Latest / WA Police Confidential (Formerly Operation Podcast) / Ep 35 - Arrest in Colombia and Pokemon Card Theft

Transcript

Ep 35 - Arrest in Colombia and Pokemon Card Theft · WA Police Confidential (Formerly Operation Podcast)

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_06: This podcast discusses real-life crimes and law enforcement matters.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_06: It may include detailed descriptions of criminal activity, traumatic incidents, and other content that could be confronting or distressing, particularly for victim survivors.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_06: Listener discretion is advised.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_06: If you find any of these topics upsetting, please consider whether this content is right for you and seek support if needed.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_02: In a town called Medellin.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_02: In Colombia, in South America.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_02: You think that's the worst thing that could possibly happen to you.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_02: But you're wrong.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: Because several years ago, we will allege you committed serious drug offences here in Western Australia.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_02: How difficult is it to extradite somebody from another country?
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: You're gonna hear about all of that and more when we catch up with acting assistant commissioner Gordon Fairman.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_11: That's why it's a story you want to tune in and listen to.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_11: It's wild.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, it's a good one.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um what else have we got this this week, Nate?
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_11: Country Coppers.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_11: Uh officer in charge of Cundin and Police Station, Sergeant Chris Turner, joins us via phone uh to talk about a hungry soul.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_02: Hungry lost soul.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_02: You know, copper with a heart of gold.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_11: Uh just really encapsulates the spirit of working in regional Western Australia.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_11: Definitely one to uh stay and listen to.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_02: And a very serious crash.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: Now I just want to say without going into too much detail, there were lights and sirens involved, but it wasn't a police car, it wasn't an ambulance, and it wasn't a fire truck.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_02: What was it?
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_02: Have a listen.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um, this is a cautionary tale.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_11: And our major crash investigators are actually joining us, really privileged to have them take time out of their busy schedule.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_11: Um, just come and talk more about this case.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_02: And Pokemon.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_02: Pokemon, a Japanese card game, cartoon, anime.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of things who are the franchise, but also currently at the centre of a criminal investigation right here in Western Australia.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: It sounds sounds bizarre, but it's true.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_11: Yep.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_11: And uh you're gonna hear from our canine unit how they took down one of the alleged offenders.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_02: This is the official weekly podcast of the Western Australia Police Force, WA Police Confidential.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Joey Katanzaro.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm Sergeant Nate Gilmore.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_02: Let's get into it.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome back to WA Police Confidential.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_02: Uh recently you may have seen Colombian uh police um issuing uh effectively media release saying that they've arrested a bloke by the name of Irash Ibrahim Far, otherwise known as the Kid.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_02: Uh joining us today is Commander Gordon Fairman.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: Gordon, thanks very much for joining us on the podcast.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_02: Happy to be here again, John.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: I was gonna say joining one more time because it seems like I'm going.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_05: Apparently, the areas that I work in are of interest to people, and I don't know why.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_02: Indeed.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_02: Uh you work in, I would argue, pretty interesting areas.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_02: Uh in this instance, we're talking about the arrest of someone who we will allege was uh involved in some pretty serious uh drug uh trafficking.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it's obviously a story that goes back a number of years um and almost has become a bit of urban folklore in Western Australia about the kid, um, so Arrash Ibrahim Ifar.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_05: So we have been seeking his extradition from Colombia uh for a number of years, and obviously events came to a head last week, and he's now in custody in Colombia, and we're progressing that extradition file with the assistance of the um federal attorney general's department.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think the the interesting thing here is is maybe for us to explain to people that it's not as it's not that simple, is it, an extradition process.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_02: Can you walk us through it?
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_05: Extraditions are complex.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_05: Um so we obviously have um extraditions from other jurisdictions when we bring crooks back from other states in Australia, and then we have international extraditions which take the complexity to another level.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_05: So we need to um firstly ensure that the country that we're dealing with has a process that's recognized by Australia, so either an extradition treaty or an agreement which would enable us to do that, and then we need to satisfy the court uh which has jurisdiction of the over the location, that our process is just.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_05: Um, so that is a challenge.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_05: When you're looking at countries that have all different sorts of legislation, so while we recognise offences and penalties here, we have to be dealing with other jurisdictions that may not recognise the same offences or the same penalties, and they don't have the same process for evidence either.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_05: So there's a fair amount of negotiation that's done, and that's where um our Commonwealth partners, the AGD and AFP, work really well and closely with us in this space to make sure that we're respectful of the local issues that are affecting those other jurisdictions.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_02: So so basically, so the starting point is that whatever we will allege has been committed crime-wise here has to also be a crime in that other jurisdiction for them to recognise, I guess?
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_05: Not necessarily, but it certainly helps.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_05: Yep.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_05: Uh and when we're talking about the offences where we would seek extradition, generally we're at the top of the criminal code anyway.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_05: Yep.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_05: So we're talking about, you know, uh homicide offences or sexual offences or serious drug and property laundering offences, which we're talking about here.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_05: So we have corresponding um legislation that works across.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_05: There are some issues that are more subtle, though, when you get into other jurisdictions.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_05: Our definition, for instance, of child exploitation material is different than in other jurisdictions.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_05: So we just need to um sort of cross the T's and dot the I's in that space there.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_05: More there are issues around penalties for some offences as well, and we have to satisfy um the other jurisdiction that the the juice is worth the squeeze, I suppose.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_05: You know, um, so is it a serious offence in that other location?
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_05: And would they recognise our, you know, our our right and our obligation to bring a person back?
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_05: And then they'll weigh up whether or not it's there are any human interest issues.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_05: Um, you know, what routes does the person have in that other community?
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, do they recognize uh, you know, that it's going to be of value?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_05: Generally, when we're dealing with countries that we've done extraditions with before, we've worked our way through that.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_05: Um, in the instance with Colombia, we haven't.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_05: Um, so we're working our way through that process now.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um there is a chance that somebody listening to this podcast might be ungainfully employed as a criminal.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's possible, I guess.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_02: Uh is there a, I guess, a cautionary message here, uh, Gordo, in that in the sense that yes, the kid has been uh overseas and fled fled overseas, we'll allege, um, uh, some years ago.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_02: But it's not like we dropped the case, did we?
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_05: Not in any way.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_05: Um, so the lesson out there, kids, is don't do drugs.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_05: Drugs are bad.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_05: Um, you know, don't be a drug dealer, drug dealers are bad.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but I think we've established our um our track record over the last five years.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, we don't forget, we will pursue you.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_05: Now we identified uh the world's a big place, um, but we were able to identify not just the country um that Ibrahim Ifar had gone to, but the street and the street number of the address that he was in.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_05: We had been actively pursuing him and working with other agencies, you know, multiple other agencies, the AFP and Interpol and Colombian military and Colombian police, to pursue that extradition.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_05: It has not been a comfortable period in time.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_05: Um, this is not sitting back, you know, drinking pina coladas and enjoying your your ill-gotten gains.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_05: This is fighting tooth and nail to prevent from being brought back here to serve a significant prison sentence if you're convicted.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_05: So, yeah, we we do make things hard and unashamedly we make them hard.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_02: Excellent.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: The the circumstances of uh Ibrahim being uh taken into custody by the Colombian police.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: Can you tell us anything about that?
