Pat Ritter. Books

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'Confessions of an alcoholic' - Page 51:

After the final examination each trainee had to wait before being sworn into the Police Force to see where he or she was going to be posted to work. About a week before the swearing-in ceremony Bundy was requested by a senior officer to appear at his office for an interview. He had no idea why he had to appear before this officer and for what reason. It couldn’t be for his eye sight again, he thought. The last four months had been hell, and if he were being told he couldn’t be sworn in with his group, it would be devastating.
When he arrived at the door of the office, he noticed two gentlemen dressed in suits waiting. There had already been eight trainees from his group who had left, because of the toughness of the course. They introduced themselves as detectives from the Vice Squad. Bundy instantly thought why they would want to talk with me. I haven’t done anything.
After introducing one another, one of the detectives said, ‘Do you know how to place a bet on a racehorse?’
‘Of course I do. I’ve been betting and going to the races since I can remember.’
‘Do you think you would be able to go into hotels and place bets with people in hotels?’ The other detective asked.
‘You mean with the SP’s at the hotels. Sure I’ve done it plenty of times.’ exclaimed Bundy still wondering why he was being asked these questions.
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'Confessions of an alcoholic' - Page 52:

‘Thank you, that will be all for now.’ replied the first detective.
Bundy left the office still concerned about why they wanted him. He found out soon enough. Before a new squad of law enforcement officers was sworn-in, a selection is made from all of the recruits suitable to work undercover for the Vice Squad.
Bundy was selected to be one of those officers, who didn’t wear a uniform. His role was to visit hotels seeking out people in hotels who bet on racehorses. If there were a SP (Starting Price Bookmaker) at the hotel taking bets on horseracing, Bundy had to try and place a bet with them, reporting his bet to detectives from the Vice Squad.
He couldn’t believe his luck. He was actually being paid money to drink at hotels and bet on racehorses. How long has this been going on? He thought.
Unfortunately, the life of an undercover agent is short lived particularly in Bundy’s case. It didn’t take long before Bundy had been recognised at hotels shortly afterwards detectives seen raiding the hotels, arresting people for SP Betting. It didn’t take very much intelligence to put two and two together to come up with the figure four. The SP grapevine worked overtime.
Bundy also made it hard on himself. Most days when he visited hotels naturally he had to drink alcohol. More often than not, he’d end up by the end of the day totally pissed and not knowing what he was doing.
It was a very strange time because he’d never worked in this type of environment before.

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'Confessions of an alcoholic' - Page 53:

Then spending four months studying law to become a law enforcement officer ending up working as an undercover agent and didn’t know where he was going or what was going to happen next.
One evening he was at the hotel with detectives from the Vice Squad after work. He’d been drinking most of the day, so was almost totally inebriated by the end of the night. A gentleman seated beside him was skiting about what he had been doing for mankind. Bundy didn’t know at the time that this person was a State Politician. When Bundy was at this stage of intoxication, he couldn’t have cared less, what the person was doing for mankind.
Next morning Bundy arrived at work, he was promptly told of his transfer to a far western town at the end of the railway line. What have I done to deserve this? He thought.
When he asked his superior about the transfer the reply was, ‘I don’t know what you’ve done. You’ve upset someone up high, because when news came down from the top this morning, I queried the reason for your transfer, and you’ve got to be on Friday night’s train.’
Not long before this night with the politician there was another incident, which Bundy thought might have been the cause for his transfer. One afternoon, it was payday because he had money; most of the detectives Bundy worked with wanted to do a pub-crawl. Starting at one end of the city, beginning at the first pub, everyone in the group had a beer then continued onto the next pub, until they’d visited and had a beer at every hotel.

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'Confessions of an alcoholic' - Page 54:

In turn the group visited every pub and everyone had a beer. By the end of the pub-crawl left only the seasoned drinkers standing which wasn’t Bundy. He was totally pissed out of his brain. Bundy did the most stupid thing he could ever have done and agreed to drive two detectives to their homes in his car.
It was a time of the day in the city when it was peak hour traffic. Police Officers were directing traffic at busy intersections. At a major intersection of the city was a fellow Police Officer whom Bundy had been sworn in with only a couple of months before. He saw Bundy at the same time Bundy seen him. He put his right hand up to signal for Bundy to stop, which was in the middle of a busy intersection. When he walked over to Bundy’s car he said, ‘Bundy, you’re pissed.’
‘We’ve been celebrating. How’re you going Frank?’ Bundy said in the hope that Frank would disregard Bundy’s appearance.
Traffic began to choke the intersection and said to Bundy, ‘Get the bloody hell out of here. If I didn’t have all of this traffic I’d lock you up. Now get!’ That was a close shave for Bundy, because he knew the law, and shouldn’t have taken any risk in driving his car when he was intoxicated.
He was transferred to a country town not far from where he had worked out west only twelve months before. It’s not all that bad, he thought, at least I should be able to see some of the ringers I worked with.
The journey took two days. It was a new adventure at least now; he could perform his duty as a law enforcement officer. Unfortunately, since

