEJA, they say, is the best way to deal with corruption allegations.
Jonathan Holmes reports on "The Speed Trap" - Four Corners, 8.30 pm Monday 8 March (repeated 1 pm Tuesday).
Note: For legal reasons this program cannot be shown in Victoria ("Ethiopia: A Journey with Michael Buerk" will be aired in its place). However a modified version of "The Speed Trap" will be screened in Victoria on Monday 15 March.