Accused teddy bear voyeur in court
July 08, 2008 01:37pm

A MAN accused of spying on his female flatmate with a camera hidden in a teddy bear made a brief appearance in court today.

Russell Christopher Hounslow, 22, was not required to plead to charges of using an optical device to record a private activity and possessing an obscene article when he appeared in Perth Magistrates Court.

Police allege that in April, Mr Hounslow's 21-year-old flatmate found a camera inside a teddy bear on her bedside table and discovered it was linked to a video cassette recorder.

Magistrate Stephen Malley renewed bail and adjourned the case to August 5 after Mr Hounslow's lawyer said he did not have a copy of the video record of his client's police interview.






Prostitute found Einfeld papers in bin
August 22, 2006

A TIP for the solicitor acting for the embattled former Federal Court judge Marcus Einfeld: shred your documents, lest they be found, published in a newspaper and tested by police for fingerprints.

A prostitute says she took notes handwritten by Mr Einfeld from a wheelie bin outside the home of his solicitor, Joseph Michael Ryan, in a night raid.

Mirka Christos, known as Marie, said she went through a bin outside Mr Ryan's home in Fairlight last week after it had been put out for collection.

She also found drafts of Mr Einfeld's statement rebutting allegations he misled a court to avoid a speeding fine by using a person who had been dead for three years as his alibi.

The torn documents showed his statement was changed by deleting the driver's sex and removing the words "I am protecting no one, not even myself".

They were published in The Daily Telegraph last week under the headline "Einfeld's tangled web - How former judge revealed his complicated story".

Mr Ryan did not respond to repeated attempts to contact him yesterday, including detailed questions sent to him and a colleague, while Mr Einfeld did not respond to Herald questions.

Yesterday fraud squad detectives interviewed Ms Christos and fingerprinted the documents at Manly police station to check their authenticity after speaking with the Telegraph last week.

She says she met Mr Ryan - who goes by his middle name Michael - at a brothel in Balgowlah in July 2000.

She told the detectives that Mr Ryan continued to pay for her sexual services, bought her dresses from a Manly boutique and paid for a cruise and trip to New Zealand.

Knowing it was rubbish day, she went to his house to search his bin for documents related to the Einfeld inquiry, now being conducted by the fraud squad.

"Essentially, Einfeld got caught in the crossfire between Michael Ryan and myself," she told the Herald. "I've been trying to get rid of Michael for a few years and he won't budge." Six years on, she said she was "pretty tired" of Mr Ryan's continuing attention.

Ms Christos said she conducted another bin raid early yesterday, and this time she had found a winning $1000 bet on a horse owned by Mr Ryan, Jobim. Both times, she said, the bin was on public property.

Detectives are expected to interview Mr Einfeld this week. A spokeswoman for the State Crime Command would not comment further.






(Its not a matter of if you get caught it's only a matter of when)

Stars' Private Investigator on Phone Tapping Charge
February 7, 2006 - 10:42AM

Hollywood's most famous private investigator, Anthony Pellicano, was charged with wiretapping journalists, entertainers and alleged rape victims for his clients in an indictment unsealed today.

Among those who were allegedly wiretapped or subjected to illegal computer searches were "Rocky" actor Sylvester Stallone, Garry Shandling, former New York Times film industry correspondent Bernard Weinraub, former Los Angeles Times reporter Anita Busch, five women who accused software millionaire John Gordon Jones of rape, Saturday Night Live comedian Kevin Nealon and actor Keith Carradine.

Pellicano, whose clients have included top Hollywood entertainment lawyers and executives as well as celebrities such as Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Michael Jackson, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment today.

The indictment also named Los Angeles Police Sgt. Mark Arneson; former Pacific Bell employee Rayford Turner; Pellicano client Robert Pfeifer; software designer Kevin Kachikian; and Las Vegas businessmen brothers Abner and Daniel Nicherie.

Pellicano and the others were charged with wiretapping and racketeering.

They were accused of obtaining confidential information, through telephone eavesdropping and law enforcement data bases, on people Pellicano was hired to investigate by his celebrity-studded roster of clients.

Pellicano "was responsible for securing clients who were willing and able to pay large sums for the purpose of obtaining personal information of a confidential, embarrassing or personal nature regarding other individuals, including opponents or witnesses in criminal or civil litigation", the indictment said.

The indictment also accused Pellicano of paying thousands of dollars in bribes to Arneson and other police officers and public officials, as well as telephone company employees to obtain information related to his cases.

Pellicano was transferred on Friday from a federal prison near Bakersfield, California, where he had completed a two-and-a-half year sentence for weapons possession, to face the new charges in a US District Court arraignment later today.

Reuters




Guard forces disabled duo to crawl
By Clay Lucas
January 18, 2006 - 1:44PM


Two disabled men were forced to crawl to their car after a security guard refused to let them take borrowed wheelchairs past a shopping centre entrance.

Westfield, which manages Fountain Gate shopping centre in Melbourne, apologised to the two men, who have muscular dystrophy.

The pair, both in their 40s, had used wheelchairs loaned to them by the shopping centre in Narre Warren.

They said a security guard had insisted they leave the chairs at the entrance and cover the five metres to their cars unaided.

Sandra Costa, the sister of one of the men, said the experience had been humiliating.

"Every time I think about it I get emotional," she told 3AW radio. "They have a disability. They need the courtesy to be treated like human beings," she said.

Westfield's director of corporate affairs Mark Ryan said the company deeply regretted the incident. It should never have happened, he said.

"I think undoubtedly (the family) deserve an apology. Once our management team provide me with a brief of the facts, Westfield will be seeking to meet with the people concerned."

Equal Opportunity Commission chief executive officer Helen Szoke said she was appalled by the incident.

"They had to crawl three to five metres. A 40-year-old person with muscular dystrophy - it's massively debilitating.

"Do you think anyone crawling three to five metres to get to their car is acceptable? How would you feel if you were told to do that?"

"At some stage you have to ask - where is the cost benefit analysis of allowing people to use a piece of equipment like a wheelchair? You would think shopping centres would see this as part of their service provision - even forgetting about human dignity."





Killer leaves address on bag with body
November 24, 2005 - 7:05AM

A British man was convicted today of murdering a prostitute, after he dumped her torso into a canal in a suitcase but forgot to take off a label bearing his brother's name and address.

Daniel Archer, a 55-year-old crack addict, killed Nasra Ismail, 27, in his brother's North London flat after paying her 20 pounds ($47) for sex, prosecutors told London's Old Bailey Central Criminal Court.