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'Confessions of an alcoholic' - Page 55:

....his being sworn into the Police Force, he hadn’t performed many duties as a law enforcement officer only those of an undercover agent. He felt very excited about his future knowing he was on a steep learning curve.
When the train pulled into the railway station, Trevor the law enforcement officer who met him said, ‘How you doing?’ and at the same time handed Bundy a cold stubby bottle of beer. ‘Welcome to the west.’
Bundy couldn’t believe what happened. He was met at the railway station by one of the officers and welcomed with a cold stubby bottle of beer. Unbeknown to Bundy his reputation as an undercover agent had preceded him to his destination. All of his fellow officers knew Bundy had been an undercover agent. Most of the members suspected Bundy was being planted at the station to spy on them. Nothing was further from the truth.
When Trevor and Bundy arrived at the office, the other officers were there to meet and greet and welcome him. The ‘Boss’ whose name was Harry instantly made Bundy ‘feel at home. They were celebrating Christmas together. Bundy felt welcomed when he arrived.
After settling in detective Tim arranged for Bundy to stay at the hotel across the street. There were no vacancies at the barracks until one of the single men was either transferred or moved out and felt comfortable settling into his new accommodation. He’d stayed at a similar hotel the previous Christmas; only it was in a smaller town and a further one hundred kilometres west. His...

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Confessions of an alcoholic' - Page 56:

...memory of what happened that previous Christmas was still fresh in his mind. It would’ve been better for him to forget it.
Bundy felt ‘something was going on’ when detective Tim wanted to stay and have a beer with him. It was most unusual for a detective to mix with any junior officer. Bundy agreed to have a beer. After the first beer, detective Tim started asking questions about what he had done in the city.
Bundy answered with candour telling detective Tim about how he visited hotels each day seeking out people who bet on horseracing at the hotels. Detective Tim was astonished by Bundy’s stories. He found them to be quite unbelievable. Bundy was only telling the truth.
After a few more beers Bundy found out that detective Tim wasn’t a real detective; he was only relieving in the position. He was actually a uniform officer from another station further north, relieving in the position as a detective, until another detective was transferred to the Criminal Investigation Branch.
It was time for Bundy to start his first tour of duty. His initial shift commenced at 5pm and finished at 1am the following morning and worked with Trevor on that shift. He was waiting to leave on transfer to another Police Station.
Their first shift was a little uneventful. Trevor was the officer who got on well with folks around town. Bundy mentioned he had previously worked on large cattle and sheep station about fifty kilometres west of the town.
On their patrols they ...

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'Confessions of an alcoholic' - Page 57:

...visited a hotel in the town, which was noted for fights and disturbances.
When they walked into the hotel, a voice rang out, ‘if it isn’t Bundy. You went and joined them bastards after all.’ Bundy immediately recognised David’s voice. David was pissed out of his brain. Trevor was about to arrest him when Bundy went up to him and said, ‘I know this fellow. I used to work with him. I’ll take care of him.’
Bundy took hold of David’s arm and walked with him to the police car. He couldn’t allow himself to arrest David and drove him to his home after David told him where he lived.
He quickly learned he wasn’t a taxi driver. He was a law enforcement officer. His duty was to arrest people for breaking the law not to take them home. It took Bundy a little while to come to terms with arresting people that he knew. It was a tough time to change. A lot of the problem was guilt for he had been in a similar position many times himself but was never arrested.
His ‘Boss’ Harry soon explained a few important details about the role of a law enforcement officer and what is to be done if a person broke the law. The message was clear in Bundy’s head, or so he thought. He felt he was doing the right thing in driving his mate’s home rather than locking them up in the cells. Time was to change Bundy’s way of thinking.
How can I now go and drink with these mates of mine if they drink and play up and I need to arrest them?’ He worried and decided to take each day at a time.