Stations: ?,Canowindra to Liverpool ( 22 Division ) as a Sgt 3/c in March 1968, Feb. 1969 from 22 Division to Merrylands ( 26 Division ), Special Branch – 21 Division ( 1978 ), Investigative Branch – Internal Affairs
Service: From 1 May 1944to? = 42 years Service
Awards: Queen’s Police Medal QPM – granted 16 June 1979
Funeral location: Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Camden Valley Way, Leppington, NSW
Buried at: Pagona, Section Bed 18
[alert_blue]JOHN is NOT mentioned on the Police Wall of Remembrance[/alert_blue] * NOT JOB RELATED
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Brought in ” Suspended with pay ” as he always said ” Innocent until proven guilty “. Police are always getting berated for doing their job.
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Sydney Morning Herald 11 July 1986 page 5 of 51
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Roy Douglas BEVERSTOCK
| 10/10/2015
Roy Douglas BEVERSTOCK
late of Caringbah, NSW
May be related to A. R. BEVERSTOCK, NSWPF # 10689
New South Wales Police Force
Redfern Academy Class # 046 – 061?
Regd. # 8137
Joined NSW Police Force via NSW Police Cadet system on 3 March 1952
Cadet # 986
Rank: Commenced at Redfern Police Training Centre on Monday 3 March 1952 as a Cadet – aged 15 years, 7 months, 6 days
Probationary Constable – appointed Tuesday 26 July 1955 ( aged 19 years )
Constable – appointed ? ? ?
Constable 1st Class – appointed ? ? ?
Senior Constable – appointed 26 July 1966
Sergeant 3rd Class – appointed 2 October 1971
Sergeant 2nd Class – appointed 1 December 1978
Sergeant 1st Class – appointed 1 February 1982
Inspector – appointed 17 December 1986
Chief Inspector – appointed ? ? ?
Superintendent – appointed 8 February 1989
Final Rank: Superintendent, Staff Officer – Retired
Stations: Darlinghurst, ?, Central Police Station ( Rosters – 1971 ), Redfern Police Academy ( late 70’s – early 82+ ), Maroubra ( early 1980’s ), Waverley ( 10 Division )( 1987 )( Inspector – Assistant Officer ), North West Region – Staff Officer – Operations ( Supt. )( 1989 )
Tasks: General Duties, Traffic control, Highway Patrol, plain clothes, Senior Law Instructor at Academy ( 1980’s ), O.I.C., Breath Analysis Section
Service: From 3 March 1952to? Nov / Dec 2000 = 45+ years Service
Attested as Probationary Constable in 1954
Awards: National Medal – granted 28 May 1990 ( Supt. )
Born: Sunday 26 July 1936
Died on: Tuesday 22 May 2001 ( 6 months after Retirement )
Age: 64 years, 9 months, 26 days
Cause: Leukaemia – contracted
Age at Retirement: 64 years, ? months, ? days
Time in Retirement: 6? months, ? days
Funeral date: ?
Funeral location: Woronora Cemetery & Crematorium
Buried at: Cremated – Ashes collected on 11 July 2001
Tony Stevens # 11315 – Brian Johnson # 12683 or # 9221 – Bill Smith # 5689 or # 7728 or # 7844 or # 7949 – Roy Beverstock # 8137 – Bob Hurst # 8309 – Jack Pearce # 7005 – Russ Swinbourne # 8063 – Gary Ticehurst ( Special Constable ) the first PolAir Pilot.
ROY is NOT mentioned on the Police Wall of Remembrance *NEED MORE INFO
Service: From: 14 February 1998 to 15 December 2001 = 3+ years Service
Attested: Friday 14 August 1998
Awards: ?
Born: 9 January 1974
Died on: 15 December 2001
Incident date: 24 November 2001
Cause: Head injuries
Age: 27
Funeral date: ?
Funeral location: ?
Buried at: Coffs Harbour Lawn Cemetery
https://police.freom.com/gregory-michael-jackson/ Constable GREGORY MICHAEL JACKSON – NSWPF – DIED 15 DECEMBER 2001 IMAGES FROM DAVID MacPHERSON
Gregory Michael JACKSON memorial plaque on the front wall of Bourke Police Station.
Gregory Michael JACKSON memorial plaque on the front wall of Bourke Police Station. Greg’s plaque is the the left of the window on the left. The plaque on the right of the same window is for Ash BRYANT.
