ABSTRACT
In late January 2013, Victoria Police was provided with reports from the Office of the Racing Integrity Commissioner (‘ORIC’) and the Australian Crime Commission (‘ACC’) which highlighted the need for law enforcement agencies to have a greater focus and commitment to integrity in sport. The response was exceptionally fast, with the Victorian Parliament informed on 7 February 2013 that Victoria Police had established the Sporting Integrity Intelligence Unit (‘SIIU’) to investigate allegations of organised crime in sport. The Unit began operations the following Monday. The SIIU places strategic importance on partnerships and prevention and holds an annual sporting integrity symposium bringing together representatives from sport, racing, government, betting providers, the university sector and law enforcement. These relationships have provided the SIIU with intelligence and information that has led to a number of successful operations. In August 2013, the SIIU commenced its first major investigation into match-fixing in the Victorian Premier League, code-named ‘Operation Starlings’. SIIU investigators discovered that the Southern Stars Football Club had been infiltrated by members of a global match-fixing syndicate, with links to a notorious international match-fixer. This investigation attracted global media attention and provided the SIIU with significant recognition as leading the way in Australia with respect to sporting corruption investigations. More recently, the SIIU has further enhanced its reputation with the successful ‘Operation Lumberjacks’, an investigation into harness race-fixing in the Mildura region of Victoria. This investigation is the first successful prosecution in any form of racing throughout Australia for such offending. With confidence returning to harness racing in the region, a number of positive flow-on effects to the community have been observed. Unexpected benefits have varied from an increase in interest in future horse auctions that have previously had minimal sales to local stock-feed stores reporting increases in turnover due to trainers and owners returning to the industry.
