Victim of drug world—counsel

Press, 26 March 1986, Page 4

Victim of drug world —counsel

Haussmann was the victim of the drug world which he had been instructed to infiltrate more than nine years ago in Auckland, when he was one of the first undercover constables, said Mr K. N. Hampton, his counsel.

He was a victim of the system, since revised, which threw him amongst criminals without any adequate preparation or psychological assessment.

There was a clear line back to that operation which led to his drug offending.

Haussmann came from a good but inward looking family, which had strong religious associations. His father was a policeman all his working life. After leaving school, Haussmann worked for the Post Office before joining the police in 1974. With only two years experience, he was directed to do undercover work.

A relatively naive and immature young man, Haussmann had no association with drugs before that time. He could not even roll his own cigarettes.

He started the undercover operation after two weeks training in November, 1976. He worked in Auckland for 18 months, and was then transferred to similar work in another North Island centre. It was clear that his, suitability for that type of work should have been questioned, but it was the early days of undercover operations and the training was very limited. His personality, moral outlook and lifestyle underwent radical changes. His family became alarmed when his underworld associations reacted on traits in his character, which was why he was in the dock today. These changes were listed in a detailed affidavit by his uncle and were confirmed by his parents and other members of the family, which had a fairly rigid structure. They were all concerned for his well-being, because the changes were so distinctive and alien to his former outlook. For an undercover agent to operate successfully, he had to adopt what amounted to a split personality. To avoid detection, he

had to act and think like a criminal, yet retain the normal moral standards of a police officer. It was a strange dichotomy which led to tremendous stress and emotional pressures which even the most mature, well adjusted man would have difficulty in coping with.

As a result of the tremendous strain, the classic irony developed, and Haussmann began to take drugs, including heroin, to relieve the tension.

He was unable to cope with the Jekyll and Hyde existance in which he was expected to live. He had to befriend persons whom he knew he was going to help put in jail.

Eventually his personality change became so marked that his father applied to have him taken out of undercover work.

His debriefing consisted only of a brief session with a psychologist in 1978. By that time Haussmann was emotionally scarred of life. Haussmann was using a variety of drugs, including heroin.

He had been gravely disturbed by the number of influential and prominent persons associated with the drug world who could not be touched because they were cunning enough to distance themselves from actual drug trafficking. As a result, Haussmann’s sense of reality became warped, as did his morality. He knew drugs were evil and pernicious, but he pushed that moral dilemma to the back of his mind for his own self-preservation and to retain his sanity. Undercover work warped an agent’s outlook and was a very costly programme in human terms, Mr Hampton said.

In 1978 Haussmann returned to work in the uniform branch in Christchurch, and was subjected to a brutal and vicious attack in a hotel, which resulted in permanent damage to facial nerves and muscles.

After successfully sitting his detective’s examination, Haussmann was transferred to the C. 1.8., but was not a total success. His supervisor reported that he was a loner who did not communicate with his fellow officers,

and who lived in a dream world.

Haussmann was using drugs, including heroin. He was very unsettled and could not maintain a stable relationship with a woman. He attemptd suicide, as his whole moral base had been undermined by his undercover work.

None of the group had realised the large quantity of heroin they could obtain with the money they had raised. Their intention was to get sufficient to meet their own needs, and to sell some to cover the costs of the trip to obtain it. Only 25 to 30 grams were sold. Because of his state of mind due to drug taking, Haussmann was not aware that he was under surveillance, although he was aware that unmarked police vehicles were parked in his street at various times, and he saw a senior police officer drive down his street.

He knew the identity of the police cars from their registration numbers.

In his .befuddled and -confused state, he did not. , relate those events to own position. He was in-yii jecting heroin up to three ! times a day, and could not s stop because he was ad- i dieted .

Only a small quantity of the drug brought into the country was sold, and none of those involved thought of a gain between $300,000 and $500,000 for themselves was possible. Haussmann was acutely conscious of what he had to face in prison both as a result of being a policeman and an undercover agent.

Although he had been kept apart from other i prisoners, he had already • experienced considerable unpleasantness from other inmates. He knew that he was in for a very difficult time both physically and mentally.

To his credit, Haussmann had not blamed anyone else, and he had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity. He could have defended the importing charge because he never left the country. “He expresses his sincere regret for what he has done, not for his own sake but for birsmirching the name of the police and his family," Mr Hampton said.