corruption that are far worse. Two have been charged with keeping a brothel, for which they are alleged to have kidnapped a 15-year-old virgin. Another officer set up a children's home, which he advertised as a charity. "Charlie's Shelter" in fact offered young boys for sex. The local police record an unusual number of suicides and mysterious incidents of heart failure. One detective failed to notice that a tourist, whom he diagnosed as having been beaten to death, had been shot at point-blank range. Perhaps the officer in question was distracted by the strain of managing his second-hand car business. The people in charge of the police organizations are not blind to what is going on; some are just too scared to admit that there are corrupt officers in their force. Others may just really not know what is going on while the rest are either involved in the corruption or speaking up and trying to stop the dishonesty. For example, Roy Penrose, director-general of a new squad, warned the public that a "small but significant number" of officers were known to be selling police information and aiding former officers and criminals as to the whereabouts of safe havens where they could go unharmed in dealing in their drug trades. He pledged to be "ruthless" in sacking corrupt and incompetent officers (Welch, p 13).James Wood, a former Supreme Court judge, was well suited to staying the distance with an inquiry that many in the police force hoped would fizzle out soon after it began. Mr. Wood chose as his chief weapon the power of public exposure-filmed evidence that revealed police officers allegedly taking bribes or dealing in drugs. The commission's staff also made use of "roll over" witnesses, policemen who admitted corruption and then agreed to finger colleagues in return for immunity from prosecution. The star informer was Trevor Haken, a former detective sergeant who helped to install miniature video cameras in the dashboard of a polic...