Gregory Michael JACKSON grave plaque in the Lawn section of Coffs Harbour cemetery.
https://police.freom.com/gregory-michael-jackson/ Constable GREGORY MICHAEL JACKSON – NSWPF – DIED 15 DECEMBER 2001
https://police.freom.com/gregory-michael-jackson/ Constable GREGORY MICHAEL JACKSON – NSWPF – DIED 15 DECEMBER 2001
https://police.freom.com/gregory-michael-jackson/ Constable GREGORY MICHAEL JACKSON – NSWPF – DIED 15 DECEMBER 2001
https://police.freom.com/gregory-michael-jackson/ Constable GREGORY MICHAEL JACKSON – NSWPF – DIED 15 DECEMBER 2001
[alert_blue]GREG is NOT mentioned on the Police Wall of Remembrance[/alert_blue] * NOT JOB RELATED
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Cop’s bar stool death a ‘tragedy’
The State Coroner yesterday found a Bourke policeman who was knocked off a bar stool at a police Christmas party died in a “tragic misadventure”.
An inquest at Dubbo and Sydney heard that Constable Gregory Jackson, 27, died from head injuries three weeks after falling head-first off a bar stool at the Bourke Golf Club.
Mr Jackson and his colleagues were celebrating at their Christmas party on November 24, 2001 when the incident occurred about 3.30am.
Mr Jackson was dancing on a bar stool in the middle of the dance floor but was knocked off balance by a colleague and fell to the floor. He died in Sydney’s Concord Hospital from head injuries three weeks later.
Delivering his findings, Coroner John Abernethy said the police officers still at the club were “happy, moderately-intoxicated and intent on dancing”.
The officer who knocked Mr Jackson from the stool was “affected with alcohol and in exuberant high spirits”, he said.
He said Constable Melanie Butcher made innocent contact with Constable Jackson’s legs, bumping into him either while running towards him with her arms outstretched or trying to climb onto a nearby stool.
But the contact “had the disastrous effect … of causing Constable Jackson to lose his balance and fall to the floor causing him a serious head injury”, Mr Abernethy said.
He also found Constable Jackson’s conduct – dancing on a 64cm tall bar stool – “had an inherent danger to it”.
Mr Abernethy dismissed suggestions the stool had been kicked out from under the officer and said no charges should be laid over the death.
“There is no criminality at all in the incident and I see it as simply a very tragic misadventure,” Mr Abernethy ruled.
However, he criticised police for the three-month delay in investigating Mr Jackson’s death, saying the lapse of time was “both significant and unwarranted”.
Before the first of two official police investigations began in March 2002, “the death of a fellow police officer was being treated … in a somewhat cavalier fashion”, he said.
“On one view it can be said that scant attention was paid to the duty to investigate a coronial death.”
Mr Abernethy was also critical that the first investigation – though sound – was run by a police officer who knew Constable Jackson and other officers involved in the incident.
“The decision ran the risk of a perception of a conflict of interest and lack of transparency,” he said.
He recommended that future NSW police investigations into coronial deaths of police officers be conducted only by an impartial investigator.
THEY were the untouchables, an elite band of Australian Federal Police, some of whom insiders say were no better than “gangsters with police badges”. Their headquarters were Redfern’s landmark TNT twin towers, where extramarital conquests and drunken “happy hour” parties were common. It was the 1980s and, as one former officer of the 35-strong AFP Sydney drug investigation unit recalls, it was like “living inside a grubby episode of Miami Vice“.Memories of the heady days of the twin tower crew have been revived because of the charges laid against one of the squad’s alumni, senior NSW Crime Commission investigator Mark Standen.Following his arrest on drug charges this month, insiders have told The Sun-Herald some members of the unit were compromised and beyond control.
Michael Anthony Wallace – convicted of stealing $20 million worth of seized heroin in 1990 and then of murdering girlfriend Zoe Zou and dumping her body in the Blue Mountains in 2006 – was one.
Another was Allan Gregory McLean, sentenced to 16 years’ jail for helping import millions in heroin from India hidden inside a consignment of soccer balls in 1988.
Others were named at the NSW Wood Royal Commission over filching $200,000 from a Sydney cocaine dealer in 1983.
But with authorities infatuated with rogue NSW cop Roger Rogerson, some of the officers went bad and started trafficking drugs, taking bribes and ripping off crooks.
Ensconced on the lower floors of the TNT block, the unit was run for a time by chief inspector Cliff Foster, who committed suicide after a battle with depression in 2001.
It can now be revealed he had been under investigation for supplying heroin and was linked to an organised crime syndicate shipping huge amounts of hashish into Australia from New Zealand.
In the days after charges were laid against Standen, AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty was forced to deny claims that he and Standen worked side by side at Redfern and were once daily jogging partners.
Standen, who left the AFP to join the Crime Commission in 1996, is now accused of trying to smuggle in by sea enough pseudoephedrine to make $120 million worth of ice. He is due to face court again on August 6.
Mr Keelty said he and Standen had only ever been stationed together at the AFP‘s Sydney city headquarters in Goulburn Street.
They “might have been involved in some of the same operations” but were not close.
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Mr Keelty also said he was unaware Standen had admitted to the 1982Stewart Royal Commission that he once flushed 18 foils of cannabis down a toilet instead of declaring it as evidence. Former NSW detective turned University of Western Sydney academic Michael Kennedy said another member of the unit was allowed to take up a government job after admitting to stealing a kilogram of seized heroin displayed at a media conference. Another detective resigned after being confronted with allegations he was using and dealing cocaine. He eventually went to work for standover man Tim Bristow, who died in 2003.One-time head of AFP internal affairs Ray Cooper says security at the TNT offices was a disgrace.”Operational details were being leaked to the crims,” Mr Cooper said. “As a result, I warned the hierarchy that we needed to keep an eye out.”
Mr Cooper said his investigation into the Foster allegations was taken from him and deliberately derailed to avoid a public scandal.
He was denied permission to use phone taps and several witnesses against Foster were kidnapped and threatened by other corrupt federal detectives.
Wayne Sievers, who worked at the Redfern towers between 1983 and 1988, likened the experience to “living inside a grubby episode of Miami Vice”.
“You were looking at a group, some of whom were simply cowboys with huge egos, who were allowed to drive around town in fast cars with guns, doing whatever they wanted.”
Mr Sievers said the same day he reported being offered payola by a more senior officer he was transferred to non-operational duties.
Following a raft of AFP corruption claims at the Wood Royal Commission, a federal inquiry chaired by Sydney barrister Ian Harrison was set up in 1996-97.
Mr Cooper gave evidence but has since criticised the proceedings.
No public hearings were held and all findings were classified. Dr Kennedy and Mr Sievers also testified but believe little was achieved.
All three have called for the inquiry report to be opened.
Last week, NSW Supreme Court judge Harrison said it would be inappropriate for him to comment.
Stations: Burwood, Fingerprints Unit ( post 2000 ), Document Examiners Unit
Awards: ?
Born: ?
Died: 2001 ?
Suicide – Hanging ( apparently left a note saying “Like father, like son” )
Funeral date: ?
Funeral location: ?
Grave location: ?
[alert_blue]Neil is NOT mentioned on the Police Wall of Remembrance[/alert_blue]
Neil AINSWORTH was from the Fingerprints Section & hung himself around 2001. He was at Fingerprint Section but was transferred to Document Examiners, just prior to his suicide.
This member would have been in his 30’s at the time.
FURTHER INFORMATION IS NEEDED ABOUT THIS UNKNOWN MEMBER.
Craig Richard HUGHES
| 10/10/2015
Craig Richard HUGHES
aka ‘ The Ghost Buster ‘ & ‘ Hughsie ‘
Goulburn Police Academy Class 227
New South Wales Police Force
Regd. # 23935
Rank: Probationary Constable – appointed 26 June 1987
Constable – appointed 26 June 1988
Senior Constable
Discharged in 2000
Stations: Blacktown, Merrylands, Parramatta HWP, possibly attached to K District HWP
Service: From? ? pre June 1987 to 15 July 2001 = 14+ years Service
Awards: No find on It’s An Honour
Born: 1 August 1959
Died: 15 July 2001
Cause: Suicide – carbon monoxide ( car fumes ) at Lower Portland Cemetery
( left a suicide note about how ” the job ” took him. )
Age: 41
Funeral date: ?
Funeral location: ?
Memorial location 1: Lower Portland General Cemetery, Lower Portland, NSW ( location of death )
Other Denominations section, Row 1, Plot 2
Grave location 1:
Pinegrove Memorial Park
Location:Peace Rose Gardens
Section:Rose Garden
Lot:Right 23 ( Pinegrove Memorial Pk have Lot: Right 37 )
Lat/Lng: -33.78903, 150.84660
FURTHER INFORMATION IS NEEDED ON THIS MEMBER.
Craig is NOT mentioned on the Police Wall of Remembrance* BUT SHOULD BE
Memorial marker as the place of death of Craigh HUGHES, Lower Portland General Cemetery, Lower Portland, NSW Other Denominations section Row 1 plot Craig HUGHES 21.8.59 – 15.7.01
Memorial marker as the place of death of Craigh HUGHES, Lower Portland General Cemetery, Lower Portland, NSW
Photo taken on 19 February 2015 by Jo Barnes
Craig Hughes 1.8.59 – 15.7.01
Photo taken on 19 February 2015 by Jo Barnes
Craig HUGHES 1.8.59 – 15.7.01
*** NOTE ***
Craig HUGHES, pertaining to the simple white cross ( above ) which is located in the Lower Portland General Cemetery, is the same as:
Craig Richard Hughes
“Hughsie”
1.8.1959 – 15.7.2001
Beloved husband of Leanne
Much loved father of Amie & Aaron
Dearly loved. Sadly missed
xoxoxo
His physical grave is located at Pinegrove Cemetery, Minchinberry, NSW
Pinegrove Memorial Park
Location:Peace Rose Gardens
Section:Rose Garden
Lot:Right 23
Lat/Lng: -33.78903, 150.84660
Craig Richard Hughes “Hughsie” 1.8.1959 – 15.7.2001 Beloved husband of Leanne Much loved father of Amie & Aaron Dearly loved. Sadly missed xoxoxo Pinegrove Cemetery, Minchinberry, NSW
Having been contacted by the family, Aaron & Leanne HUGHES, in July 2017 – the cross located at Lower Portland Cemetery is the location at which Craig took his life.
Craig is actually buried at the Pinegrove Cemetery location.
May he forever be Resting In Peace
David Andrew SHEAN
| 10/10/2015
David Andrew SHEAN
( late of Waterford West )
Queensland Police Force
Regd. # 3607
Rank: Senior Constable
Stations: ?, Darling Downs, Brisbane, Brisbane Traffic Branch, Brisbane Traffic Tail bike Squad, , South Brisbane District Training Office, Brisbane Traffic Camera Officer, Metropolitan South Regional Traffic Adjudication Office
Service: Frompre 27 May 1977 to 5 April 2001 = 24 years Service
Funeral location: Great Southern Memorial Park, Carbrook, Qld
Buried at: Cremated. Ashes were scattered at Hope Banks in Moreton Bay, Qld.
Memorials: Waterford West State School unveiled a plaque dedicated to his memory in their garden of conciliation and reflection.
Gold Coast ( Qld ) Water Police rescue vessel ” D A Shean ” named in honour of David.
David Andrew SHEAN – QPol – MVA – 5 April 2001
DAVID IS mentioned on the Police Wall of Remembrance
Senior Constable David Andrew Shean
On 5 April 2001, Senior Constable Dave Shean’s life was tragically cut short when he was killed in a traffic accident while responding to a crime in progress.
It came as no surprise to those who knew Senior Constable Shean to discover he was among the first to respond to a call for assistance. This is a mark of his character and of the professionalism he consistently displayed in serving the people of Queensland.
Senior Constable’s Shean’s service commenced in 1977. He performed duty in both the Darling Downs area and Brisbane before realising an ambition to serve in the Brisbane Traffic Branch. His versatility and knowledge was exemplified in the various roles he performed while serving in the South Brisbane District Training Office, the Brisbane Traffic Camera Office and the Metropolitan South Regional Traffic Adjudication Office.
His commitment to the community was further showcased by his active involvement with Radio Lollipop and with many police displays at the RNA and Brisbane Motor Shows. His contribution since 1988 to the Adopt-a-Cop program was highlighted earlier this year when the Waterford West State School unveiled a plaque dedicated to his memory in their garden of conciliation and reflection.
The contribution of Senior Constable Shean to policing in Queensland is reflected in the words of Assistant Commissioner Freestone who said, “In representing the Service and the community he so faithfully served, David has made the ultimate sacrifice in the execution of his duty.”
The positive contribution to policing made by Senior Constable Shean stands as a testament to him. He too, will be sadly missed by his family, friends and colleagues and the community he so ably served.
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David was a “sparkie” ( electrician ) pre Queensland Police employment.
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Named in honour of David Andrew Shean
Senior Constable Shean was sworn into the Queensland Police Force in 1977. He performed duty in both the Darling Downs area and Brisbane before joining the Brisbane Traffic Branch.Senior Constable Shean served in a number of positions including the South Brisbane District Training Office, Brisbane Traffic Camera Office and the Metropolitan South Regional Traffic Adjudication Office before joining the South Brisbane Traffic Branch.
In 1988 Senior Constable Shean volunteered for the ‘Adopt a Cop’ program with the Waterford West State School. Following his death the staff and students of the School unveiled a plaque dedicated to his memory in their garden of conciliation and reflection.
On the 5 April 2001, while a member of the South Brisbane Traffic Branch, Senior Constable Shean responding on urgent duty to a crime in progress was killed when his police motorcycle collided with a truck at Eight Mile Plains in Brisbane.
Qld Police Vessel “D.A.SHEAN” – Gold Coast
“D.A.SHEAN”
The “D.A.SHEAN” launched 9th December 2005.The Honourable Judy Spence MP, Minister for Police and Corrective Services and the Commissioner for Police Mr Robert Atkinson APM, officiated at the commissioning and launching of the D. A. SHEAN at the Southport Yacht Club, Macarthur Parade, Main Beach.
Senior Constable Shean’s wife Paula and children Katie, Kimberley, Christopher and Matthew attended the launch.
The “D.A.SHEAN” is a 10 metre aluminium vessel constructed by Yamba Welding and Engineering Pty Ltd. The vessel is powered by twin 420hp (8.2 litre) M.P.I. fuel injected V8 inboard Mercruiser petrol engines with Mercruiser Bravo 3 stern drives fitted with dual propellers.
The “D.A.SHEAN” has a cruising speed of 22 knots and a top speed of 44 knots (80 km/hr) and is fitted with a dual fuel system with a total capacity of 1200 litres of unleaded petrol. The vessel is equipped with the latest electronic equipment for navigation and communication purposes and is registered in 2C commercial survey (50 nautical miles to sea) for 2 crew and 16 passengers.
Ashie DaveWe at the Gold Coast Water Police are proud to have the Water Police Vessel named in his Honour. The Police Vessel D A Shean is our rescue vessel and has saved many lives. In Memory of Dave. I’m proud to say I have been its Master on many rescues.
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Mary ROBINSON
| 10/10/2015
Mary A. ROBINSON
( late of Toronto, NSW )
NSW Redfern Police Academy Class “possibly” 184B
New South Wales Police Force
Regd. # 2031)
Uniform # 895?
Stations: ?, Warilla HWP ( 1980’s ), ?
Rank: Commenced Training at Redfern Police Academy on Monday ? May 1982
Probationary Constable – appointed Friday 23 July 1982 ( aged 23 years, 4 months, 27 days )
Constable – 23 July 1983
Final Rank: Constable
Service: From ? May 1982to? ? 1987 – discharged Medically Unfit about 1987 = 4+ years Service
Age at Discharge: 28 years
Time in Retirement: 14 years
Born: Thursday 26 February 1959
Died on: ? June 2001
Cause: Possible Drug overdose – Possible Suicide
Age: 42 years, 3 months, ? days
Event Location: Home
Funeral date: ?
Funeral location: ?
Buried at: ?
MARY is NOT mentioned on the Police Wall of Remembrance *NEED MORE INFO
Constable Mary ROBINSON, Warilla HWP – 1985
Francis ‘Frank’ GROGAN
| 10/10/2015
Francis J. ‘Frank’ GROGAN
New South Wales Police Force – Retired
Class 38
Senior Sergeant from the Illawarra area ( Warilla Police )
Died: Tuesday 30 January 2001 in MacKay, Qld.
67yrs 5mths 4days old
Frank GROGAN was a Senior Sergeant at Warilla Police Station before his retirement.
After his retirement, he moved to MacKay, Qld, where, on the 30 January 2001, he died at the age of 67.
His Funeral Service was held at Parsons Funeral Home, Belmore St, Wollongong, NSW on 5 February 2001.
Kenneth Frederick HENDERSON
| 10/10/2015
Kenneth Frederick HENDERSON
Late of ?
New South Wales Police Force
[alert_yellow]Regd. # 14078[/alert_yellow]
Rank: Probationary Constable – appointed 26 March 1970
Constable 1st Class – appointed 26 March 1975
Sergeant – appointed 20 November 1985
Detective Chief Inspector – Death
Stations: ?, Charlestown – Death
Service: From? ? pre March 1970? to 25 October 2001= 31+years Service
Detective Chief Inspector Ken HENDERSON, 51 old, committed suicide by using his service firearm inside the grounds of Charlestown Police Station in October 2001.
Ken was being harassed and ultimately threatened by SCIA during their malicious reign with a personal exposure that would, no doubt, hurt his family. Nothing to do with misconduct on his behalf, just a maliciously attempt to hurt him and his family.
He took his life with his service revolver at the rear toilets of the police station immediately after receiving a phone call from SCIA.
It is believed that no Inquest was held into his suicide.
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Three investigated police attempt suicide
By Candace Sutton March 2 2003
The Sun-Herald
Three police officers investigated by the controversial Operation Florida corruption probe have attempted suicide, The Sun-Herald has learnt.
