“Undercover was like guerrilla warfare; to understand your enemy, you had to walk amongst them, to become them. The trick was to keep an eye on that important line between who you were and who you were pretending to be.”
“It’s been such a long time since I’ve read a page-turner I’d almost forgotten how good it is…”
— Ian Smith
“Keith's recollections come across as genuine and are told with humour, a good dose of reflection and honesty.”
— Rachel
“…Raw and unflinching, Keith pulls us into his life where he had to walk the line between criminal and law enforcer…”
— Jenny (Bookbookowl)
“I was shocked and horrified by how little training and support there was for such young men being put in situations well beyond their understanding and experience.”
— Jennifer
True story, raw and confronting
“I sometimes wondered whether our real lives were our actual cover: acting like normal people with the attendant facades that life required. We spent that time waiting for the next job so we could become the person who didn’t obey the rules or conventions. That was the problem: the fear and the rush were too fucking addictive.”
— Keith Banks
Keith Banks BM, VA and Bar, is one of Queensland’s most decorated police officers having joined as an idealistic 17-year-old in 1975 and serving as an operational member of the Queensland Police until 1995.
This is the true story of the first 10 years of his service, during which he volunteered for one of the most dangerous areas in policing: deep undercover duty penetrating drug rings and living under several false identities.
Not only was the work dangerous; Keith and his undercover colleagues were working in the most corrupt era of Queensland’s history, where not everyone with a badge could be trusted.
Drugs, Guns & Lies is a moving, confronting and utterly compelling story of all the undercover cops who became casualties of that era, living in a world that no one else understood.
“Banks has told his story in a raw and honest autobiography…”
— JOHN SILVESTER, Crime Reporter for The Age
My police career was different from most
I proudly joined the Queensland Police Force with ideals to protect and serve. I loved being a cop and wanted to work in areas where I could contribute to the safety of the people of Queensland. After 3 years in uniform on the street, I volunteered to go undercover and live in the world of drug dealers and criminals under a false identity. I was prepared to change my lifestyle and do what was necessary to change the world, but what I didn’t know was how the world would change me.
I went from a non-drinking, non-smoking straight young man to a binge drinking, pot-smoking undercover cop and lived among criminals setting up drug deals and having dealers arrested. Along the way, I became addicted to the rush of fear and adrenaline and the lines between who I was and who I pretended to be became blurred. The other problem was that I didn’t always know who the enemy was, cops or crooks?
Keith Banks — Photo taken in 1981
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