Vic Police info leaked to alleged criminals?

Drug trafficking investigations across the country have been [allegedly] compromised by an [allegedly] significant leak of confidential information from inside Victoria Police.

[Allegedly] significant amounts of confidential police information has been given to alleged [criminals] and alleged killers, including some thought to be behind the biggest ever importation of ecstasy into Australia.

The [alleged] leak is thought to have come from inside the Victoria Police Covert Support Unit, responsible for electronic and physical surveillance.

When several suspects were arrested over recent months, they were [allegedly] found with information from files prepared by the surveillance unit.

The suspects were arrested over a record ecstasy bust and a murder in Melbourne in 2004.

The [alleged] files contained information about investigations run by the Victoria Police, the Australian Federal Police, Customs, and the Australian Crime Commission.

Now the [alleged] leak is being investigated by Victoria's Office for Police Integrity (OPI).

OPI director Mark Strong says a comprehensive independent review of information security is underway and information security within Victoria Police has long been of concern to the OPI.

Break-in

In 1996, there was a break-in at the St Kilda Road police headquarters.

Someone stole a mass of police files about one of the then-drug squad's biggest investigations. One of the files taken had information on an informer who had earned the trust of a major drug syndicate.

Corrupt police

In 2004 drug dealer turned police informant Terrence Hodson and his wife Christine were killed in their home in suburban Melbourne.

Information about Hodson's work as a police informer was [allegedly] given to criminals.

Police suspect the leak of the confidential police file, helped trigger the double murder, which was also part of Melbourne's vicious gangland war.

Now it [is claimed that a person], who has been charged with trafficking, has again been given vital police information.

Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe heads the Victorian force's Organisation Security Committee, which supervises the security of files.

Asked recently about previous corruption, he said there is no longer evidence of a culture of corruption.

"We are confident that there is nothing there existing at this time," he said.

For years Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon has insisted Victoria is as resistant to corruption as it is possible to be.

"I think within Victoria Police we are also very committed to making sure that we are accountable, that those who do not live up to the standards we require of them are, in fact, appropriately dealt with and moved out of Victoria Police, if that's the appropriate way," she said.

"So I think what happens is we have an organisation in the Victoria Police which is making sure we're corruption-free - or at least as best you can to be corruption resistant."

Ms Nixon threatened to resign if the Government consented to critics' calls for a Royal Commission.

Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Simon Overland has also long said the situation is under control.

"I think there is a history of unhealthy relationship between a small number of police - and I make that point, I think it is a small number of police," he said.

"I don't think this is systemic and I don't believe it's an issue where Victoria Police per se has been protecting criminals in Victoria.

"But I think there is a history of unhealthy relationships between a small number of police and organised crime figures here in Victoria."

Over the years the state's most senior police have been reluctant to publicly accept links between corrupt police and crimes like drug trafficking and murder.

But this latest [alleged] leak may bring new pressure to bear on the police and Government, because this can be seen by some as an ongoing problem, and because the corrupt behaviour, if proven, has the potential to affect crime fighting agencies across the country.

Related:

Ex-police media director guilty of perjury
Prosecutors have dropped a number of charges against former Victoria Police media director Stephen Linnell on an undertaking that he will plead guilty to perjury.

Nixon quits as police chief
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon has announced she is resigning from the top job.

Sacked Victorian police squad lawless
THE police corruption watchdog claims some members of the former armed offenders squad took the law into their own hands.

Lives put at risk by corrupt police
LIVES are being put at risk by "festering" cells of corrupt police leaking information on confidential investigations to criminals, a police corruption watchdog has warned.

Charge gangland police suspect: OPI
VICTORIA'S police watchdog has recommended criminal charges against Paul Dale, a former policeman linked to a double underworld murder, along with several other police.

One OPI officer sacked, another suspended
Some people may form the view that it is tit for tat between the OPI and some opposition (political or other like Police Association or affiliates?) down in Victoria (See Links). Perhaps the expense claims are a way to weaken previous statements made by the OPI in relation to allegation against police?

Police-crime links linger
A SMALL number of Victorian police are maintaining improper links with organised crime figures, the state's police corruption watchdog says.

Police watchdog 'leaks like a sieve'
The Victoria Police watchdog leaks like a sieve, according to former assistant commissioner Noel Ashby, who could face criminal charges following an Office of Police Integrity (OPI) inquiry.

