On this day

in 1986 Deputy chief constable of Greater Manchester police John Stalker was cleared of misconduct. It had been alleged that he was associating with criminals.

Well of course he was, he was in the police, some of the worst criminals in the land at the time:

POLICE corruption in Britain is now so widespread it may have reached levels which normally only occur in unstable Third World countries, according to a confidential document obtained by The Telegraph.

The growth of the international drugs trade and the massive amounts of money available to criminals to offer as bribes are identified as the key cause.