He fled to the north of England but returned three weeks later to cut up her body. He put her torso into a suitcase and threw it into Regent's Canal, where it failed to sink.

Police quickly traced Archer through his brother's name and the crime-scene address written on the suitcase. Archer denied murdering Ismail, saying she had died in a fight with him after she attacked him with a knife. He faces life in jail and will be sentenced on Friday.

Reuters




Peeping toms targeted by privacy laws
By Louisa Hearn
November 7, 2005

The Queensland government has become the latest to attempt to plug legal loopholes created by new devices such as camera phones being used by a tech-savvy generation of peeping toms.

According to Premier Peter Beattie, technologies such as digital cameras and mobile phones are being used in increasingly invasive ways, with offenders going as far as targeting women on escalators with hidden cameras.

"As it stands, there is nothing to stop a person covertly video-recording the private activities of another adult in places where they would reasonably expect their privacy to be protected," Mr Beattie said.

However under new laws being introduced to State Parliament this week it will become an offence to film or observe anyone engaged in private acts such as undressing or showering without their consent, said Mr Beattie, with penalties for distributing images or recordings resulting to up to two years in prison.

Some Australian states have already moved to ban covert filming in response to new technologies. Last year NSW introduced legislation outlawing unauthorised "indecent filming" in both public and private, while Victoria, WA and Northern Territory have taken a slightly different approach by adopting "optical surveillance" laws that ban covert filming on private property.

But it is the use of electronic devices in public versus private areas that divides the legislation.

The practise of "up skirting" (or filming under a woman's skirt) in places such as escalators is of growing concern and Mr Beattie said the practice would be banned under Queensland's new laws.

Although up skirting is also outlawed in NSW under the banner of "indecent filming", civil liberties group Electronic Frontiers Australia fears the practice may not be covered by the optical surveillance privacy legislation established in other states because it occurs in a public place rather than in private.

The issue grew even more cloudy over the weekend as Surf Life Saving Australia revealed plans to call for a complete ban on pictures of its 40,000 young members, for fear that images could end up on inappropriate websites.

With ages ranging between five and 14, the nippers attend Sunday morning activities at beaches around the country.

But such suggestions are not welcomed by civil libertarians. Electronic Frontiers Australia said application of this law would be very difficult to apply and risked criminalising innocent activities.

"We very much doubt it would be possible to narrowly tailor a criminal offence so that it would in fact deal with the concerns raised without also criminalising the use and publication of ordinary photos taken in a wide range of public places," it said.




Secret camera: man escapes stalking charges
November 8, 2005 - 6:52PM

A magistrate has dismissed stalking charges against a Gold Coast man on the same day the Queensland parliament debated new legislation under which he would have faced a two-year jail sentence.

Rohan James Wyllie, 35, was evicted from his Surfers Paradise apartment in June this year for allegedly spying on his female flatmates and their friends via cameras hidden in walls, ceilings and furniture.

The Southport Magistrates Court was told today one camera was hidden in a laundry tub and filmed the females showering and going to the toilet.

Explicit images of the young women were beamed live to a computer monitor in his bedroom.

Wyllie was fined $1000 after pleading guilty to a charge of wilful damage.

The call centre supervisor, who now lives in Brisbane with his parents, damaged the two-storey penthouse by drilling numerous holes to feed cables behind the walls.

Magistrate Ron Kilner did not record a conviction.

Mr Kilner dismissed the seven stalking charges because the alleged victims did not realise they were being stalked until informed by police, who entered the penthouse searching for drugs.

Under the current law, the offender must "cause the stalked person apprehension or fear" to be successfully convicted of any charges.

"This has had a profound affect upon his life," defence lawyer Andrew Moloney said of Wyllie, who moved into the penthouse in December last year.

"He accepts it was the wrong thing to do."

Secretly filming or observing people in private places such as toilets and bathrooms without their consent will be banned under proposed new Queensland laws being debated in parliament today.

Premier Peter Beattie said earlier this week that anyone caught flouting the new laws, expected to come into effect early next year, would face a maximum penalty of two years behind bars.

AAP




Protective Surveillance in High Risk Theatres
9 October, 2005

Since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, security has been the number one burning issue for the US and Iraqi administrations. The key to getting the country on any semblance of reconstruction lies in the inherent need for the projects to be secure and void of disruption through insurgent attacks directly on the project itself or indirectly through intimidation of local workers and resources.

In order for these projects to run smoothly as possible a huge demand for security has bought numerous international security companies to the forefront of security provision in Iraq.

With the need for security comes the need for professional operators to fill the ranks of the companies who obtain the provision of contractual security arrangements with their clients. These range from the US government to international corporations to single businessmen.

Iraq in itself poses a very difficult scenario for protection teams looking after their clients. Iraq has a flow to daily life that in any other country would look suspicious or out of place. The diverse nature of the people and culture such as how they drive, dress, behave and react to things places a great challenge on professional security operators and how they conduct their protective surveillance operations.

My background from the military and Police assisted me greatly in being situational aware to what was going on around me. However with the busy daily activity of Baghdad, there is too much to observe and analyse, let alone decide if it is a potential threat or not.

It takes time in the country and on the ground of this great sprawling Middle Eastern city to come to terms with what is a threat and what is not. Sometimes the common joke is that everything here is a threat, and in some respects that is not too far from the truth in this insurgency.

I attended the ASSI covert surveillance course in the course of my profession and to give me more awareness.

I must admit some reservations after registering for the training course in whether this would help me in the Middle East. It didn’t take more than the first day to know I would learn a great deal from Adrian in such a short time. Although this course is aimed more at the professional fraud / insurance investigator and surveillance operative, the principles are applicable anywhere.


The basis for any protective surveillance is the need for the operative to become very familiar very quickly with the routes and areas that he uses on his tasking. Whilst everyone in a protection team has their individual responsibilities, everyone has the task of providing protective surveillance.

Operatives must be aware of their environment to detect and observe changes whether dramatic or subtle. It may be that some small incident for example a vehicle spotted following the protection team on a parallel road and suddenly turns off or does something out of the ordinary. Something that is not with the flow of the surroundings, these small incidents in themselves do not point out to anything threatening or warn of a potential attack. What is important is the collation of these small incidents over a period of time, the analysis of the incidents and whether there are intelligence pointers to something more sinister waiting to happen the following day.

