www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15369994-29277,00.htmlPolice bug public phone
May 22, 2005
From: AAP
NEW South Wales Police have defended bugging a public telephone in Sydney during a drug investigation.
Dozens of innocent conversations from the phone in Coogee, in Sydney's eastern suburbs, were recorded over a month by the NSW Crime Commission.
The commission was investigating a conspiracy to import millions of dollars worth of cocaine, News Limited papers today reported.
Responding to privacy concerns raised in the reports, acting Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione today defended the practice.
Mr Scipione said judicial authorities permitted bugging operations under controls.
"There are a number of agencies that keep tabs on what we are doing," Mr Scipione said.
"There is enormous oversight.
"We make an application and the (judicial) authorities actually issue the warrant."