Commission finds police used ice, cocaine and ecstasy, met with traffickers and joked about their own drug use

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Victorian police sent each other joking texts about their drug use, while one was building a “sophisticated drug syndicate”, the state’s anti-corruption investigation has found.

Police partying on ice, cocaine and ecstasy would meet up with known traffickers, peddle drugs themselves and return positive tests, the report by the Independent Broad-Based Anti-Corruption Commission said.

The report takes in three investigations into claims of drug possession, trafficking and use by police since 2014 and says allegations against eight officers have been substantiated.

Operation Apsley revealed a group of police were using drugs regularly in their social lives, including one who used cocaine “most days” for four months last year.

The officer, known as Senior Constable A, and a friend, Senior Constable B, used and trafficked drugs and were “cavalier about the safety risks”, the report says. Both told Ibac they would not work if affected by drugs but messages between them refuted these claims, including the following exchange after a night out using cocaine.

Senior Constable A: “Feeling slightly average but okay. Gonna be a long shift. Rad night.”

Senior Constable B: “Kill me, I wanna lay down.”

Another senior constable messaged a civilian associate about putting MDMA powder into capsules and got the reply: “Now that you run a sophisticated drug syndicate you will be ... essstremely bizzy.”

Two other Ibac operations also exposed regular drug use. One that focused on a constable led to that officer’s brother being arrested by federal and interstate police on alleged drug offences.

Ibac said the substantiated allegations against eight officers were likely to be just “snapshots of a more widespread and serious problem for Victoria police”.

Of those eight officers, two were charged with giving false evidence, misleading or attempting to mislead Ibac and inciting a witness to mislead Ibac, and one was charged with criminal drug offences. One has been dismissed, three have resigned, three are suspended and one returned to work after an admonishment notice.

Ibac concluded there were systemic deficiencies in Victoria police’s illicit drug prevention and detection.

“Police officers cannot be selective in choosing which criminal laws they will obey,” Ibac commissioner Stephen O’Bryan QC said. “While most of the police officers investigated were aware they were engaging in illegal conduct, they rationalised their off-duty criminality as being separate to their obligations as police officers.”

Victoria police’s alcohol and drugs policy says illicit drug use is not tolerated but there was ambiguity about the consequences, Ibac said.

The Police Association secretary, Ron Iddles, denied there was a systemic drug problem within Victoria police but conceded the eight instances didn’t come as a “total shock”.

“Our members are susceptible to more pressure and stress than the average member of society,” Iddles said.

He said the report showed health and wellbeing services available to Victoria police’s 15,000 members needed to be improved.

Police accepted the recommendations and were reviewing their practices and policies, a Victoria police spokesman said.

A progress report is due on 30 June and Victoria police must provide Ibac with a final report by 30 June 2018.

The police minister, Lisa Neville, said drug use had “no place” within the force.

“This investigation related to a small group of police officers and Victoria police has since taken appropriate action through criminal, disciplinary and management interventions,” she said.