Phillip Thomson
smh.com.au
AN OFFICER with the Australian Federal Police who had top-secret security clearance resigned after he failed to disclose dealings with a motorcycle gang linked to organised crime, confidential documents show.
An internal investigation ruled the protective service officer had breached the federal police code of conduct by accessing more than 4000 intelligence reports, most of which were unrelated to his duties, including several detailing information about outlaw bikie gangs.
A memo from the federal police to the external corruption watchdog, the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity, from September, says the man held top-secret clearance for six years before he was investigated in 2009.
The man resigned in June last year before sacking could be considered.
It is unclear from the documents, obtained by The Canberra Times under a freedom-of-information request, whether the police hired the man knowing of his links to bikies.
One relationship the officer had with an outlaw bikie was raised in a top-secret security clearance interview, which was in 2003 at his interview or in one of the regular clearance re-evaluation interviews since.
During this interview, the officer was advised to ''reconsider'' his relationship with the bikie in question.
It was later found that in the same interview, and in the years since, he did not disclose a relationship with a second bikie, a connection described as an apparent conflict of interest in the final investigation memo.
Of the two bikies, the officer had known one since childhood and the other from a previous job.
The officer argued his failure to declare his relationship with one bikie was due to ignorance.
''However, he had ample opportunity to declare his interest and yet failed,'' the investigation noted.
The investigation, completed in September, found the officer also breached the code of conduct when he failed to report chance meetings with a gang member in 2007. The officer was seen talking to a bikie while on duty in mid-2009, which sparked the police investigation that concluded two years later.
A federal police spokeswoman said no criminal charges were laid because there was not enough evidence that an offence had occurred.
''The AFP is well placed to ensure the integrity and professional standards of its workforce,'' she said. ''The AFP does not tolerate misconduct by any AFP employee and all allegations of misconduct or unprofessional behaviour are treated seriously.''
An internal investigation ruled the protective service officer had breached the federal police code of conduct by accessing more than 4000 intelligence reports, most of which were unrelated to his duties, including several detailing information about outlaw bikie gangs.
A memo from the federal police to the external corruption watchdog, the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity, from September, says the man held top-secret clearance for six years before he was investigated in 2009.
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No evidence of the officer passing information to gangs was found but the federal police professional standards investigation recommended his employment suitability be reviewed.The man resigned in June last year before sacking could be considered.
It is unclear from the documents, obtained by The Canberra Times under a freedom-of-information request, whether the police hired the man knowing of his links to bikies.
One relationship the officer had with an outlaw bikie was raised in a top-secret security clearance interview, which was in 2003 at his interview or in one of the regular clearance re-evaluation interviews since.
During this interview, the officer was advised to ''reconsider'' his relationship with the bikie in question.
It was later found that in the same interview, and in the years since, he did not disclose a relationship with a second bikie, a connection described as an apparent conflict of interest in the final investigation memo.
Of the two bikies, the officer had known one since childhood and the other from a previous job.
The officer argued his failure to declare his relationship with one bikie was due to ignorance.
''However, he had ample opportunity to declare his interest and yet failed,'' the investigation noted.
The investigation, completed in September, found the officer also breached the code of conduct when he failed to report chance meetings with a gang member in 2007. The officer was seen talking to a bikie while on duty in mid-2009, which sparked the police investigation that concluded two years later.
A federal police spokeswoman said no criminal charges were laid because there was not enough evidence that an offence had occurred.
''The AFP is well placed to ensure the integrity and professional standards of its workforce,'' she said. ''The AFP does not tolerate misconduct by any AFP employee and all allegations of misconduct or unprofessional behaviour are treated seriously.''