Police criticised as OPI hearing wraps up
The head of an Office of Police Integrity (OPI) inquiry is expected to call for stronger ethical guidelines within Victoria Police when he tables his report in Parliament.

Ex-police media director guilty of perjury

Prosecutors have dropped a number of charges against former Victoria Police media director Stephen Linnell on an undertaking that he will plead guilty to perjury.

Linnell's lawyer told the Melbourne Magistrates Court, his client would plead guilty to three charges of perjury and three summary counts of breaching confidentiality.

Thirteen related charges against him have been dropped.

The charges relate to Office of Police Integrity (OPI) hearings into whether senior police figures were part of a chain of leaks that derailed a murder investigation.

The court heard Linnell was prepared to give an undertaking to give evidence against his co-accused, former assistant commissioner Noel Ashby.

He is facing 29 charges.

He will also give evidence against and Police Association Secretary Paul Mullett, who has been charged with five offences.

Mullett and Ashby will face a committal hearing next May.

Linnell will return to court to enter his plea in February.

Related:

Nixon quits as police chief
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon has announced she is resigning from the top job.

Sacked Victorian police squad lawless
THE police corruption watchdog claims some members of the former armed offenders squad took the law into their own hands.

Lives put at risk by corrupt police
LIVES are being put at risk by "festering" cells of corrupt police leaking information on confidential investigations to criminals, a police corruption watchdog has warned.

Charge gangland police suspect: OPI
VICTORIA'S police watchdog has recommended criminal charges against Paul Dale, a former policeman linked to a double underworld murder, along with several other police.

One OPI officer sacked, another suspended
Some people may form the view that it is tit for tat between the OPI and some opposition (political or other like Police Association or affiliates?) down in Victoria (See Links). Perhaps the expense claims are a way to weaken previous statements made by the OPI in relation to allegation against police?

Police-crime links linger
A SMALL number of Victorian police are maintaining improper links with organised crime figures, the state's police corruption watchdog says.

Police watchdog 'leaks like a sieve'
The Victoria Police watchdog leaks like a sieve, according to former assistant commissioner Noel Ashby, who could face criminal charges following an Office of Police Integrity (OPI) inquiry.

Police criticised as OPI hearing wraps up
The head of an Office of Police Integrity (OPI) inquiry is expected to call for stronger ethical guidelines within Victoria Police when he tables his report in Parliament.

Sacked Victorian police squad lawless

The black suits, white shirts and team-issue black ties worn by the armed offenders squad imitated the violent criminals in the film Reservoir Dogs, the OPI report says.

THE police corruption watchdog claims some members of the former armed offenders squad took the law into their own hands.

Office of Police Integrity director Michael Strong said too many squad members believed assaulting criminals was a community service.

In a report tabled yesterday in State Parliament, Mr Strong also said some squad members believed they were a "force within the force" and above the law.

"Undoubtedly some police have been prepared to decide guilt without recourse to courts, mete out punishment to those they consider deserve it and lie on oath or turn a blind eye to protect themselves or their colleagues," he said.

Mr Strong said members of the scrapped squad had a disproportionate number of complaints compared with other Victoria Police squads.

"The armed offenders squad should be regarded as a cultural relic within Victoria Police," he said.

"Too many of its members believed that 'the end justified the means', and that bashing a 'crook', was a community service.

"The squad, through a lack of appropriate monitoring and accountability within Victoria Police, was allowed to develop its own culture, out of step with the organisation's direction."

The OPI secretly bugged an armed offenders squad interview room in 2006 and filmed members committing assaults.

Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon scrapped the elite squad within weeks of a July 2007 OPI raid on it.

Disgraced ex-squad members Robert Dabb, Mark Butterfield and Matthew Franc initially denied it was them who were caught on camera bashing a suspect.

But each of the former detectives this year pleaded guilty to assault and misleading the OPI director.

They were sentenced to intensive corrections orders involving community work, education and training of between 17 and 22 weeks.

Mr Strong said he was concerned the violence revealed on the secret tape was not an isolated or unusual occurrence, but was symptomatic of broader problems in the squad's structure and ethos.

"Lack of a stable and strong middle management clearly contributed to the fact that an unhealthy squad culture was able to continue unchecked," he said.

Victoria Police deputy commissioner Kieran Walshe said yesterday that the OPI's identification of the unhealthy culture in the armed offenders squad vindicated Ms Nixon's decision to scrap it.

