Livewires hamper effective intercepts

LAW enforcement agencies are giving criminals and corrupt police a headstart.

LAW enforcement agencies are giving criminals and corrupt police a headstart, according to the former head of a crime commission.

They are doing this, he says, by using irrelevant material from covert telephone intercepts for "salacious" entertainment value in public hearings.

The warning from senior lawyer Tim Carmody SC follows a finding by Peter Moss QC, the watchdog for the NSW Police Integrity Commission, that the PIC breached federal laws that strictly limit how material from telephone taps is used.

Mr Moss has asked the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, Christopher Craigie SC, to advise on whether "proceedings should be commenced by the DPP against the (PIC) or any officer thereof, and I am presently awaiting receipt of that advice".

The PIC and its head, John Pritchard, have rejected the criticisms and findings of Mr Moss.

The most recent published figures, from last year's annual report of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act, show a "26 per cent decrease in the number of prosecutions commenced and a 17 per cent decrease in the number of convictions obtained on the basis of lawfully intercepted information".

The report cautions that the figures from the 15 state and federal agencies empowered to conduct telephone intercepts -- of which there are several thousand a year -- "may understate the effectiveness of interception".

The official figures show that the highest number of convictions in which lawfully intercepted information was given in evidence was achieved by NSW police, followed by Western Australia police and Victoria Police.

But senior lawyers and police involved in investigating and advising on serious crime warn that the increasing prevalence of telephone taps -- and the conduct of some anti-corruption agencies in publicly promoting trivial material gleaned from the taps for "entertainment value" -- is causing legitimate targets to stop using phones.

Mr Carmody, who headed Queensland's Crime Commission before it evolved into the Crime and Misconduct Commission, said some anti-corruption agencies had made the fight against serious crime much harder by parading material from telephone taps.

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