Graft-busters pursue Gold Coast cops

Police on Queensland's Gold Coast are under investigation for corruption that could include drug trafficking and links to organised crime.

Officers working in what state police commissioner Bob Atkinson describes as Australia's Las Vegas are also alleged to have received free entrance to nightclubs, lapdances and drinks on the house.

One officer has so far been suspended, and evidence has been taken from 20 others by the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission.

Its investigation follows a report last year that implicated 25 officers in police misconduct - with three facing criminal charges - and a warning from chairman Robert Needham that the lessons of the Fitzgerald royal commission were being diluted with time.

The report of Tony Fitzgerald, QC's landmark inquiry into endemic corruption in the state two decades ago brought down the long-ruling Government of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen and sent four ministers and former police commissioner Terence Lewis to jail.

Needham said in last year's report on Operation Capri: "The publication ... should serve as a reminder that lessons learned gradually diminish with time and generational change ... It is inevitable that as time passes, slippage in the ethical standards of our police will occur."

Operation Capri investigated police involvement with a dangerous criminal informant and exposed widespread abuse of police powers.

The commission is remaining silent on its present investigation into Gold Coast corruption and has warned that speculation could harm its inquiries and "unnecessarily" undermine public confidence in the state's police.

Director of Misconduct Investigations Russell Pearce warned that some aspects of media reporting were exaggerated or inaccurate.

The commission's investigation was first revealed by Brisbane's Courier-Mail, which quoted one police source as saying the inquiry was potentially the biggest corruption scandal since the Fitzgerald royal commission.

"This will make Capri look very small," the source told the newspaper.

"We're talking about allegations of police involvement in importing drugs into Australia and distributing them through the Gold Coast nightclub scene."

The commission raided the Surfers Paradise and Burleigh Heads police stations, and other buildings in Brisbane and the Gold Coast on Sunday, and seized Ecstasy tablets from a group of people in the Fortitude Valley nightclub strip, one of whom was a police officer.

There has also been speculation that the investigation includes the alleged disappearance of cocaine worth about A$20,000 ($24,530) from a Gold Coast police station after a major drugs haul in 2007.

"It was nearly a kilo of almost pure cocaine and it was sent away for testing and came back about 30 grams light," a former detective told the Courier-Mail.

Police Minister Neil Roberts said the allegations were serious and needed to be investigated urgently and dealt with through the courts.

But he defended the police against claims of widespread corruption.

"We do not have systematic corruption here in Queensland," he told ABC radio.

"No one can guarantee that there aren't officers out there doing the wrong thing but fundamentally we have a decent, honest, police service in Queensland."

Atkinson also said the "vast majority" of his officers were honest, although over the past 10 years police had heard allegations, insinuations and rumours of misconduct on the Gold Coast, all of which had been investigated by the commission.

A confidential commission report obtained by the Australian warned two years ago of corruption and misconduct on the Gold Coast, with police involved in eight "questionable" activities, including using and dealing illegal drugs, compromising ongoing operations, failing to complete investigations, drinking on duty, misusing police vehicles and associating with criminals.

The report pointed to investigations ending without clear results or charges being laid, and at times in exonerating the subjects of the investigations, some of whom had been the targets of several operations.

The report said a "culture of misconduct" existed among police on the Gold Coast.

Last year's report on Operation Capri revealed problems elsewhere in the state.

Launched in 2006, the commission's investigation included the armed hold-up squad and police in Rockhampton and the Brisbane suburb of Cleveland.

The two-and-a-half-year inquiry uncovered "multiple incidents" of police misconduct, especially in connection with the use and management of prison informants.

The commission has also warned of the rise of organised crime, in December releasing a detailed study of money-laundering in the state.

Further evidence came with the smashing last year of a drug ring operating out of the Gold Coast and Sydney, allegedly linked to the Black Uhlans outlaw motorcycle club, and which resulted in the seizing of cocaine, steroids, A$40,000, weapons and ammunition.