This follows the death in 2001 of Detective Chief Inspector Ken Henderson, a highly commended officer regarded as a top criminal investigator. Henderson, 51 and a 30-year veteran of NSW Police, shot himself at work in 2001.
There was no suggestion that he was tainted by corruption.
Three officers who came under the operation’s scope have since tried to end their lives.
Senior police officers named on a controversial warrant issued as part of Operation Florida have engaged prominent barrister Tom Hughes, QC.
The warrant, ordered by former assistant commissioner Mal Brammer, was issued the day before the 2000 Olympics began and had 116 names on it.
Those named included a barrister, a journalist and five of Crime Agencies’ nine superintendents. A Police Integrity Commission investigation of the warrant has since found two of the names on it were unsupported by applications or affidavits, which PIC inspector Merv Finlay described as “a minor irregularity”
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Why cops took their eye off the streets
March 2 2003
An internal police investigation targeting corruption has claimed victims who weren’t even in its sights, Candace Sutton writes.
On a spring day in September 2000, when a rape gang was carrying out its evil in south-western Sydney, police among the highest echelons of the NSW force were intent on issuing a warrant for a listening device to eavesdrop on fellow officers.
It was a peculiar sort of warrant, with 116 names on it.
The names included those of drug dealers, armed robbers, a barrister, a journalist and five of Crime Agencies’ nine superintendents. Two names were unsupported by the affidavits usually needed for such a warrant.
It was the day before the Olympic Games opening ceremony and with the warrant’s issue, Operation Florida was born, one of the NSW Crime Commission and the Police Integrity Commission’s most explosive joint investigations.
The existence of the rape gangs was only beginning to be known by NSW police and the existence of the warrant was a secret to all but a few deep within the police service.
Like its namesake in the US, is there something rotten in the state of Florida?
The destruction the operation has wreaked in its path – the suicide of one police officer and the attemptedsuicide of three other officers who were subjects of the investigation – is compounded by the fact that one of Florida’s principal investigators and the man whose work instigated the operation are now themselves under a cloud.
Detective Chief Inspector Ken Henderson, 51, died by his own hand on his service revolver at his own police station at Charlestown.
Just what Florida achieved in uncovering corruption – and it did reveal serious breaches among officers in Sydney’s Northern Beaches – must be affected by these events. Mal Brammer has been accused of conducting malicious investigations in another operation.
During his time in charge of Internal Affairs, Mr Brammer was responsible for gathering the initial evidence for what became the Florida inquiry.
Brammer, who had left the police service for the Independent Commission Against Corruption, resigned from that job last week and faces accusations that he used “malicious and unfounded investigations against individuals”.
Brammer‘s right-hand man in Operation Florida, John Dolan, is suspended from the police service and has to show why he should not be dismissed. ( 181D )
This week the good citizens of NSW might wonder whether what is, at best, the super-zealotry of the police watchdogs, has overridden the force’s principal function: to control crime. Has there been an abuse of power? After all, who’s watching the watchers?
Dolan was allegedly caught drink-driving behind the wheel of a State Crimes Commission car at Killarney Vale, near Wyong, while on holiday, on December 28, 2001. He was charged with having a prescribed concentration of alcohol of .075.
The matter went before the court three times, although Dolan never appeared and a doctor’s certificate said the officer was “unfit to work or attend court or to read and complete documents until further notice”.
The matter was then dropped.
The drink-driving charge was incurred at the height of the Florida probe and there must have been a fear it could affect the integrity of the investigation, a joint effort between the police service, the NSW Crime Commission and the Police Integrity Commission which absorbed considerable resources of all the agencies. Dolan, 43, a senior sergeant, is suspended on superintendent’s pay, though as an acting superintendent he had not passed the examinations for that rank.
Dolan has followed Brammer throughout 15 years in the force, from the Drug Enforcement Agency through drug taskforces to Internal Affairs, and on to Florida. Now Florida itself is being investigated.
A brief of evidence on Ken Henderson’s death will be placed before the coroner soon, although there is concern that only local Gosford police investigated, whereas a policeman’s suicide usually warrants a top-level inquiry.
The listening-device warrant is now the subject of planned legal action by commissioned officers whose names were on the list.
The warrant has been explained on 60Minutes by former police commissionerPeter Ryan, who said an Operation Florida operative was to wear the listening device at a function at which the 116 names were to attend.
The police planning legal action over the warrant say all officers were on duty, and therefore attending no common social functions, during the Olympics.
Police Integrity Commission inspector Merv Finlay, who investigated complaints about the warrant, conceded there was a “minor irregularity”, given two names on the warrant were not named in any application or affidavit.
