WE WERE RIGHT – COMRIE QUITS EARLY
DECEMBER 8TH 2000
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As predicted less than a week ago, we now
report that the books that have directly forced the early resignations
of well over a hundred Victorian Police officers, Victoria
Police Corruption and Victoria Police Corruption
– 2 have claimed another scalp.
This time it's the Commissioner of the Victorian Police, Neil Comrie, (as
we predicted) who announced his resignation yesterday.
Comrie wasn't due to retire for another two years.
Comrie's resignation (or should we say "retirement") follows
in the wake of the resignations of several high-profile Victorian cops
who were adversely named in Hoser's books including the head of the Victoria
Police Drug Squad and others.
We were advised some time ago that Neil Comrie was sick and tired of renewed
questioning of his role in the Huey matter as documented in full for the
first time in the book Victoria Police Corruption by Raymond Hoser.
The Huey matter involved a case whereby Comrie was alleged by fellow Police
officer Gordon Harris to have perverted the course of justice and other
serious corruption-related matters.
The incidents were raised in a Senate inquiry and occurred while Comrie
was an Assistant Commissioner in Queensland.
The inquiry found in favor of Harris.
Huey was an allegedly corrupt police officer who was according to Harris
being protected by Comrie.
Reportage of the Huey matter was suppressed by the Melbourne media and
hence virtually no Victorians knew about it … that was until publication
of the book Victoria Police Corruption in August 1999.
However we note that in today's papers there is no mention of the Huey
matter or Hoser's books.
We find both strange as the papers printed extensive coverage of Comrie's
past, but chose to ignore the Huey matter, even though in hindsight it
is regarded by many as one of the low-points in his policing career.
Over the last four weeks, Hoser had received calls from several serving
police claiming that Comrie had made it known that he intended quitting
the force. The reason given was that because the Victorian government had
failed to stop continuing sales of the Victoria Police Corruption
books (although most bookshops no longer carry the titles due to ongoing
threats to jail booksellers who do), Comrie's role in the Huey matter was
becoming widely known and his suitability as a police commissioner was
being increasingly questioned.
But with thousands of the books in general circulation, plus CD's containing
the same text, and the number growing daily, Comrie's role in the Huey
matter was rapidly becoming common knowledge in Victoria – in spite of
an ongoing mainstream media ban on reporting on it.
Comrie had decided to quit while he was ahead and before the mainstream
media may decide to do the inevitable and perhaps revisit the Huey matter.
The urgency to leave the force had been increased as the mainstream media
rehashed case after case as detailed in the Victoria Police Corruption
books.
Was Comrie's case moving up in the line Hoser stories to be plagiarised?
As predicted, Comrie didn't credit the Hoser books as the reason for his
premature retirement, or for that matter the Huey affair.
Now this is somewhat strange as the Labor Government's spokesman on Police,
Andre Haermeyer has made it clear that it had no problem with Comrie serving
as police commissioner.
So if they didn't force Comrie out of his job, what did?
So far the major papers have gone on with all this crap about Comrie quitting
to spend more time with his family.
But if that were true, then why did he so eagerly sign a five-year contract
just three years earlier?
On that basis we don't think that the "family" line is credible.
But then again, what other excuse to quit early could he think of?
We wonder what Gordon Harris thinks of all this.
He was the original cop who blew the whistle on Comrie's role in the Huey
matter.
For further information about Neil Comrie and the Huey matter refer to
Chapter 39 of Victoria Police Corruption
(pages 649-664).
This media release is posted at:
http://www.smuggled.com/MedRel63.htm
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