G'day Raymond, I have been a fan of your books for a long time. I've contacted you before. Anyway, here's a story for your next book.
Today 13th May 2002. I attended Moonee Ponds court today as witness for a lady friend who was charged with failing to keep left on the freeway.
On the day in question a motorbike cop entered the freeway from an on ramp in full view ahead of us. He sped ahead for a short distance then slowed to about 90kph in the left lane in front of a long line of other traffic in the left lane. As we approached (she was driving, I was front seat passenger) the slower moving traffic she merged to the right lane and continued along at 100kph. We steadily passed the slower moving traffic until we came to the cop. As we passed him he signalled for us to pull over, which we did. He ranted and raved about speeding which my friend denied point blank! He then wrote a ticket for failing to keep left unless overtaking.
In court the cop stated under oath that he had been behind our vehicle for several kilometres flashing his headlight wildly to draw our attention to the fact that we should be in the left lane. He said he only wrote the ticket out after giving my friend plenty of time to respond. This is total lies. At no time before he signalled us to pull over was he behind us. We were overtaking him when he told us to pull over.
My friend was very emotional and shocked when the Magistrate took this cops word for it, even though our version of events was totally different from the cops. There was certainly reasonable doubt.
I did not know what to do. An appeal is still possible but my friend cant handle the stress or afford legal costs, especially if she loses the appeal. Legal aid claim to be too busy. So as a last resort I got two fluorescent sheets of cardboard and made two signs. One had "CORRUPT POLICE WORK HERE - BATEMAN No. 22939 LYING PIG" on it and the other had "BATEMAN No.22939 TELLS LIES IN COURT - CORRUPT POLICE" on it. I then stood outside Epping police station displaying my signs to passing traffic. The reaction was interesting. Many people waved in support. A couple of people actually stopped to ask details of my experience and wished me luck with my protest, including one who said he had been booked by Bateman three times.
A sergeant came out to ask what my beef was. I explained it to him and we chatted for a short time. He was quite friendly and said I could continue with my protest. He asked for my name, address and D.O.B. which I gave him (I don't think I have to, but I've got nothing to hide). Shortly after that two officers came outside. One had a camera and tried to take photos of me. Each time he tried I turned away. Then a police car with video camera running on the dashboard came past, then another unmarked car with two on board and a still camera.
Then a cop who appeared to be arriving for work (in his own car and casual clothes) stopped and tried to take photos. I foiled this then he called me over to his car (parked on the wrong side of the road in a dangerous position on a T intersection). He told me he worked at Epping Police station and was a cop for 19 years. He said he never told lies and was offended by my posters. He asked for my details. I told him that I already gave them to the sergeant before. He told me I would receive a letter from his solicitor for defamation. I then told him to stop harassing me and I walked away. Another unmarked car approached with camera at the ready so I thought I'd got my message across for today. I walked to my car and could see several officers watching me from within the police station grounds. I expected to get pulled over as soon as I drove away but I was surprised to get all the way home to Glenroy without incident.
The corrupt cop is SENIOR CONSTABLE T.J. BATEMAN No. 22939.
I have now spoken to three people who know him and say he is a bad cop.
I noticed in court that the proceedings were taped. I thought of you straight away. Thank you. I'm sure this has something to do with you :-).
I hope you can use this story sometime, and that you are fit and well.

p.s. I was thinking of doing my protest again but next time I would wear a mask and take my own camera to take photos of cops taking photos of me. I'll also re-word my posters to "BATEMAN No. 22939 IS A CORRUPT COP". This is to the point and doesn't refer to any other cops at Epping.
What do you think?