Corruption confession continues at PIC

PM Archive - Tuesday, 11 December , 2001 Reporter: Michael Vincent Mark Colvin MARK COLVIN: Well, Western Australia can take little comfort from New South Wales, which is still learning hard lessons about police corruption. It's seemingly unending, as Four Corners found out in October, when it revealed the latest allegations, and even then New South Wales' Police Commissioner Peter Ryan was not optimistic. NEW SOUTH WALES POLICE COMMISSIONER - PETER RYAN: The past comes to haunt the future. If change is necessary and you haven't cleaned up the past, whatever is lying in there and the people who were responsible for it will surface again. MARK COLVIN: At the New South Wales' Police Integrity Commission today, another corrupt officer has confessed all. Detective Senior Constable David Patterson broke down in the witness box yesterday and again today. The question for future prosecutors will be 'just how remorseful is he?'. Michael Vincent reports. MICHAEL VINCENT: Detective Senior Constable David Patterson took his first kickback in 1985, six years after joining the service. It was small - $100 from a fellow officer who'd stolen it from a drug user. Then the dollars became thousands and 15 years of corrupt behaviour followed until Patterson was caught and charged last December. The 41-year-old has now rolled over and is telling all. (EXCERPT FROM DAVID PATTERSON IN THE WITNESS STAND IN COURT): 'You don't go in to be corrupt, you just walk up the wrong path.' MICHAEL VINCENT: And just why had he gone down that path? (EXCERPT FROM DAVID PATTERSON IN THE WITNESS STAND IN COURT): 'I'd got away with it for so long in the past. It doesn't matter if you get caught. You'd lie about it and probably beat it in court.' MICHAEL VINCENT: Patterson has confessed to stealing and on-selling drugs, verballing suspects, falsifying information for search warrants as well as stealing money. A raid on a drug dealer last year was particularly lucrative. Patterson found $30,000 stashed in a sock in a bedside drawer. (EXCERPT FROM DAVID PATTERSON IN THE WITNESS STAND IN COURT): 'I didn't know what to do with that sort of money. I knew that my parents were away so I took it and hid it in my parent's garage.' MICHAEL VINCENT: Patterson later split the $30,000 three ways with two other officers. The commission has heard evidence from a heroin dealer that he'd been paying off Patterson and a colleague in $1,000 bribes sporadically for months, but the $30,000 was the largest sum Patterson had received in one go. And if that was the case, Counsel Assisting the Commissioner asked Patterson why didn't he go back to the drug dealer, code name B-5, and ask for more? (EXCERPT FROM DAVID PATTERSON IN THE WITNESS STAND IN COURT): 'After the initial arrest I wanted nothing to do with B-5. I'd taken $30,000 off him. To go back for more . it'd be asking for trouble.' MICHAEL VINCENT: Patterson told the commission he had a preference for taking cash because unlike stealing other goods, cash was untraceable. Throughout the commission's hearings Patterson has expressed remorse, saying he liked to think of himself as 'not a bad sort of person'. He said he even wanted to train young officers and do more positive activities. (EXCERPT FROM DAVID PATTERSON IN THE WITNESS STAND IN COURT): 'Deep down I knew I was doing the wrong thing.' MICHAEL VINCENT: Yesterday the 41-year-old broke down twice in the witness box and again this morning. While giving evidence about how he'd tried to leave his corrupt behaviour behind him and get another job with the Fraud Squad his voice cracked, he became visibly upset and he sobbed. In fact far from being the most corrupt officer at the Manly Police Station, Patterson suggested to the commission today there were police far worse than him, in particular an officer now code named M-5. (EXCERPT FROM DAVID PATTERSON IN THE WITNESS STAND IN COURT): 'I'd done some ordinary things in the past. I didn't want anything to do with M-5. He was a steam-roller, out of control, trying to get everyone involved in everything. I knew what he was like in the past. I really didn't like him and I was really not keen about what was going on.' MICHAEL VINCENT: Ironically, the commission later heard M-5 was actually an undercover officer trying to catch corrupt police. Meanwhile, another of Patterson's colleagues today appeared in court. Detective Sergeant Ray Peady walked into Sydney's District Court this morning and calmly pleaded guilty to four counts of receiving a bribe. Both Patterson and Peady are due to appear in court next January. MARK COLVIN: Michael Vincent.