"That culture does not, in my view, exist anywhere else in the organisation," he said.

But Police Association secretary designate Greg Davies said scrapping the 35-strong squad was an over-reaction.

He said only three members were dealt with in court, but disbanding the squad created the impression all the others also did something wrong.

"Those people were hard-working, honest, solid performers and were all tarred with the one brush," he said.

Mr Strong praised Victoria Police for acting swiftly to disband the squad.

"Not only has there been a significant reduction in complaints against detectives working in the area, but arrest and conviction rates have also improved," he said.

The OPI report reveals the old armed offenders squad solved only 47 per cent of cases between July 2003 and September 2006 whereas the new armed crime taskforce has a clean-up rate of 80 per cent.

There were 31 complaints lodged against armed offenders squad detectives in that 39-month period.

Camera in police cars 'to deter bashings

POLICE should install video cameras in police cars and throughout stations to deter officers from bashing suspects, the Office Of Police Integrity has recommended.

In a report tabled in Parliament yesterday into the now defunct armed offenders squad, OPI director Michael Strong said video surveillance would deter police from assaulting suspects and would protect them from false allegations of assault.

The investigation into the armed offenders squad found that the unit behaved as a force within a force, believing "that bashing a crook was a community service".

It found the squad deliberately branded itself as a separate unit within the police force that lived and worked by its own rules.

"Squad members became renowned for wearing black suits, white shirts, dark sunglasses and a team-issue black tie." The report said it was part of the image of "an unyielding clique or band, united together, separate and apart from the broader Victoria Police organisation. The outfits imitate the costumes worn by a network of violent criminals in the film Reservoir Dogs."

The OPI found the squad was poorly supervised, refused to alter its illegal behaviour and resisted any attempts at reform. It also found members were prepared to lie to cover-up assaults.

"The absence of a stable leadership and lack of diligent supervisors gave squad members free reign to use whatever police methods they liked.

"Throughout the OPI investigation into the armed offenders squad, police regularly invoked the code of silence in an attempt to frustrate the investigation," the report found.

"The investigation exposed the flagrant disregard by some members of the squad for suspects' rights."

In February 2006, the OPI began an investigation into allegations that suspects were being mistreated by detectives from the armed offenders squad. Three months later, an OPI secret camera hidden in one of the squad's interview rooms captured a suspect being bashed.

Three members of the squad, Robert Dabb, Mark Butterfield and Matthew Franc, were called to OPI hearings and denied involvement. They later resigned and earlier this year pleaded guilty to assaulting the suspect and attempting to mislead the OPI. They were sentenced to intensive corrections orders that involve community service work.

The OPI said the case exposed "the alarming willingness of some police to lie on oath or turn a blind eye to protect themselves or their colleagues".

The armed offenders squad was disbanded in 2006 and replaced with the armed crime taskforce. Figures published in the OPI report show that since the change, the solution rate has jumped from 47% to 80% and the complaint rate has dropped.

Mr Strong was critical of the Police Association's vigorous defence of the squad and its opposition to Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon's decision to disband the unit.

Police Association secretary Greg Davies rejected the criticism, saying the union believed the OPI had ignored due process during the investigation.

He said the association opposed "criminal conduct by any member of the police force".

Mr Davies said the association had been calling for cameras to be installed in all police cars for the past five years.

Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe said all crime department interview rooms were fitted with new video cameras to monitor questioning. The state's 160 divisional vans, all 24-hour police stations and new 16-hour ones had also been fitted with cameras.

He said police would examine the recommendation of fitting the 2200-vehicle fleet with video cameras. "We think it has merit but we will look at it in the context of costs."

Police Minister Bob Cameron said the report exposed an unhealthy culture that had now been broken.

But Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu said he doubted the force was rid of the problems, and it would be wrong to assume that the culture was confined to police.

Related:

Lives put at risk by corrupt police
LIVES are being put at risk by "festering" cells of corrupt police leaking information on confidential investigations to criminals, a police corruption watchdog has warned.

Charge gangland police suspect: OPI
VICTORIA'S police watchdog has recommended criminal charges against Paul Dale, a former policeman linked to a double underworld murder, along with several other police.

One OPI officer sacked, another suspended
Some people may form the view that it is tit for tat between the OPI and some opposition (political or other like Police Association or affiliates?) down in Victoria (See Links). Perhaps the expense claims are a way to weaken previous statements made by the OPI in relation to allegation against police?

