Telegraph, The (UK)
Contact:  Sun, 27 Sep 1998
Author: Geoffrey Seed and Alasdair Palmer

POLICE CORRUPTION IN UK 'AT THIRD WORLD LEVELS'

POLICE corruption in Britain is now so widespread it may have reached
levels which normally only occur in unstable Third World countries,
according to a confidential document obtained by The Telegraph.

The growth of the international drugs trade and the massive amounts of
money available to criminals to offer as bribes are identified as the key
cause.

The document, the minutes of a meeting organised by the National Criminal
Intelligence Service (NCIS), and attended by 10 of Britain's most senior
officers and policy makers, states that "corrupt officers exist throughout
the UK police service". NCIS's Director of Intelligence said that
corruption may have reached "level 2: the situation which occurs in some
Third World Countries".

Police are so concerned they say that drug testing and lie detector tests
for detectives should be considered as options in the fight against
corruption.

The document, the minutes of a meeting organised by the National Criminal
Intelligence Service (NCIS), and attended by 10 of Britain's most senior
officers and policy makers, states that "corrupt officers exist throughout
the UK police service".

NCIS's Director of Intelligence indicated that corruption had become
"pervasive" and may have reached "level 2: the situation which occurs in
some Third World countries".

But the facts about police corruption in Britain today are being
deliberately concealed from the public. The confidential document suggests
the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) formulates a strategy for
dealing with "adverse publicity". A month after the NCIS meeting, David
Blakey, the president of ACPO, formally stated that he and his collegues
believed "the true level of corruption in the modern police service is
extremely low".

The NCIS minutes state that "common activities" of corrupt officers include
theft of property and drugs during searches, planting of drugs or stolen
property on individuals, supplying details of operations to subjects,
providing tip-offs to criminal associates, and destroying evidence.

It adds that "in severe cases, this also includes the committing of serious
crimes including armed robbery and drug dealing, or the licensing and
organising of such crimes".

The meeting decided that police corruption was so serious that NCIS should
be given the role of co-ordinating intelligence on corrupt officers in
every force in the country. MI5 and ACPO had both agreed to that proposal.
Regional forces should follow the Metropolitan Police rules and establish
hot lines so that honest officers could inform on their corrupt colleagues
in confidence.

The informant/handler relationship is identified as one which is frequently
used by corrupt officers to disguise what is in reality a straightforwardly
criminal liaison. "Many criminals believe that by becoming informants they.
. . are given an opportunity to corrupt an officer."

It recommends that MI5-style security officers be appointed to oversee
handlers and informants.

Roger Gaspar, NCIS director of intelligence, suggested that internal police
investigation units were needed to mount covert operations against the
force's own officers. They should intercept communications, tap phones, and
use hidden microphones and cameras to gain evidence. At the same time they
should introduce rigorous new security techniques to ensure that they
themselves were not infiltrated by corrupt officers.

The task is made difficult because "some of the most overtly honest
officers have actually been extremely corrupt".

The meeting had no doubt about the cause of the corruption crisis: the
multi-million pound drug trade. "The enormous volume of money that is
available to criminals, especially to drug importers and dealers means that
very large sums can be offered to corrupt officers. Criminals are willing
to pay to ensure their ability to operate."

The meeting emphasised that combating corruption should include
investigating sources of leaks to the media. "Many officers do not regard
contact with the media. . . as corrupt."

The minutes also noted, without any apparent irony, that one of the
controls on corruption is "a vigorous, uncensored media"

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Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson