Manly detective admits to corruption 2001

PM Archive - Tuesday, 16 October , 2001 Reporter: Peter Lloyd Mark Colvin COMPERE: Brave, courageous, resolute and noble are some of the dictionary definitions of Manly, but there's not much of any of those qualities in the evidence emerging about the most Senior Detective at Manly Police Station in Sydney's Northern Beaches. At the Police Integrity Commission Inquiry he's admitted he was on the take from fellow corrupt officers. Detective Sergeant Raymond Peattie, who's been suspended from the service, revealed that his personal corruption stemmed from the early 1980s. It ranged from stealing cash from drug dealers to fabricating incriminating statements from suspects - a practice known as 'verballing'. I must warn you that Peter Lloyd's report from the inquiry contains audio in which a police officer uses strong language. If you're likely to be offended I suggest you switch off for the next three minutes. PETER LLOYD: Big, burly and gruff voiced, Detective Sergeant Raymond Peattie could be the hardened cop straight from central casting. His fall from grace is now moving at lightning speed, but can be traced back two decades to when he first accepted cash for turning a blind eye to illegal gaming and betting. In the late 1980s he graduated to taking regular payments in return for laying off certain drug dealers. In his own words he faced temptation and failed. In recent years he's been the Crime Manager at Manly Police Station, supervising 14 officers including Detectives David Patterson and Matthew Jasper. They are the two officers so far accused of taking massive bribes in exchange for green-lighting the operations of a number of drug dealers. Detective Sergeant Peattie admits taking 'hush money' from them and doing nothing to curb their corruption - quite the opposite, in fact. Last year he put both men in charge of a special drugs task force meant to increase arrest figures. The Detective Sergeant denied doing it to make sure the 'hush money' kept on coming. Within a week of Detectives Jasper and Patterson being arrested last December, Mr Peattie took sick leaving claiming a depression and anxiety disorder. Today he denied feigning illness to claim disability payments, but that seemed at odds with a surveillance recording of a conversation between Mr Peattie and a fellow officer code-named M5 in which he confides about his diagnosis. The recording has been edited to delete some of the bluer expletives used by Detective Peattie - one almost for every sentence he utters. DETECTIVE SERGEANT RAYMOND PEATTIE: I went to my psych, right? I've had four sessions with him now. The first one obviously fucking just discussed the structure of the police force, blah, blah. The second one he was going to Italy at the end of the week and he really rushed me off. M5: Mm. RAYMOND PEATTIE: And I went to a psychologist and she put me in the fucking top 10 per cent of depressed [edit] and I thought that was beautiful and I think I got tea and coffee and I didn't fucking put it on enough for this bloke. At the end of the second session he said to me, he said, 'Well, mate, I don't think you've got a mental disorder', and I said well neither do I, and he said, 'but I don't think you've got an anxiety or depressive disorder, either'. M5: Oh.. RAYMOND PEATTIE: And I went, oh fuck - that made me depressed. M5: Mm. RAYMOND PEATTIE: And I said, 'Oh, well, with due respects I haven't told you fucking half of what's gone on yet', I thought this is fucking not wrong. He said, 'Look' . and then he left me and said, 'Fill in this questionnaire and make a new appointment'. And he come back out of his room and he said 'mate, I'll help you, you just tell me what I need to hear' type of thing and he's virtually saying listen, stupid fucker, put it on. And he said, 'and write out a page for me. Write out all your feelings for me. I want to know how things have made you feel'. M5: Mm. RAYMOND PEATTIE: Now today when I've gone and seen him again he's . oh, fucking done me. Now he's got me highly depressed and fucking all this sort of stuff and prescribing these fucking sipilings [phonetic] or some fucking thing. M5: Mm. RAYMOND PEATTIE: So why I rang you is, mate, have you heard of sipilings and fucking was that the thing they give you that they [inaudible] at the centre? Apart from that, have you? I've got to take these fuckers [inaudible] with me. Is that alright? M5: Yeah. RAYMOND PEATTIE: So that's why I've rung you today. M5: Right. PETER LLOYD: Before he went on sick leave, Detective Sergeant Peattie was involved in the drawing up of a corruption prevention plan for fellow officers. When asked today by Peter Hastings QC, counsel assisting the commission, if the farce of that situation occurred to him, Peattie replied, 'No, sir'. COMPERE: Peter Lloyd, whose ears are still burning.