Police-crime links linger
A SMALL number of Victorian police are maintaining improper links with organised crime figures, the state's police corruption watchdog says.

Police watchdog 'leaks like a sieve'
The Victoria Police watchdog leaks like a sieve, according to former assistant commissioner Noel Ashby, who could face criminal charges following an Office of Police Integrity (OPI) inquiry.

Police criticised as OPI hearing wraps up
The head of an Office of Police Integrity (OPI) inquiry is expected to call for stronger ethical guidelines within Victoria Police when he tables his report in Parliament.

Lives put at risk by corrupt police

LIVES are being put at risk by "festering" cells of corrupt police leaking information on confidential investigations to criminals, a police corruption watchdog has warned.

Officers in the corrupt cells are "culturally influential" in the force and can exploit the common practice of police sharing inside information on investigations to big-note themselves to their mates.

Information traded by corrupt police to criminal associates damaged investigations, and "in extreme cases lives can be, and have been, put in jeopardy", the Victorian Office of Police Integrity warned.

In the OPI's annual report, tabled in parliament yesterday, director Michael Strong said that in some instances inside information about investigations was being sold to criminals or traded in return for favours.

"At other times, the information-sharing arises between individuals who have a longstanding relationship in which loyalty to the individual appears to replace loyalty to Victoria Police and to the police officer's oath to uphold the law," Mr Strong says.

Victoria Police was rocked late last year when it was revealed in sensational OPI public hearings that details about a top-secret underworld murder investigation were allegedly leaked from senior levels within the force to the main suspect.

Confidential information was also leaked about police informer Terrence Hodson shortly before he and his wife, Christine, were murdered in a cold-blooded underworld execution in 2004.

Mr Strong said corrupt police often promoted the image they were high achievers, but actually did little productive work. "They regularly flout organisational rules and regulations and avoid accountability because of their cultural influence," he said.

But attempts to clean out the force were being hampered by a "code of silence" and a tendency for police to close ranks or turn a blind eye, including lying to OPI corruption hearings.

"Too many police witnesses required to answer questions under oath in OPI hearings seem willing to sacrifice their credibility rather than break the code," Mr Strong said.

Related:

Charge gangland police suspect: OPI
VICTORIA'S police watchdog has recommended criminal charges against Paul Dale, a former policeman linked to a double underworld murder, along with several other police.

One OPI officer sacked, another suspended
Some people may form the view that it is tit for tat between the OPI and some opposition (political or other like Police Association or affiliates?) down in Victoria (See Links). Perhaps the expense claims are a way to weaken previous statements made by the OPI in relation to allegation against police?

Police-crime links linger
A SMALL number of Victorian police are maintaining improper links with organised crime figures, the state's police corruption watchdog says.

Police watchdog 'leaks like a sieve'
The Victoria Police watchdog leaks like a sieve, according to former assistant commissioner Noel Ashby, who could face criminal charges following an Office of Police Integrity (OPI) inquiry.

Police criticised as OPI hearing wraps up
The head of an Office of Police Integrity (OPI) inquiry is expected to call for stronger ethical guidelines within Victoria Police when he tables his report in Parliament.

Charge gangland police suspect: OPI

Former policeman Paul Dale.

VICTORIA'S police watchdog has recommended criminal charges against Paul Dale, a former policeman linked to a double underworld murder, along with several other police.

In a report tabled in State Parliament yesterday, Office of Police Integrity director Michael Strong recommends that Mr Dale — whose corruption case was thrown out of court after the murders of gangland informer Terence Hodson and his wife, Christine — face charges including perjury, conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, misleading the OPI and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Mr Dale was the main police contact with Hodson before he and his wife were killed in their Kew home on May 16, 2004.

At the time, Hodson had agreed to give evidence against Mr Dale, a former drug squad detective, over the alleged attempted theft of $1.3 million worth of ecstasy pills that resulted in another policeman, David Miechel, being jailed.

Mr Dale, who denies any involvement in the murders, has been accused of leaking a police dossier about Hodson's informer status to an underworld figure before the couple were killed.

Police this week offered a $1 million reward and possible immunity from prosecution for information on the case.

Mr Strong's report and recommendations relate to evidence Mr Dale and other officers gave at a public hearing into misconduct allegations earlier this year. The Director of Public Prosecutions will now decide whether charges should be laid.