Everyday in Iraq there and numerous incidents happening to every protection team all over the country. Happenings that are noticed but for lack of training or awareness these are not reported or just simply dismissed as of being of no importance, can lead to serious attacks on protection teams.

There have been many serious and fatal ambushes and attacks on convoys all over the country that could have simply been assessed as potentially going to happen, or avoided all together by the use of protective surveillance.

Unfortunately I know of several instances where people, including protection team members, have lost there lives by not following the simple principles of observing their surroundings and environment and noticing things that would have or could have saved their lives.

Protective surveillance is an essential part of work whether for a close protection team escorting clients around Baghdad or putting protective surveillance in on a valuable assignment of personal property being moved across Sydney. The principles are the same and will keep people alive and assets secure.

Editors Note:

Thanks to Darryl for the comments and if our training helps to save even one life then everything we have done has been worth while. Stay safe.




Top judge critical of negligence laws

By Michael Pelly Legal Reporter
September 15, 2005

There are "straws in the wind" suggesting NSW will reverse negligence reforms that have led to a string of injustices, says NSW's top judge.

For the Chief Justice, Jim Spigelman, it is a case of "pots calling the kettle black" when insurers accuse lawyers of acting out of self-interest in opposing the reforms.

He told the 14th Commonwealth law conference in London yesterday that the changes were made "without a full appreciation of the extent to which judicial attitudes had already changed".

Judges had criticised "anomalies and injustices" arising from the reforms, which hampered the ability of citizens to sue governments, limited recovery for injuries and restricted damages.

"The speed, some would say haste, with which the changes were introduced in Australia was such that there are substantial pressures emerging for some changes to be reversed. There are straws in the wind which would indicate that some reversal of the statutory intervention is likely."

The Government has already increased the fees lawyers can claim, and Justice Spigelman referred in his speech to the parliamentary committee examining the reforms.

He said lawyers had emphasised that many people with serious injuries were no longer able to receive any, or adequate, compensation.

"Insurance companies and their organisations have responded by highlighting the self-interest that some legal practitioners have in these observations. There is a distinct element of pots calling kettles black and vice versa in all of this." Referring to a NSW parliamentary inquiry into the changes to personal injury compensation law, he said the changes in NSW went "well beyond" those in other states.

"That included significant changes that have no implication for insurance premiums paid by individual organisations or companies. The changes in NSW have fundamentally altered the ability of citizens to sue the Government and its instrumentalities.

"NSW is virtually the only state to have gone so far in restricting the liability of government." He acknowledged the shift to personal responsibility in law, saying there was "renewed acceptance … [that] many things that happen are not someone else's fault".

However, he said it was "necessary to ensure that personal responsibility is balanced with other values, such as compassion, the understanding of personal failings and the social need to maintain mutual community responsibility, particularly for the seriously injured".

He noted that government had emerged as a backstop for private insurers to the point where it now took "the institutional form of the contemporary central bank".

Justice Spigelman cited the national scheme to support the medical insurer UMP and the protection afforded policyholders after the collapse of HIH.

"We are in the early stages of institutional development of the 'reinsurer of last resort' function."

The Chief Justice of the High Court, Murray Gleeson, spoke at the London conference on how it was important to explain to citizens the value of an independent judiciary.




Underworld surveillance tapes found in rubbish
August 30, 2005 - 9:04AM

Victorian police say they are disappointed and concerned that secret police surveillance tapes that were meant to be destroyed by contractors were found in a warehouse by a rubbish collector.

The tapes, including one of murdered underworld figure Lewis Moran recorded in July 2001, were found by the rubbish collector in an unsecured warehouse and broadcast on the Nine Network last night.

The Lewis Moran tape recorded a meeting between Moran and an associate in a public park with commentary from a police surveillance officer.

"From all appearances, it's not the happiest looking meeting," the commentary says.

"Looks as though they're talking about shooting or bashing somebody."

The rubbish collector said the tapes were dumped at the warehouse and left for three months before he took them home to record on.

"There was no security at all," he said.

Many people had keys to the warehouse, he said.

Police Assistant Commissioner for Crime, Simon Overland, said Victoria Police had contracts with several companies to collect and destroy confidential material.

Victoria Police is disappointed and concerned that the obligations of the contractual arrangements do not appear to have been complied with," Mr Overland said.

The discovery of the tapes puts further pressure on police command and embattled Police Minister Tim Holding.

The Victorian Government this month moved to replace its troubled police database, known as the LEAP (Law Enforcement Assistance Program) system, over three years at a cost of $50 million, five months after a damning report by the Office of Police Integrity (OPI) that called for it to be scrapped.

Since then, the OPI has itself been embarrassed after mistakenly posting LEAP files on more than 400 people to a single complainant in country Victoria.

And in another blunder last month, an IBM technician authorised to audit the LEAP system emailed files on up to 1000 people to a whistleblower.

Privacy Commissioner Paul Chadwick is investigating both of those leaks.

Opposition police spokesman Kim Wells told The Age newspaper the leaked tapes leaking showed Mr Holding was "not across his portfolio".

"This suggests incompetence," he said.

AAP




BUGGING TIP OFF BY ACTING COMMISSIONER

Rayner Inquiry
ROBERT TAYLOR and GARY ADSHEAD
The West Australian Newspaper

The tip-off by disgraced former Corruption and Crime Commission acting commissioner Moira Rayner to senior public servant Laurie Marquet that his phone was probably being bugged was referred yesterday to State prosecutors to consider criminal charges against her.

The decision by Attorney-General Jim McGinty came 24 hours after a parliamentary committee refused to release a confidential report into the scandal or take any further action against Ms Rayner, who resigned her position on August 16.

During a hastily called hearing of the committee yesterday, chairman John Hyde made public the damning report by parliamentary inspector Malcolm McCusker and gave further details of Ms Rayner's tip-off. That was in stark contrast to Mr Hyde telling Parliament a day earlier that releasing the report could impact on Mr Marquet's trial on 55 charges of corruption, the theft of $227,000 and drug possession.

Ms Rayner tipped off Mr Marquet, WA's former Clerk of Parliaments and a friend, during the investigation which led to the charges.

The West Australian can reveal today that Ms Rayner made two other visits to Mr Marquet in a Shenton Park hospice but only one is mentioned in the McCusker report.

After she visited Mr Marquet in his hospice room on August 2, CCC investigators noticed he had become guarded in phone conversations.

"The actual (and obviously potential) effect of that was to frustrate the attempt of the CCC investigators to obtain, by intercepting calls, details of others who might be involved in the supply of drugs to Mr Marquet, and who may have received money from him for drugs," Mr McCusker said.

