Pubdate: Wed, 17 Feb 1999 Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) Contact: http://www.smh.com.au/ Author: Greg Bearup POLICEMAN TIPPED OFF FRIEND OVER RAID A police crewman from the NSW police helicopter admitted to the NSW Police Integrity Commission yesterday that he had tipped off a friend and former police officer that police were about to raid his home for drugs. Senior Constable Christan Bruce said that on the morning of December 11 last year he arrived at work to be briefed about a job the police helicopter would be involved in that day. Constable Bruce, who is a senior observer on the helicopter, realised the premises they were to observe were the office and home of his friend, Mr Peter Murrant, who left the NSW Police Service last year. Constable Bruce slipped from the briefing and immediately telephoned Mr Murrant and left a coded, nervous message on his answering machine, which was played to the commission yesterday: "G'day Spider [Mr Murrant's nickname] ... apparently I have to help someone get rid of their low-maintenance and high-maintenance bits and pieces from their work and their home ... anyway we have to go now and do a job regarding a search warrant." The pair were to have met that night for a drink. Later that same day he telephoned again and said: "Hopefully you got my message and that there's nothing at home or work that anyone need worry about." Questioned in the commission yesterday, Constable Bruce said the two premises he was sent to observe were Mr Murrant's office, Blue Falcon Security in Bayswater Road, and his home address. He was talking to Mr Murrant in code, he said, with "low-maintenance" referring to ecstasy and "high-maintenance" to cocaine. Asked why he felt he should tip him off, Constable Bruce said: "I considered him one of my best friends and thought it was my duty as a friend to warn him in regards to the cocaine and the ecstasy." It is not known how long the Police Integrity Commission had been taping the telephone calls of Mr Murrant and his serving police colleagues, but yesterday about a dozen tapped calls were played in the hearing room. One, from September 26 last year, was between Constable Bruce, who was in Scruffy Murphy's Hotel, and Mr Murrant, who was at Darling Harbour, in which they talked about "dog", a code for ecstasy or cocaine, the commission alleged. Constable Bruce on the tape: "I mentioned it to him tonight. Oh a dog's bark. I said woof to him and he goes excited." Mr Murrant: "Didn't you bring that dog, that barking dog that was at home?" When Mr Murrant was asked in the commission yesterday about the dog references, he said that it was simply a long-running joke between him and Constable Bruce as he felt Constable Bruce did not give his German shepherd enough to eat. "The dog was 35kg and it should have been 45kg or 50kg." Counsel assisting the commission, Mr Pat Barrett, suggested that he was talking about illegal drugs. Mr Murrant denied this. At one point yesterday, questioning moved away from Mr Murrant's employment of serving police in his security business and onto the alleged use and sale of illegal drugs. When his friend took to the witness stand, Mr Murrant's head slumped into his hands as he listened to the evidence. At the end of the day's proceedings the two men stood near each other at the back of the hearing room but avoided eye contact. Mr Murrant left via the public entrance and Constable Bruce through the "rollover door" and into the commission's offices. The hearing, which is looking into the use and sale of illegal drugs by serving and former police, continues today. - --- MAP posted-by: