I was 'Raptor 13' - the no-nonsense cop Aussie criminals so detested. I've been ... trends now

He was the no-nonsense cop known as Raptor 13 who gained notoriety on the streets for his uncompromising style of policing. 

But Senior Constable Andrew Murphy has broken his long silence to insist he was never actually kicked out of the elite, bikie-busting squad he came to symbolise. 

Murphy attracted criticism - and won plenty of fans - for his hardline approach to issuing traffic infringement notices while working with Strike Force Raptor.

He gained widespread media attention from 2018 onwards after clips of him clashing with bikies and their associates were uploaded to social media. 

In one well-publicised incident he was captured on camera clashing with mourners attending the funeral of slain Comanchero boss Mick Hawi.

Other videos showed him brandishing a metal pole near a motorist's head, throwing a motorcyclist's licence on the ground and shoving a rider on a Hells Angels run. 

Murphy became the victim of an online hate campaign which included threats he would be murdered or raped. More than 30,000 detractors signed a petition calling for his dismissal.  

In February 2020 it was reported Murphy had been removed from Raptor and put in an administrative role as punishment for 'serious misconduct'.

NSW Police told Daily Mail Australia that Murphy had been disciplined after a video emerged of him threatening and abusing two women in April 2019. 

'The officer has transferred from the Criminal Groups Squad to a non-public facing unit,' a police spokeswoman said at the time. 

But Murphy has told the Zero Limits podcast he was never removed from Raptor and was medically discharged from the force in 2021 due to serious injuries he suffered in a near-fatal car accident in 2000. 

In an interview which ran for more than three-and-a-half hours, the former cop said he had always acted to protect the public and stood by the tactics he used while working for Raptor.

'I was doing what the community expected,' he said. 'I was executing my duty as a police officer, without fear or favour.' 

The podcast also revealed Murphy's nickname among his fellow officers was 'Jug' or 'Jughead', that he had originally wanted to join the army rather than police, and he owned a huge collection of Lego. 

The recording was released in March last year but, unlike the controversies surrounding Murphy's last years in the force, received no mainstream publicity.

Murphy told his interviewers he was still receiving threats and 'people don't like me still' but there was more to his service than his time in the spotlight.

'Raptor 13 you could say was a number,' he said. 'Andrew Murphy the police officer has always existed.' 

Bankstown-born Murphy joined the NSW Police Force in 1997 and began his career as a 19-year-old probationary constable at Fairfield. 

He served in general duties, licensing and the water police, did specialist Operations Support Group training and was seconded to Operation Vikings. 

Vikings was set up to provide a high-visible police presence across NSW and as part of that team Murphy was engaged in the 2005 Macquarie Fields and Cronulla Riots.

Raptor was established in 2009 as a proactive arm of the Gangs Squad to disrupt and dismantle outlaw motorcycle gangs and used every legal tactic to do so.

Murphy applied to join and was accepted on secondment into Raptor's highway patrol team. His first shift was policing the July 2015 funeral of Rebels bikie Mark Easter.

At another funeral, this time for a member of the Finks, Murphy wrote up 46 traffic infringement tickets in a day. He gave one target six tickets before he got out of the car park.

'We used any legislation or power that we could find and lawfully use to disrupt those gangs and stop their criminal activity,' he told the podcast.

Murphy sometimes wrote out 100 tickets during a

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