Mr Strong outlines the integrity risks police face by forming or maintaining relationships with known or suspected criminals and recommends that an improper associations register is necessary to minimise the risk to police by continued association.

The report states that Mr Dale manipulated police friends to get updates about the Petra taskforce, set up in April 2007 to investigate the Hodson murders.

"In doing so, he asked those police to put loyalty to him above their integrity, and above loyalty to their oath of office, their police colleagues and ultimately their duty to the community."

Charges are also recommended against other officers — particularly suspended Detective Sergeant Dennis Linehan — who the watchdog believes have maintained an inappropriately close relationship with Mr Dale while knowing he was under investigation.

Perjury, attempting to pervert the course of justice, misconduct in public office and attempting to mislead the OPI are charges recommended against Mr Linehan, as well as disciplinary action. Detectives Robert Bird, Robert McCann and Mark Chrystie should also face disciplinary action for their relationship with Mr Dale, the report says.

From October 31, all police in Victoria will have to declare any associations that may be seen as "incompatible" with their jobs.

Police Association secretary designate Greg Davies said: "Our members have been dragged out, have their reputations sullied in public and they haven't even been charged with anything."

Related:

One OPI officer sacked, another suspended
Some people may form the view that it is tit for tat between the OPI and some opposition (political or other like Police Association or affiliates?) down in Victoria (See Links). Perhaps the expense claims are a way to weaken previous statements made by the OPI in relation to allegation against police?

Police-crime links linger
A SMALL number of Victorian police are maintaining improper links with organised crime figures, the state's police corruption watchdog says.

Police watchdog 'leaks like a sieve'
The Victoria Police watchdog leaks like a sieve, according to former assistant commissioner Noel Ashby, who could face criminal charges following an Office of Police Integrity (OPI) inquiry.

Police criticised as OPI hearing wraps up
The head of an Office of Police Integrity (OPI) inquiry is expected to call for stronger ethical guidelines within Victoria Police when he tables his report in Parliament.

One OPI officer sacked, another suspended

Andrew McIntosh...It appears that it is unable to properly investigate its own.

The Victorian Office of Police Integrity (OPI) is under fire after one of its officers was sacked and another was suspended because of alleged misconduct.

The misconduct relates to a misuse of expense claims.

The OPI says the matter was detected internally and an independent company is conducting an investigation.

The Opposition police spokesman, Andrew McIntosh, says the matter raises concerns over who is overseeing the police corruption watchdog.

"Who's guarding the guard while the guard's guarding us?".

"It appears that it is unable to properly investigate its own, when it's involving an outside agency to investigate its internal operatives," he said.

Quote: Some people may form the view that it is tit for tat between the OPI and some opposition (political or other like Police Association or affiliates?) down in Victoria (See Links). Perhaps the expense claims are a way to weaken previous statements made by the OPI in relation to allegation against police?

Related:

Police-crime links linger
A SMALL number of Victorian police are maintaining improper links with organised crime figures, the state's police corruption watchdog says.

Police watchdog 'leaks like a sieve'
The Victoria Police watchdog leaks like a sieve, according to former assistant commissioner Noel Ashby, who could face criminal charges following an Office of Police Integrity (OPI) inquiry.

Police criticised as OPI hearing wraps up
The head of an Office of Police Integrity (OPI) inquiry is expected to call for stronger ethical guidelines within Victoria Police when he tables his report in Parliament.

Police-crime links linger

A SMALL number of Victorian police are maintaining improper links with organised crime figures, the state's police corruption watchdog says.

In an interview marking 100 days as the director of the Office of Police Integrity, former county court judge Michael Strong revealed that associations between police and high-level criminals were among of a number of corruption issues the OPI was probing.

"The police officer may have known the criminal for many years. The friendship might have begun quite innocently, perhaps they were at school together, perhaps they have mutual friends, perhaps the police officer enjoys the lifestyle the criminal lives, the high living and so on," Mr Strong said.

"I believe there are some associations between a very small number of Victorian police and persons who could be described as organised criminals."

Mr Strong also said:

* The watchdog was still investigating allegations made about a small number of police who had worked at the St Kilda police station.

* Force command was set to release its revised improper-association policy, requiring police to disclose any potentially improper relationships.

* The vast majority of police were honest and hard-working and that part of the OPI's role was to prevent corruption rather than simply detect it.