"Second, by telling Mr Marquet that his telephone calls and room were almost certainly being bugged (or words to that effect) she was, in her capacity as acting commissioner, revealing the methodology of the CCC as a law enforcement agency."

But Ms Rayner told Mr McCusker when questioned by him a fortnight ago that she believed Mr Marquet, suffering from a terminal illness, was "too out of it" to heed her advice about being under surveillance.

"When Ms Rayner was informed that from that time on Mr Marquet had ceased to make any further telephone calls, her response was that he was 'more with it' than she had thought," Mr McCusker concluded.

He also revealed that Ms Rayner had sent an email to CCC commissioner Kevin Hammond on August 17 denying any intent to ruin the investigation and saying that Mr Marquet had been caught "with his hands in the till and drugs on his person".

Despite some of his damaging findings against her, Mr McCusker said he did not believe Ms Rayner had acted corruptly.

"As Ms Rayner has voluntarily resigned, disciplinary action would seem inappropriate and I do not consider her conduct to constitute a criminal offence," the QC said.

Part of the reason for yesterday's remarkable turnaround by the State Government in its handling of the Rayner affair was prompted by conflicting public comments the former corruption commissioner had made since the scandal broke on Thursday evening.

Ms Rayner also acknowledged to Mr McCusker yesterday that she "unintentionally" misled The West Australian by telling the newspaper she had called the CCC commissioner the day after her August 2 visit with Mr Marquet.

Her comment to The West Australian gave the impression that she had confessed to her error immediately after realising the mistake.

In fact, she told no one of her tip-off blunder until confronted with the allegations of misconduct by Mr McCusker on August 16.

Nor is there any suggestion in Mr McCusker's report that Ms Rayner informed him of another visit to the public servant before she resigned.

Yesterday, she told paper The West Australian she had flown to Melbourne on August 3 and returned to Perth a day or two after Mr Marquet was charged on August 8 and paid him a visit.

Her next visit to Mr Marquet was on August 14, two days before Mr McCusker confronted her with the misconduct allegations, forcing her resignation.




Man charged over secret mobile-phone filming
By Jano Gibson
August 11, 2005 - 11:09AM

A man has been charged after allegedly setting up a mobile phone to secretly film people using a bathroom at a house in Sydney.

The concealed mobile phone, which had video capabilities, was allegedly discovered by a 13-year-old girl at a residence in Merrylands West, police said.

The teenager told her mother about the phone who then contacted police.

A 27-year-old Merrylands man, known to the girl and her mother, was arrested and charged with filming for indecent purpose and install device to facilitate filming for indecent purpose.

He will appear in Fairfield Local Court on September 14.




PI HIRED OVER STRICKLAND DEATH

July 29, 2005 - Sydney Morning Herald

The family of Australian Olympic legend Shirley Strickland de la Hunty has hired a private investigator to try to resolve lingering doubts about her sudden death.

Perth investigator Mick Buckley today said he was equally concerned about certain aspects of the investigation into Ms de la Hunty's death last February.

He said he hoped that following his inquiries, the WA police or state coroner Alastair Hope may be pressured into renewing their investigations.

"There are a lot of things there that the family have concerns about, and I share their concerns," Mr Buckley said.

"The investigation by the police was a sham – for someone as important as Shirley, I can't comprehend why nothing was done back then.

"When someone like that dies, an extensive post-mortem should have been done, but it wasn't done. The post-mortem that was done was a cursory job.

"And the family have not been interviewed by the coroner's office – they haven't given statements, which I also find a bit strange."

Mrs de la Hunty was dubbed Australia's golden girl after winning seven Olympic track medals between 1948 and 1956.

She was found dead in the kitchen of her home in Applecross, in Perth's south, on February 16 last year.

An initial coroner's report said the 78-year-old had died of natural causes but there were no further details because the family did not want an autopsy carried out and she was then cremated.

Earlier this month, the coroner decided against holding an inquest into Mrs de la Hunty's death – a decision accepted by the family at the time.

But her daughter Barbara today said they were still struggling to achieve closure over the Olympian's death.

"We have some questions about the circumstances surrounding mum's death and we hoped the coroner's investigators would be able to clear them up," Barbara said.

"But there are few things we think are still knowable that they didn't clear up, so we found someone else to do some work for us.

"Closure", she said was "absolutely the word, and it is completely what it is about.

"We still have questions about what went on, and we think some of the answers are knowable."

AAP




Subway Fracas Escalates Into Test Of the Internet's Power to Shame

By Jonathan Krim
Washington Post
Thursday, July 7, 2005; D01

If you no longer marvel at the Internet's power to connect and transform the world, you need to hear the story of a woman known to many around the globe as, loosely translated, Dog Poop Girl.

Recently, the woman was on the subway in her native South Korea when her dog decided that this was a good place to do its business.

The woman made no move to clean up the mess, and several fellow travelers got agitated. The woman allegedly grew belligerent in response.

What happened next was a remarkable show of Internet force, and a peek into an unsettling corner of the future.

One of the train riders took pictures of the incident with a camera phone and posted them on a popular Web site. Net dwellers soon began to call her by the unflattering nickname, and issued a call to arms for more information about her.

According to one blog that has covered the story, "within days, her identity and her past were revealed. Requests for information about her parents and relatives started popping up and people started to recognize her by the dog and the bag she was carrying," because her face was partially obscured by her hair.

Online discussion groups crackled with chatter about every shred of the woman's life that could be found, and with debate over whether the Internet mob had gone too far. The incident became national news in South Korea and even was discussed in Sunday sermons in Korean churches in the Washington area.

Humiliated in public and indelibly marked, the woman reportedly quit her university.

Using the Internet as a tool to settle scores is hardly new. Search for any major retailer and you'll probably also find some kind of www.that-store-stinks.com Web site, with complaints about products or service.

Increasingly, the Internet also is a venue of so-called citizen journalism, in which swarms of surfers mobilize to gather information on what the traditional media isn't covering, or is covering in a way that dissatisfies some people.

But what happens when the two converge, and the Internet populace is stirred to action against individuals?

The Dog Poop Girl case "involves a norm that most people would seemingly agree to -- clean up after your dog," wrote Daniel J. Solove, a George Washington University law professor who specializes in privacy issues, on one blog. "But having a permanent record of one's norm violations is upping the sanction to a whole new level . . . allowing bloggers to act as a cyber-posse, tracking down norm violators and branding them with digital scarlet letters."

