POLICE INQUIRY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 141, 16 June 1936, Page 7

POLICE INQUIRY.

DETECTIVE METHODS. Keeping Appointment With An Informer. AN OFFICER QUESTIONED. United Press Association.—-Copyright. (Received 9.30 a.m.) MELBOURNE, this day. The Royal Commission' which is inquiring into the shooting of Superintendent J. Brophy, of the Victorian Criminal Investigation Department, in Royal Park, near Parkville, on May 22, sat again yesterday. Mr. Justice Macindoe presided. Detective-Inspector A. T. McKerral, chief of the Criminal Investigation Department, gave evidence regarding the conflicting stories of the wounding of Superintendent Brophy and the measures adopted to clear the matter up as "the newspapers on the Monday following the shooting published information in which there were discrepancies and departures from fact." The shooting was originally believed to be accidental, but later Detective Carey told witness that he had seen Superintendent Brophy at the hospital and had ascertained that it was not accidental. Sir Thomas Blarney, Chief Commissioner of Police, then instructed witness to correct the accident story and give the newspapers the true facts. Mr. Stretton, who is assisting the Royal Commissioner, asked witness: "If an informer rang you in order to make an appointment to tell you about a 'prospective bank hold-up, would you meet him right on the steps of that bank ?"

Inspector McKerral: Probably no. Mr. Stretton: Would you, as Superintendent Brophy purports to have done, have met an informer right in the centre of an area where motor bandits were operating? Inspector McKerral: The circumstances are different. You have usually to keep an appointment at the spot named by the informer, otherwise he would not come. Inspector McKerrall added that he saw nothing wrong in what Superintendent Brophy did. It was 'quite good detective work. The doctor who attended Superintendent Brophy believed the whole thing was accidental, in spite of the fact that his wounds were widely distributed. Detective-Sergeant H. Carey detailed the efforts he had made to find out the facts of the shooting. He said Superintendent Brophy was doubtful whether he could identify his assailants, but he hoped to pick up an informer who might help. Witness added that as a result of his\ investigations he now planned taking "certain action in a certain direction," but it was not desirable to divulge what was going on. Mr. Stretton: Do you agree- with Superintendent' Brophy that the name of the informer in this case is sacred? Detective-Sergeant Carey: I do. Detective O'Keefe is at this moment obtaining information that might be of value. The inquiry was further adjourned.