They were the glamour force... supercops smashing drug rackets, tracking terrorists and making Australians feel safe.
Grateful politicians showered them with praise and hefty budget increases. Officers of the Australian Federal Police and their canny chief Mick Keelty could do no wrong. Or so it seemed.
The once-lionised AFP is now ridiculed for apparent bungling, excessive secrecy and cosying up to political masters. The collapse of the terrorism case against Dr Mohammed Haneef – now the subject of an inquiry by a retired judge – has been a humiliation for the AFP, with speculation erupting about Mr Keelty’s future.
But the Haneef affair may be just a symptom of deep cultural problems that beset the AFP. Four Corners charts its rise from inauspicious beginnings 29 years ago to its golden era under the Howard Government, when the AFP rightly won plaudits after the Bali bombings, to its recent plummet from grace, and asks: what went wrong?