Senior police officers say the force is sick of the approach taken by some PIC investigators.
“The vast majority of police have no sympathy for officers like [corrupt Manly detectives] Matthew Jasper and David Patison, but we do ask investigators to follow the rules,” an officer said.
Several meetings at State Crime Command have moved to address the issue. A unanimous motion at the biannual conference directed the Police Association executive to pursue the matter hotly.
As for the citizens of NSW, those with their names on the warrant list have asked for access to the affidavits supporting the warrant.
Two years after the now-discredited counter-terrorist squad, the Special Branch, was disbanded, Premier Bob Carr trumpeted the fact that he was opening the secret police files to any citizen who had one.
To date, however, access to the affidavits for the Florida warrant has been denied.
THE latest child sex charges against the former Labor minister Milton Orkopoulos and his campaign worker Pat Roughan have focused attention on Lake Macquarie Council and the effectiveness of local police.
The council has had its fair share of scandals.
In 1996 a former mayor, Doug Carley, was convicted of indecently assaulting a 15-year-old boy. Carley maintains his innocence, saying he did not have the money to contest the offence. He also suffers from bipolar disorder, which colleagues believe was relevant to his case.
In 2002 a former Labor councillor, Chris Foteff, left after gay and bestiality pornography was discovered on his council-supplied computer.
It was found only after the council engaged PricewaterhouseCoopers to follow the porn trail, which led to the recovery of 5000 images deleted from Foteff‘s laptop, including 10 of naked children and about 250 of acts of bestiality.
An earlier police investigation found no images that warranted prosecution. It appears the police decided not to send the computer to Sydney for technical analysis, relying only on what they could retrieve and copy themselves.
An internal police investigation ordered by the then commissioner, Peter Ryan, cleared them of any wrongdoing.
Mr Foteff, who had followed Orkopoulos onto the council as a Labor councillor, has always maintained his innocence and said he was the victim of a set-up.
But reopening the investigation after the PricewaterhouseCoopers report proved difficult because the officer who initially investigated the pornography find, Detective Chief Inspector Ken Henderson, committed suicide in October 2002.
The Mayor of Lake Macquarie, Greg Piper, recalls that police could not prove beyond reasonable doubt that the images on Mr Foteff‘s computer were of “under-age” men and they were also restricted by a statute of limitations.
It was reported at the time that Inspector Henderson shot himself with his service revolver at Charlestown police station soon after receiving a mysterious phone call.
He had recently returned from a trip to Sydney on official police business, believed to be connected to a Police Integrity Commission inquiry. There was nosuggestion that Inspector Henderson was under investigation for corrupt conduct but because there was no inquest it remains a mystery.
Cr Piper said he did not believe that those incidents or the charges against Orkopoulos had harmed the council’s reputation, although the incidents were “unfortunate”. “The reality is, they have occurred over a long period of time,” he said, and if people “cast back and clump them together” it made the situation look worse than it was.
However, there had been other complaints about police inaction on child sexual assaults at the Lake Macquarie Local Area Command. In March 2001, Senator Bill Heffernan read a letter from a Charlestown woman into Hansard, detailing her concern about the lack of action taken by police against the abusers of her sons.
That the abuse had occurred was not questioned; her nine-year-old son required surgery after the abuse.
“No charges have ever been laid,” she wrote. “After three years of investigation from the Ombudsman’s office, Mr Bruce Barber [sic], finally intervened and asked for an investigation as to why no interviews and charges have ever been laid in relation to this.”
The mother, who has since moved to Queensland, said Inspector Henderson had been in charge of her son’s case.
RAPID advances in DNA technology could hold the key to catching the killer of Swansea High schoolgirl Bree Jones.
Police have reopened the case more than six years after Bree’s body was carried from the Caves Beach house where she had been dead for hours.
Two Lake Macquarie detectives are again working full-time to solve the mystery that has haunted parents across the region since June 3, 1995.
Bree, 16, a Year 10 student, was found dead in a house at Caves Beach after someone drugged her with methadone to have sex with her.
The case spawned two separate inquests, in which coroner Col Elliott called for perjury charges to be laid against several witnesses, and scrutiny of the State’s methadone program.
Parents shuddered as the story unfolded and they realised what had happened to Bree could as easily happen to their children.
Bree fell in with the wrong crowd, rebelled against her parents, ran away from home and paid the ultimate price.
Her mistake was putting her trust in her new `friends’, people who were apparently willing to stand by as one of their number preyed on the teenager for sex.
Bree Jones died half a kilometre from the Caves Beach home where she had lived happily with her parents, brother and four sisters until a week before the tragedy.
