THIS is not the first time Mark Standen has been under a cloud in his 30-year career in law enforcement. The organisations he worked for - the Australian Federal Police and its predecessor, the Narcotics Bureau - have been the subject of allegations of corruption and at least three major inquiries. Nor is Standen the first officer in them accused or convicted of crimes.
The 1979 Williams royal commission into drugs led to the abolition of the Narcotics Bureau and the formation of the federal police. Most of the narcotics agents, including Standen, were redeployed to the AFP. The Williams report remains secret.
After Standen's arrest, a former AFP internal investigator, Ray Cooper, said the federal body had suffered from a culture of cover-up and was rife with corruption. But, despite decades of allegations, it seems beyond public criticism and scrutiny.
One of Standen's former fellow officers claims to know colleagues were involved in drug deals. ''We didn't know who you could trust. You were looking over your shoulders all the time,'' the colleague said, suggesting while some were caught, many still worked in law enforcement.
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There were investigations into Standen and rumours about his integrity, sources say, even before a 1980 incident in which he said he flushed 18 foils of hash down a toilet. His colleagues in that incident, Stephen Innsley and Frank Ramaccia, both came to notice again later. Ramaccia joined the NSW Police and was investigated by the Integrity Commission, though no charges were recommended against him. Innsley was jailed for four charges of perjury before the 1982 Stewart royal commission into drug trafficking.
The commission heard about the 18 flushed foils of drugs and found the behaviour dishonest, but took no further action. Its final report also remains secret.
Standen's colleagues, Richard John Spencer and Allan Gregory McLean, were named at the Stewart commission. Spencer and his colleague, Peter Joseph Marzol, were charged in 1987 with withholding information from an inquest into the death of an informant but the charges were stayed because a judge ruled the 10-year delay since the alleged offence could not be justified.
McLean, a customs agent, was sentenced in 1988 over importing heroin in soccer balls. He had been investigated by Gerry Fletcher, an officer whom Standen later repeatedly falsely accused of misconduct.
In 1990 the AFP officer Michael Anthony Wallace was convicted of stealing $20 million worth of drugs and cash exhibits. In 1995 Standen's colleague, Alan Taciak, rolled over in the NSW Police royal commission and alleged 78 AFP officers - 15 per cent of the force - were corrupt.
Taciak's allegations sparked the Harrison inquiry in 1996. Its final report, which is understood to have alleged widespread corruption in the AFP, has also not been released. The head of the inquiry, Ian Harrison, now a Supreme Court judge, said many agents escaped investigation by quitting the AFP.
In 2001 Standen's former boss at the Sydney drugs unit, Cliff Foster, committed suicide while under investigation over corruption.