Howard Rheingold, who studies and writes about the impact of technology on the behavior of groups, said the debate should begin with an understanding that the rules of privacy have changed.

"The shadow side of the empowerment that comes with a billion and a half people being online is the surveillance aspect," he said. "We used to worry about big brother -- the state -- but now of course it's our neighbors, or people on the subway."

With society awash in personal data that is bought and sold daily, those who would use it as a weapon have few barriers.

When hackers get mad at each other they sometimes strike back by making public online the personal information of their adversary, a practice known as "dropping docs."

At the same time, it is easy to imagine the benefits of coordinated Internet posses to help track down those wanted for crimes, or to help solve mysteries.

It was the clarion call of one well-known blogger, for example, that led to answers about the dubious press credentials of Jeff Gannon, who attended White House news conferences and asked questions that favored President Bush and attacked Democrats.

But the mob went further, reporting and speculating on aspects of Gannon's private life.

"Where the line is between doing what the media or the legal system won't do is a pretty interesting question, and I don't have the answer," said Dan Gillmor, a former newspaper columnist who now is organizing citizen-journalism projects. "People have to think about consequences."

In discussions with dozens of people about this story, and in reading comments on blogs, I found an intriguing common thread. The instinct of most was to accept using the Internet as a new social-enforcement tool, but to search for that point on the continuum where enough was too much.

Putting Dog Poop Girl's picture on the Web was OK, some said, but not the clamoring for more information that followed. Others said the woman's face and other identifying features should have been obscured more. Still others said she was entitled to no privacy at all.

But there was also this, on the blog of Don Park:

"What would I have done if I was at the scene? I would have just cleaned up the mess without saying anything. . . . [The] mess is cleaned up and the girl, embarrassed at the right level."

Jonathan Krim can be reached atkrimj@washpost.com.




Paintball casualty stripped of damages payout
May 25, 2005 - 12:22PM

A man who broke his leg while playing paintball at his brother's buck's party has lost his compensation payout.

An appeal court today overturned a judgment awarding damages to Christopher Clarke, who slipped while playing paintball in wet weather at Action Paintball at Rouse Hill, in Sydney's west, on March 11, 2000.

Clarke, who was 31 at the time, sued for negligence in the NSW District Court, claiming the game should have been called off, or not gone ahead, because of the heavy rain.

He also claimed that the protective goggles he was given contributed to the accident, as they fogged up in the wet conditions.

Judge Raymond McLoughlin awarded Mr Clarke unspecified damages in May last year, finding the goggles were not fit for the purpose of playing paintball and the game should not have been played due to the slipperiness of the terrain.

"In my view the conditions were so dangerous the game should not have taken place ... the conditions were so deplorable that it was totally unsafe for the game to have commenced or continued," the judge said.

But Action Paintball appealed the decision, and the Court of Appeal today overturned the District Court judgment and ruled in the company's favour.

Justices Ken Handley, Murray Tobias and John Basten agreed that the state of Mr Clarke's goggles was not related to the fall.

They also said wet conditions did not necessarily call for a paintball game to be abandoned, as the risks were apparent and players appreciated the need to take care.

The court ordered Mr Clarke to pay the costs of the trial and the appeal.

The judgment was welcomed by Action Paintball's business development manager, Ben Mees.

He said it was "good for all business, not just our own", as it encouraged people to take responsibility for their own safety.

AAP




The following article was written by Michael Hessenthaler, one of the most professional and experienced Investigators I have met and a mentor to many in this industry. It is an article that should be read by everyone and sends a very clear message.

Private Investigations - at any cost?

Hardly a day passes that I do not receive an email or call from an investigator, usually a newcomer, asking for my opinion on a private job. By private job I mean a private investigation in the true sense of the term – a private client wanting to investigate an individual. Often it’s finding an individual, but for reasons other than a bad debt or witness.

There are quite a few investigation agencies that do such things as tracing witnesses or debtors. These jobs are done in a pattern of regularity and following standard protocols. Issues such as motive of a client or criminal conspiracy do not enter into it because the clients are insurance companies or lawyers.

However, when an individual, usually a male, is willing to part with a lot of money to have a private investigator find a female, then it’s a good idea to keep everything in perspective and not just grab the job because it means a big bill.

It seems reasonable to find out the client’s motive. Because often his motive is quite something else than is said, sometimes outright criminal. It could be a case of an aggrieved husband wanting pay-back. The woman to be found has taken careful steps to hide her whereabouts, sometimes to protect the children. Sometimes simply to protect from a husband who wants to beat her, or even kill.

I recall doing such a private job for a client who gave seemingly innocent reasons for wanting his wife found. I gladly took the job because all I had to do is find her and there would be a bonus for me. As it were, I did find her and I did receive a handsome cash bonus. Alas a week later I read the client was arrested for murder. He had killed his wife in the most gruesome way a day after I found her and he could thank me for the opportunity.

He went to jail, but she was dead. It was my good luck that I did not become entangled in a criminal investigation or worse, that I was not charged with some criminal offence. Police simply did not know what I did and as the client pleaded guilty, he did not reveal that a private investigator found his victim.

From this experience many years ago, I learned to be cautious. More than that, I learned to follow some fundamental principles alluding to morality and fair play. A private investigator is not meant to be a mercenary. A duty of care is owed to anyone with whom we become involved. Imagine trying to prove in a trial that you, as the investigator, did not trace the woman knowing the client wanted to harm her.

Therefore I always recommend to investigators to ask the client “why do you want to find her”. The response, the words and the manner of the response, can most likely indicate his true motive. You can’t be certain, but you can be certain to ask and to ask without reservations. And you can ask what he, the client, did to find the woman. And if he has obvious leads yet didn’t follow them up, why did he not follow up.

Don’t be blinded by the promise of a big fee. You know how it goes, if it’s sounds too good to be true, it is.

It’s moral and fair and responsible to protect your client, but this should not come at the cost of the subject you are to find. I believe I owe the subject something too.

Michael Hessenthaler





Article from the Workers Online web site
14 May, 2005

A Sydney sparkie, secretly filmed with his wife while on sick leave, is taking legal action against Tetra Pak.

John Didomizio was sacked by his employer of 22 years for “misconduct”, and claims he is being “victimised” because of his activities as an ETU delegate.

Didomizio has been involved in protracted negotiations over the troubled company's future. Union sources fear Tetra Pak is trying to sell its Fairfield factory and avoid big entitlements payouts.

Didomozio was ordered off the job for two days, last month, by his doctor after coming down with a virus, nose bleeds, and blood pressure problems.

Tetra Pak's maintenance manager phoned on both days and asked Didomozio to fix a machine. The worker said he had a virus - a serious matter in the food industry.

He claims the production manager then engaged a private investigator to follow him around.

The company accused Didomozio of "serious and wilful misconduct", suspended him for two weeks, then sacked him on July 1.

Didomozio's 65 workmates struck for two days in a bid to save his job.

Didomizio says he is being "scapegoated" over his role in the ongoing argument over the company's future.

"Not only do they want to scare my workmates," he says, "they also want to get rid of people like me without paying them their entitlements."





COUNTERFEIT SEIZURES

27 April, 2005

Expozure Investigations, the investigations arm of the school recently led raids on premises in Surfers Paradise and Melbourne where significant quantities of counterfeit products were seized.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank those investigators, many who are ex students, who put so much effort into these inquiries. I can tell you that our clients have applauded the work you have done and what great results they were. Keep up the great work.

Adrian Francis Holt
Director
Expozure Investigations





COUNTERFEIT OPERATIONS

April 2005

Warning on fake Viagra bought over the internet

By Martin Daly
New York
February 14, 2005

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has warned that Australians who order its popular impotence product Viagra online could be buying useless and dangerous versions of the drug from an international pharmacy ring.

The warning came from Pfizer headquarters in New York as the company launched a legal battle to shut down global spam merchants who sell copies of the drug on the internet at discounted prices.

Pfizer has joined software giant Microsoft in a war against spammers who offer potentially dangerous medicines made in India to improve sex lives.

Viagra has been approved by regulatory authorities in more than 123 countries and is among the most widely prescribed medications, with more than 130 million prescriptions written for 23 million men worldwide.

But Pfizer and Microsoft have launched 17 lawsuits in New York and Washington after their investigators found an allegedly illegal web-based pharmaceutical supply chain that spans the globe, including Australia.

The website, with links to the US, Canada and India, allows consumers to place orders for drugs advertised as Viagra or illegal generic Viagra on one of several websites that are promoted by spam emails.

The lawsuits allege that pharmacy spam rings sent hundreds of millions of email messages to Hotmail customers in the past year using illegal and deceptive email techniques that violate US federal and state laws.

The internet sales also breach copyright and patent laws and damage the reputation of Viagra, worth about $A3 billion to Pfizer in global sales last year.

Microsoft partnered the action, partly because the spammers use its service, MSN Hotmail, to sell the illegal product to Microsoft customers in breach of anti-spam laws.

The spam works by directing recipients to one of dozens of identical websites. Many of these websites are registered with the true names and addresses of people unassociated with the websites or spam rings, and who were unaware that their identities were being used in conjunction with these activities, Pfizer said.

The online orders are received in New York, sent to a call centre in Canada and then on to India for processing.

The orders were filled with illegal, unregulated and unapproved products, Pfizer said.

The illegal generic drugs were then shipped from India to the US and delivered by an airfreight forwarding company based in the US. Pfizer said these products may be manufactured in unregulated factories or back rooms that do not adhere to the rigorous standards for pharmaceutical manufacturing required by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Pfizer spokesman Bryant Haskins said yesterday that about one-third of all spam was for pharmaceutical products and about 25 per cent of the total was for Viagra or other erectile products.

He said Australians who buy Viagra at heavily discounted prices without a prescription on the internet could be putting themselves at risk, particularly if they are taking other medications, such as medicine for heart problems.




PRIVATE EYES CRITICISED OVER TARA GIRL

By NICOLETTE CASELLA

Decemer 3, 2004

SNEAKY video footage and photos aimed at discrediting an alleged gang-rape victim in court were an invasion of her privacy, civil libertarians said yesterday.

The 18-year-old girl, known only as N, spent three days in the witness box this week as part of her case claiming elite Tara Anglican School for Girls had been negligent by breaching its duty of care.

The girl, who claimed she was raped by four men while on a study tour in Italy in October 2001, said the school persuaded her not to report the rape and to accept it was her own fault.

To avoid further damaging publicity, the school agreed on Wednesday to pay the girl, but not before the school's legal defence team arranged for her to be videotaped last month, without her knowledge.

The footage, shown in court, showed N catching buses alone and sitting on a bar stool at the Landsdowne Hotel, where she drank a schooner on her own for an hour. Six photographs of her looking "happy and relaxed" at various city nightspots on a Friday were also tendered to challenge her claim she rarely socialised because she feared another assault.

Australian Council for Civil Liberties president Terry O'Gorman said the use of photographs and video footage in such a trial was insensitive and unacceptable.

"[The school] has a duty to ensure that the methods used to run the case are sensitive to the needs of the student," Mr O'Gorman said. "I think having her followed and videoed enjoying herself in various bars is an unacceptable invasion of her privacy, particularly as it has little or no relevance to the case being litigated."

He said it was valid to videotape a person who claimed personal injury from an accident to check they were telling the truth. "But private investigators using video to show that this particular plaintiff was enjoying herself in various city bars crosses the line," he said.

"You can be psychiatrically injured without walking around 24 hours a day with a dead face."

When The Daily Telegraph approached parents outside the North Parramatta school yesterday they said they had been told that principal Carol Bowern was the only person authorised to talk to the media.

Mrs Bowern said she was unavailable when contacted by The Daily Telegraph yesterday.




PRIVACY ISSUES RAISED IN SEX CASE
MALE PHOTOGRAPHS TOPLESS BATHERS

December 1, 2004 - SMH

A SYDNEY man was fined $500 today for taking photographs of topless women on Coogee Beach with his mobile phone.

Labourer Peter Mackenzie, 25, of Coogee, pleaded guilty in Waverley Local Court to behaving offensively in a public place on November 6.

It is believed to be the first time anyone has been prosecuted over such photography.

The partner of a woman he snapped confronted Mackenzie and called the police, staying with him at the beach until officers arrived.

Mackenzie told the court he had agonised over his actions.

"I really feel like I've blemished 25 years of being a decent person," he said.

Mackenzie faced three months in jail, but Magistrate Lee Gilmore instead fined him $500, warning him that "women are not objects of decoration for men's gratification".

Mackenzie's Nokia camera phone will be destroyed.




SURVEILLANCE VIDEO USED in SEX CASE

The following article demonstrates the use of surveillance video from insurance claims to the investigation of sex and pornography related matters.