`There were 14 people there when she died but no-one knew what happened,’ her father, Wayne Jones, said.
`They knew of course but no-one would say anything.’
As the facts surrounding Bree’s death emerged, her parents’ anger and the frustration of the investigating officers grew.
Left-handed Bree bore injection marks in her left arm where someone, allegedly a man who wanted sex, had injected her with methadone in the early hours of June 3.
`They were trying to get her out of it so they could have sex with her,’ the mother of one of the people at the party told Mr Elliott.
The dose of methadone killed the teenager.
She slipped into unconsciousness and died.
No-one called the ambulance until 1.47pm that day, hours after Bree’s death.
No-one has come forward with exact details about her last hours.
The sperm, scientific police took from her body revealed she had had sex in the 24 hours before her death.
It may now play a pivotal role in the investigation.
Police were increasingly frustrated by the web of lies spun around the late-night party and what had happened to Bree.
Stories changed constantly, infuriating them and Mr Elliott, who recommended several witnesses be charged with perjury.
`The lies that have been told to police and the perjury committed in court have not helped the investigation,’ he said when handing down his closing statement in Wallsend Coroners Court in March 1999.
The coroner found that Bree had died from a lethal injection of methadone.
He was unable to establish who was responsible.
He did recommend the case be reopened.
`In the circumstances of this case, where a child has been overdosed with a lawful drug to obtain a sexual advantage and has consequently died, the pursuit of any person responsible and any person lying should be relentless,’ Mr Elliott said.
It was one more disappointment for the Jones family, who had watched helplessly after a man charged with manslaughter and supplying drugs to Bree went free in 1997 after the Department of Public Prosecutions dropped the case.
For her family one of the worst things about the case remains that no-one tried to save Bree.
One man, 20 at the time of Bree’s death, told the inquest he had seen her about 6am on June 3, lying in bed with a 29-year-old man.
`She had saliva coming out her mouth and her breathing wasn’t clear,’ the man said.
He did not try to wake her but got his surfboard and left the house.
`I didn’t realise she was in danger of losing her life,’ the 20-year-old said.
The same witness, who admitted lying to police constantly in the three years since Bree’s death, said the party goers had got together the next night for a `conference’ to get their `stories straight’.
Bree remains alive to those who knew her best.
`She was full of fun, loved life, just tried to make everyone happy,’ her mother, Maree, said.
`Her sisters still talk about her all the time.
`There’s not a day goes by when her name’s not mentioned in this household.’
It has been a terrible time for the Jones family.
A few years after Bree’s death, her only brother, Jabe, needed a kidney transplant.
Wayne Jones was happy to help his son.
It is this spirit that has kept the Jones family united in its search for justice.
`Like most 16-year-olds, Bree loved life,’ Mr Jones said.
`She was probably a bit braver than she should have been at that age and got into a situation she couldn’t control.
`She’d been a good kid all her life then hit a stage where she was giving us a bit of trouble.
`Bree got in with the wrong crowd and began to mix with older people that were just a bit too clever for her.
`We are very hopeful the new inquiry will lead to something and that articles like this will jog a conscience and get someone to come forward.’
The investigating officers believe advances in DNA technology, coupled with new legislation passed through State Parliament this year, could mean the unsolved tag being taken off the Bree Jones files.
`The major reason we’ve reopened the case is that it was a recommendation from the coroner,’ Lake Macquarie crime manager Detective Inspector Ken Henderson said.
`But now hopefully we can enact the new DNA legislation and take samples directly from the suspects.
`Before we had to charge the suspect with an actual offence related to the case before we could take samples but now we don’t have to do that.
`The new legislation gives us the light at the end of the tunnel.’
Though hoping the new inquiry, now under way, will lead somewhere, Mr Jones intends to keep searching for his daughter’s killer.
`Time can be your best friend or your worst enemy,’ the 49-year-old said.
`I’m going to live a long life just to get to the end of all this.’
Detective Inspector Ken Henderson was attached to Newcastle. In 2001 he took his own life. At the time a number of officers under his control were involved in Police Integrity Commission matters. It was later established that Henderson was not subject to investigation. The family remains at a loss as to why he took his own life. He had not received any treatment nor consulted any medical providers concerning any stress he may have suffered.
Senior Constable Shean was sworn into the Queensland Police Force in 1977. He performed duty in both the Darling Downs area and Brisbane before joining the Brisbane Traffic Branch.Senior Constable Shean served in a number of positions including the South Brisbane District Training Office, Brisbane Traffic Camera Office and the Metropolitan South Regional Traffic Adjudication Office before joining the South Brisbane Traffic Branch.
