Phillip Arantz

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Phillip Arantz was a member of the New South Wales Police. In 1971, while working on a computerisation program, NSW police computer expert Phillip Arantz discovered that the NSW police service had been systematically under-reporting crime statistics for years. The obvious inference of this revelation was that police were trying to conceal corruption, which allegedly extended up to the Police Commissioner himself, and the widespread police involvement in organised crime.

Arantz took his allegations to senior police but they were dismissed out of hand. Eventually Arantz, now recognised as one of Australia's pioneer "whistle-blowers", realised that Norman Allan (who had been Commissioner since 1962) was at least aware of the scheme, if not directly involved in it, and that he wanted to suppress Arantz's revelations.

The frustrated Arantz eventually leaked his information to the press, so an enraged Commissioner Allan began a vicious campaign to destroy Arantz's credibility. As a result, Arantz was suspended, forced to undergo a psychiatric assessment, and, finally, dishonourably discharged from the force; it took him years to clear his name. Meanwhile both Commissioner Allan and New South Wales Premier Robert Askin had retired (respectively in 1972 and 1975), avoiding the taint from the scandal. By the time Arantz's claims were finally vindicated, Askin and Allan were long since dead.

Arantz went on to write a book called 'Collusion of Powers' which was very long.