As bad as it gets
Exclusive interview with police informant Kerry Milte
The criminal expert recruited as a police informer by Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon warns of a continuing influence of corrupt former police on serving officers. Kerry Milte tonight tells Stateline his version of the events that led to his convictions for corruption-based offences last month. The former senior policeman, terrorist expert and law lecturer says he's the only person to be named as a police informer and live to tell the tale. But he's living in fear. He's told Stateline there's a lack of political will to address real links between organised crime and Victoria Police. He spoke exclusively to Josie Taylor.
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JOSIE TAYLOR: Kerry Milte says he was involved in a secret Victoria Police operation named Clarendon, set up to target organised crime. But it was short lived. Operation Clarendon disintegrated and Kerry Milte himself came under investigation. In October he pleaded guilty to three counts of obtaining confidential information from a Federal Policeman. Kerry Milte says that practice is not uncommon, and in his case it was for the greater good.
KERRY MILTE: In the context at the time, it wasn't an unusual occurrence, where people would, to use an ASIO term, 'horse trade' a bit of information.
JOSIE TAYLOR: So what were you hoping to expose?
KERRY MILTE: I was hoping to assist the police to expose some problems that they found intractable. Informers were dying and there were all sorts of allegations bandied around as to the reasons. With the number of gangland killings in Melbourne, I think we were, sort of, heading to some sort of record.
JOSIE TAYLOR: The Purana task force was subsequently set up to investigate those killings. Kerry Milte's services were no longer required and he says his existence as a police informer was later exposed, placing him in grave danger.
KERRY MILTE: I spent a lot of time last year out of the state. Messages were transmitted to me and I could read the body language of people I encountered and I thought, "Well, I need some time to pause and reflect." I'm not saying for one moment that one can do much about it, but if you ruffle feathers, of course there's certain repercussions that can be expected.
JOSIE TAYLOR: What were you doing to ruffle feathers?
KERRY MILTE: I think by it being known that I was cooperating with the Victoria police force.
JOSIE TAYLOR: Can you expand on that? I mean, your role is not entirely clear on how you were helping the police.
KERRY MILTE: My problem there is, if I expand on that, I could have other people put in jeopardy.
JOSIE TAYLOR: Do you think you are still at risk?
KERRY MILTE: Well, possibly. Probably. I don't know. I certainly don't expect to hear from the police force if I am.
JOSIE TAYLOR: You were a senior police officer yourself. You've had an amazing legal and policing career. You're now a convicted criminal. What happened to you, Kerry Milte?
KERRY MILTE: All this fell out through being involved with trading information.
JOSIE TAYLOR: Was it that your information wasn't handled, or was it that you crossed the line yourself?
KERRY MILTE: Well, everyone was crossing the line at the time.
JOSIE TAYLOR: For what it's worth, Kerry Milte has this advice for the Chief Commissioner.
KERRY MILTE: The murderer of the Hodsons people is about as bad as it can get. When informers start getting killed, who is going to go to the police force with any confidence? They've got to have a system whereby people could assist the police without having their informer files stolen, which happened, without being murdered, without being intimidated, without their address being leaked and harassed and scared off.
http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/vic/content/2005/s1498144.htm
The criminal expert recruited as a police informer by Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon warns of a continuing influence of corrupt former police on serving officers. Kerry Milte tonight tells Stateline his version of the events that led to his convictions for corruption-based offences last month. The former senior policeman, terrorist expert and law lecturer says he's the only person to be named as a police informer and live to tell the tale. But he's living in fear. He's told Stateline there's a lack of political will to address real links between organised crime and Victoria Police. He spoke exclusively to Josie Taylor.
More
JOSIE TAYLOR: Kerry Milte says he was involved in a secret Victoria Police operation named Clarendon, set up to target organised crime. But it was short lived. Operation Clarendon disintegrated and Kerry Milte himself came under investigation. In October he pleaded guilty to three counts of obtaining confidential information from a Federal Policeman. Kerry Milte says that practice is not uncommon, and in his case it was for the greater good.
KERRY MILTE: In the context at the time, it wasn't an unusual occurrence, where people would, to use an ASIO term, 'horse trade' a bit of information.
JOSIE TAYLOR: So what were you hoping to expose?
KERRY MILTE: I was hoping to assist the police to expose some problems that they found intractable. Informers were dying and there were all sorts of allegations bandied around as to the reasons. With the number of gangland killings in Melbourne, I think we were, sort of, heading to some sort of record.
JOSIE TAYLOR: The Purana task force was subsequently set up to investigate those killings. Kerry Milte's services were no longer required and he says his existence as a police informer was later exposed, placing him in grave danger.
KERRY MILTE: I spent a lot of time last year out of the state. Messages were transmitted to me and I could read the body language of people I encountered and I thought, "Well, I need some time to pause and reflect." I'm not saying for one moment that one can do much about it, but if you ruffle feathers, of course there's certain repercussions that can be expected.
JOSIE TAYLOR: What were you doing to ruffle feathers?
KERRY MILTE: I think by it being known that I was cooperating with the Victoria police force.
JOSIE TAYLOR: Can you expand on that? I mean, your role is not entirely clear on how you were helping the police.
KERRY MILTE: My problem there is, if I expand on that, I could have other people put in jeopardy.
JOSIE TAYLOR: Do you think you are still at risk?
KERRY MILTE: Well, possibly. Probably. I don't know. I certainly don't expect to hear from the police force if I am.
JOSIE TAYLOR: You were a senior police officer yourself. You've had an amazing legal and policing career. You're now a convicted criminal. What happened to you, Kerry Milte?
KERRY MILTE: All this fell out through being involved with trading information.
JOSIE TAYLOR: Was it that your information wasn't handled, or was it that you crossed the line yourself?
KERRY MILTE: Well, everyone was crossing the line at the time.
JOSIE TAYLOR: For what it's worth, Kerry Milte has this advice for the Chief Commissioner.
KERRY MILTE: The murderer of the Hodsons people is about as bad as it can get. When informers start getting killed, who is going to go to the police force with any confidence? They've got to have a system whereby people could assist the police without having their informer files stolen, which happened, without being murdered, without being intimidated, without their address being leaked and harassed and scared off.
http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/vic/content/2005/s1498144.htm
posted by professor rat at 4:36 AM
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