Mr Strong, who replaced George Brouwer as OPI director in March, recently oversaw the preparation of criminal briefs against police union secretary Paul Mullett, former assistant commissioner Noel Ashby and former police media director Stephen Linnell. The trio were charged by police last month following the controversial OPI public hearings in November, which exposed tapped phone calls of the men allegedly discussing confidential police information.

Mr Strong dismissed claims made previously by Mr Mullett and Mr Ashby that the OPI's investigations were driven by vendettas held by some in force command or were aimed at undermining the police union.

"My background is as a judge of 20 years' standing and I assume in appointing me the Government was keen to appoint someone in a long background in independent action," he said.

Mr Strong refused to comment on whether Victoria needed a broad-based anti-corruption commission, with similar powers to the OPI's, that could investigate politicians, public officials and organised criminals.

The OPI can tap phones and force suspects to answer questions, but it can investigate only serving and former police.

Mr Strong also defended the levels of oversight applied to the OPI and said he was stunned by claims that it was unaccountable.

However, the man in charge of overseeing the Office of Police Integrity, David Jones, also a former judge, has previously recommended to the State Government that his OPI oversight powers be widened.

Mr Jones' scrutiny of the OPI is limited to its use of phone tap powers and coercive powers. Mr Jones has also raised the potential for a "perception of a lack of independence" in respect of the OPI oversight role held by the state ombudsman and former OPI chief, Mr Brouwer.

Mr Strong was appointed a County Court judge in 1988 after a stint as a Crown prosecutor and vice-president of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. In the early 1990s, he presided over one of the state's longest-running police corruption trials, involving members of the consorting squad.

Mr Strong said his long involvement with the Berry Street children's welfare organisation had helped shape his view that the proper guidance of young police was critical in preventing corruption later on in their careers.

Police watchdog 'leaks like a sieve'

The Victoria Police watchdog leaks like a sieve, according to former assistant commissioner Noel Ashby, who could face criminal charges following an Office of Police Integrity (OPI) inquiry.

He says a report in The Age newspaper on Wednesday was the first he knew he may be charged and it was typical of the OPI to release information through the media.

"We learn these things through the media and that seems to be almost typical (of the OPI)," Mr Ashby said.

"I think this is the fourth or fifth leak from the OPI.

"We've seen leaks about witnesses that they have or may not have, we've seen leaks about speculation of charges and now leaks about charges are imminent.

"In their investigation into us they were unable to make out unauthorised release of information - which they couldn't because there was none - but they seem to show a healthy disrespect, if today's report is correct, for proper legal process."

Mr Ashby, Police Association secretary Paul Mullett and former police media director Stephen Linnell face the threat of being charged with serious criminal offences, including perjury and misconduct in public office, following public corruption hearings last year.

Following the hearings, the OPI found Mr Mullett tipped off Detective Sergeant Peter Lalor that he was being secretly investigated for providing the address of male prostitute Shane Chartres-Abbott, who was later murdered.

The hearings exposed a chain of tapped telephone calls involving Mr Mullett, Mr Ashby and Mr Linnell.

Phone taps showed Mr Ashby and Mr Mullett exchanged office gossip and confidential information, while others involving Mr Ashby and Mr Linnell discussed operational matters including the Chartres-Abbott case.

As a result, Mr Linnell and Mr Ashby resigned and Mr Mullett was suspended from the force, although he remains in his Police Association position.

"We will fight any charges but we haven't been told anything," Mr Ashby said on Wednesday.

"We have some views on the true motives for this (OPI) inquiry and who knew about the inquiry in advance and what was influencing those people."

Police criticised as OPI hearing wraps up

The head of an Office of Police Integrity (OPI) inquiry is expected to call for stronger ethical guidelines within Victoria Police when he tables his report in Parliament.

This week's hearing into police corruption has ended, with convenor, Murray Wilcox QC, highly critical of the amount of gossip among officers.

Several detectives gave evidence about whether they interfered with an investigation into the murders of police informer, Terrence Hodson, and his wife Christine in 2004.

The hearing was played secretly recorded phone conversations, where the detectives discuss confidential details related to OPI hearings.

Mr Wilcox also questioned a detective, who cannot be named, about his relationship with former Detective Sergeant, Paul Dale, who is suspected of involvement in the Hodson murders.

Mr Wilcox will prepare a report for Parliament and has indicated he will call for more guidelines on conduct and ethics within Victoria Police.