Rape claim settled with private school
December 1, 2004 - 2:44PM

An exclusive Sydney girls school today reached a settlement with a former student who alleged she'd been gang raped on an overseas study trip.

The 18-year-old, known only as N, claims she was raped by four men in the Italian town of Sorrento while on a school trip in October 2001.

She was suing Tara Anglican Girls School in the NSW District Court, claiming the school breached its duty of care.

But when the trial resumed after lunch today her lawyers told the court a settlement had been reached for an undisclosed amount.

"I'm pleased to announce that the parties have in fact reached an agreement as to the resolution of the matter," her barrister Richard Burbibge, QC, told the court.

N had sued the school claiming it did not properly supervise her on the trip or offer adequate counselling and support following the alleged rape.

Earlier in court the teenager denied she had lied about being gang raped to avoid getting into trouble with her teachers and parents.

Under cross-examination, N insisted she did not make the story up to avoid being punished for breaking school rules, including being out after the 10pm curfew.

"In order to avoid being criticised or getting into trouble, you concocted the story that you were raped," counsel for the school, Ian Harrison SC, suggested.

The girl replied: "No".

Mr Harrison put it to her that "In order to avoid (your parents) being angry with you, you then say, 'The story is, in fact, I was raped'."

"I did not concoct a story," N said.

The court was then shown a surveillance video of the girl drinking alone at a Sydney bar

She had previously told the court she did not like going out alone because of what happened to her in Italy.

"Your condition does not prevent you from going out alone and socialising?" Mr Harrison asked.

"It does not prevent me, but it makes me extremely uncomfortable," N replied.

"You've overstated the severity of any condition you have for the purposes of these proceedings, haven't you?" Mr Harrison asked.

The girl denied it.

AAP




TERRORISTS CASH IN ON FAKE GOODS
November 20, 2004

Al-Qaeda has profited from counterfeits, writes David Elias of the Sydney Morning Herald.

Bargain hunters spending billions of dollars on fake designer handbags and other counterfeit luxuries may be innocently bankrolling international terrorism.

Australia is being flooded with counterfeit goods made for the most part in China and smuggled across international borders by a vast and varied cast.

They range from al-Qaeda fanatics and organised crime professionals to amateurs who think it is a neat way to pay for their overseas holiday.

Australian customs carried out 4500 seizures in the year to June 30 and took possession of more than 2.3 million goods.

The International Chamber of Commerce has estimated the worldwide trade in counterfeits to be worth $450 billion, which means that 7 per cent of the global economy is not what it seems. Governments are losing tax revenue, thousands of jobs in the manufacture, distribution and sales have disappeared, and the health and safety of consumers are being put at risk.

The US-based International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition has linked the trade with organised crime and the terrorism groups al-Qaeda and Hezbollah.

The coalition's position paper Facts on Fakes said terrorist organisations were using the sale of fake goods to raise and launder money. "Recovered al-Qaeda terrorist training manuals have revealed that the organisation recommends the sale of fake goods as one means to raise funds to support terrorist operations." The paper said European customs and British authorities had traced at least 1000 crates of counterfeit products to a member of al-Qaeda after the goods were intercepted en route from Dubai to Denmark.

A Melbourne solicitor, Stephen Stern, who looks after the Australian and New Zealand affairs of designer labels such as Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier, Hugo Boss, Tommy Hilfiger, Ferrari and Maserati, said the caseload in his office had quadrupled in two years to more than 1000 a year. Mr Stern, partner at Corrs Chambers Westgarth, said he had a team working full-time on counterfeit cases.

Dealers were paying travellers to smuggle small quantities of counterfeits that were then aggregated into larger inventories for distribution to markets, shops and some of the lesser store chains.

"They might organise a dozen or more people from neighbouring suburbs to fly to Asia and return with, say five handbags, a few scarves and some jewellery.

"Small parcels don't attract the attention of customs, but if stopped the couriers will say they didn't know the goods were counterfeit."

Next month Mr Stern expects to put his case to the Justice and Customs Minister, Senator Chris Ellison, who is looking at tougher penalties in line with recommendations from the government-sponsored advisory council on intellectual property that will give customs greater powers.

In the meantime, Mr Stern urges his clients to adopt a zero tolerance approach. "I am making far too much money out of this because the law is not strong enough," he said.




BOGUS INSURANCE CLAIMS CATCH UP WITH CONSUMERS
By Lisa Murray - SMH

Almost everyone has thought about fudging their insurance claim. Why not? It is so easy.

Just tell the insurance company, which makes a lot of money anyway, that the television set stolen from your house was bigger and better than it really was or that your car headlight was damaged in last week's accident, not three years ago.

This sort of attitude cost the insurance industry $832 million last year, adding $29 on average to the cost of every policy, according to a new report by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

The report was commissioned by Insurance Australia Group and found that 4 per cent of all claims in the industry were "fraudulent" or "inflated." But only 2.2 per cent of all claims were actually investigated.

The intelligence unit said most insurance companies believed the number of bogus claims was even higher, around 10 per cent. Assuming they are right, fraud costs the industry more than $2 billion every year, which means each policyholder pays an extra $73 in higher premiums.

"Some people see home burglary as an opportunity to get their hands on everything they ever wanted," said IAG's head of fraud and security risk, Nola Watson. "I think people become involved in insurance fraud if they think they can get away with it. But it is puzzling that people see insurance fraud as acceptable while banking fraud is not."

A survey by the Insurance Council of Australia in 2002 found 57 per cent of people have tried to claim more than their loss was worth. Another 31 per cent sometimes exaggerated their claims.

EIU found this type of fraud was the most common. But it also cited arson attempts, bogus car thefts and organised crime syndicates. The report recommended insurers work more closely with police and suggested public education programs, tougher penalties for offenders and better co-operation between insurers in sharing information.


SMH © 2004




A LESSON REGARDING THE CONTINUITY OF EVIDENCE

Any ASSI student will tell you the importance of ensuring that any evidence that is gathered must be accounted for at all times. There must be a strict record of who found it, who they gave it to, when, on what date, who did they give it to, what did they do with it etc etc.

Read the article below from the Sydney Morning Herald on 4 November, 2004 as a reminder of what can happen when continuity breaks down.




LOGBOOK LAPSE ADDS TO PROBLEMS IN TRACKING DOWN MISSING VIAL

By Ruth Pollard, Health Reporter
November 4, 2004

A logbook that would have helped police identify what time and by whom the blood sample of Supreme Court judge Jeff Shaw was placed in the secure box was not in use at Royal Prince Alfred hospital the night of the judge's road accident.

The hospital has not had a logbook for the past eight years, and has never been called upon to reinstate it, a spokeswoman told the Herald.

Describing the process of taking blood from a patient following an accident as "very routine", the director of the emergency department at the hospital, Tim Green, said that there was a clear system of accountability. "Probably around 20 such samples are taken in our emergency department every week and similar amounts would be taken in public hospitals all around NSW," Dr Green said.

"It is a very simple procedure, and in the case in question, the staff involved have very clear recollections of following routine procedure by taking the blood, sealing it and depositing it in the sealed blood-alcohol locker provided by the police."

The doctor who saw Mr Shaw on the evening of October 13, Malcolm Hill, stated on Tuesday that he clearly recalled taking a sample from the former attorney-general and placing it in the secure box.

Dr Green confirmed that Mr Shaw's patient notes indicated that a blood sample had been taken.

"I am not aware, in my experience in emergency departments over 15 years, that I have been asked to follow up such a case note," he said.

The state's chief medical officer and deputy director general of NSW Health, Greg Stewart, said the system of blood collection had been in place for 20 years and had to date been incident free.

Police also say this is the first time a blood exhibit has gone missing since they started taking samples in 1987. The Herald understands that there have been rare cases where a sample either leaked and became contaminated because it was not sealed securely or the vial containing a sample broke in transit.

A senior nurse who was on duty that night has also spoken to police, but has not given a formal interview about the events of the evening, according to a spokeswoman for Central Sydney Area Health Service.




CONGRATULATIONS TO ASSI STUDENT - PART II

A big congratulations to Jonathan C.

ASSI was contacted a couple of months ago by a leading law firm looking for an investigator who could assist them in locating 12 persons for various matters including fraud and dishonesty offences. The firm explained that they had engaged a couple of investigators previously who submitted big invoices however did not locate any of the persons they were looking for.

Jonathan C who had only just finished his training with ASSI was asked by us to contact this firm and offer his services as we knew he would excel in this area based on the excellent work he had done through the course.

Jonathan emailed us today advising that he had located 11 of the 12 persons !.

So well done to not only Jonathan but to the law firm who gave him the chance to prove himself and show that investigators do not need a minimum of 5 years experience to do a great job.

The Moderator





CONGRATULATIONS TO ASSI STUDENTS

Congratulations are in order to Craig A, John M, Michael B and Paul B who recently finished their training with ASSI. I would like to thank all four course participants to their devotion and attitude to training and I have no doubt you will excel as investigators.

Remember that the suppport we give does not stop here. Jobs will be passed on to you as we receive them and if at any time you have any queries or simply want a chat, you know how to contact us.

Again, well done to all




ASSI SURVEILLANCE TRAINING GOES INTERNATIONAL

In late 2003, the Australian School of Security and Investigations introduced one of the most comprehensive surveillance training courses available to private and government funded investigators. The courses are held in all capital cities and consist of both practical and theory training in static, foot and mobile surveillance.

The uniqueness of the training is well documented on our web site at www.covertsurveillance.com.au and testament to the value of the training is evident in that half of all students now travel from overseas locations to attend these courses.

A special mention must be made of Peter and Graeme, two professional and committed investigators who travelled from the United KIngdom to attend our last course. As with all our course participants. Peter and Graeme arrrived as students and left as close friends.

ASSI is also about to announce an Advanced Surveillance course over 1 week. Only one course is being held and will be one of the most comprehensive ever being offered. The course will be offered to only 7 investigators.

If you are interested, drop the school an email prior to the announcement and we will let you know if you meet the selection requirements



PRIVATE EYES AND DEBT COLLECTORS THREATENED WITH FINES AND JAIL
September 22, 2004


NSW Police will regulate the state's 3000 private investigators, debt collectors and repossession officers under new state legislation, the Police Minister, John Watkins, said yesterday.

The Commercial Agents and Private Inquiry Agents Bill 2004 also introduced tough new penalties, including jail terms, for harassment, overcharging, deceptive conduct or other rogue activity, he said.

"Deceptive or illegal conduct, heavy-handedness and other shoddy behaviour - which has been the subject of numerous complaints - will be stamped out," Mr Watkins said in a statement. "And people convicted of certain offences, non-citizens and those without experience or training will be banned from doing this work."

Mr Watkins said the new laws applied to agents working in areas including debt collection, process serving, debugging and repossession, dispute resolution and debt restructuring.

Those who located missing persons, witnesses or debtors, or carried out specialised commercial inquiries like pre-employment checks and private inquiries, would also be subject to the new laws, he said.

"A register of all legitimate commercial and private inquiry agents will be kept, and will be available to the Commissioner of Police at any time," Mr Watkins said. "New fines of up to $22,000 for corporations, or $11,000 or six months' jail for individuals will also be introduced."

Mr Watkins said penalties had been increased for offences including failure to produce a licence, obstructing police or authorised officers, and debt collectors charging debtors for expenses.




PI FURY AT BILL TO GIVE CONTROL TO POLICE

Private detectives have launched a stinging attack on the NSW Government's legislation handing control of the private investigations industry to the NSW police.

They have written to Police Minister John Watkins saying the industry will be plagued with issues of conflict of interest, potential corruption and collusion if the police are put in charge of licensing and regulation.

Of the state's 3000 private eyes, debt collectors and repossession officers, many are ex-police or ex-detectives who maintain links with their former colleagues.

Under the bill, NSW police will be in charge of issuing licences to private investigation firms and individual agents and a register of all legitimate commercial and private inquiry agents will be kept by the Commissioner of Police.

Firms and private eyes will face tough new penalties and even jail terms for harassment, overcharging, deceptive conduct or other rogue activity.

Australian Institute of Private Detectives president John Bracey said the 1992 report by the Independent Commission Against Corruption stated categorically that the police should not have any role in overseeing private investigators.

He said it was vital for private detectives to remain at arm's length from the police because many private investigations were on behalf of clients who were either plaintiffs or defendants in court cases.

He said clients supplied with independently verified information were able to protect themselves from the evidence of corrupt police which the police royal commission said was often fabricated.

"If there is no equality before the law there can be no proper democracy," he said.

Mr Watkins's Commercial Agents and Private Inquiry Agents Bill has passed the Legislative Assembly and will be debated in the Legislative Council next month when Parliament resumes.










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