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, absolutely.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_05: So with Interpol, there's a a range of um different what they call notices.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_05: We had a blue notice that had been raised, which is effectively where other law enforcement agencies will be able to note and provide us with information about a person's location or movement.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, and we were advised uh through the AFP by Interpol that Edmar Hemi Far had been admitted into hospital in Colombia after suffering a number of gunshot wounds.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_05: Um from that point, we worked with um Interpol to have that uh blue notice converted into a red notice, which is effectively a notice where we can take him into custody.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_05: Um so on our behalf and with the assistance of AFP Interpol and the Colombian authorities, he was arrested.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_05: And over the next um coming days, weeks, and months, he'll face court in Colombia with a formal extradition request from Western Australia police to bring him back and put him before the courts here.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_11: That sounds like an incredible case to be working on.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_05: It is interesting, and you know, the complexity um adds a lot of fun.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_05: Um, you know, with like a challenge.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, you do.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_05: And and the team that work on these jobs are are pretty committed.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_05: What was really pleasing though was the speed with which we were getting information from um those other jurisdictions, and we were in real time.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_05: Um, we were getting images sent from the hospital, um, you know, having real-time conversations with people on the ground.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_05: And I think that's maybe one of the benefits of um this crazy world that we're in now, um, you know, with this sort of the wash of technology over us and the introduction of AI and things like that, you know, the world is really a small place.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_05: And so we can transmit data, we can transmit information very quickly, and we can work together.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_05: And it's about, I guess, you know, closing the gaps on the net sometimes.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_05: And you find those jurisdictions that you can work with, and uh we're able to affect things quite quickly now.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_02: No holes in your methodology, just a few holes in the alleged batty.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_05: A couple.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_05: From what I'm from what I'm told.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: When you live in that life, when you when you play in that space.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_05: Well, look, that's part of the cautionary tale, isn't it?
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_05: You know, I mean, um bad people do bad things.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and you know, if if that's the lifestyle that you choose to um to undertake or be involved in, you know, these things happen.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_05: And we see it with startling regularity over here, you know, whether you're a you're a bikey and someone's burning your house down or or setting fire to you or your property, um, you know, that's gonna happen.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_05: And um, having watched a fair bit of uh TV over the last 10 years about um drug dealing in South America, um, I could imagine that you, you know, you play stupid games, you get stupid prizes.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_02: Well, uh, I can't imagine a Colombian prison is particularly fun.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_05: I'm I'm not a fan of any jail, I must admit, but um yeah knowing what I do, um yeah, that there are some places that I wouldn't want to be in jail, and I'd have to say that's probably one of them.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_02: Isn't isn't Columbia isn't that the there was a book called Marching Powder about and I don't know, I don't look, I'm not sure if it's Columbia, but it was a South American prison where effectively prisoners were thrown in and there was no prison guard system as such or food or anything.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_02: It had its own little microeconomy and you either survived or you didn't.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I've I've heard heard some interesting stories, and I I must admit I don't understand um much of you know their local jail versus federal jail and things like that and what levels of custody that there will be.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_05: But everywhere we look around the world, um, there are layers.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and you know, I can't imagine that it's gonna be a fun time.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um I I I I I guess um the the the part of this story that sounds really cool is you're working with agencies like Interpol, like the Colombian military.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_02: Is it as cool as it sounds?
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_02: It's pretty cool, isn't it?
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_05: It is, it is pretty cool.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_05: It's uh the the bit that always amazes me and and and I really like is that every jurisdiction every jurisdiction that you work with, you have people like me um that really enjoy the job and they will work with you to get a result.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_05: They just like catching crooks.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_05: And so sometimes the challenge is finding the right person to talk to, um, and finding the right person that speaks the same language as you is always helpful as well.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_05: But once you do, once you get on the ground and you're dealing with the um the officers that are actually conducting the investigations, they have the ability to do all of the things that we can do, uh, and they're really keen to do them as well.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_05: And so it it really is a law enforcement community that way.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and we chase crooks.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_05: So, you know, what better job?
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_05: Um the interesting side of it, I think, is when you you throw terms like you know, Interpol and things like that around, people don't realize or recognise, I think, that they're actually real.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_05: Um, you know, we we have one of our offices on Sarconment and The Hague at the moment.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_05: Um, you know, yeah, we work, we've got one on Sarcomment and um in Lyon as well with Interpol.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_05: So, you know, we we spend a lot of time developing those relationships.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_05: And we have done with the DEA, we've made no secret about that.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, we've done investigations and deployments with the DEA and in multiple countries around the world.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_05: So, you know, they're actually real, they're good people to work with.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_05: Um, they're they're really good at their job.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_05: So we we enjoy all of their help and we're really helpful to them when they reach out as well.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_02: That's amazing.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: Very cool.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_11: I think there'd be a few officers that have um come under your command that wouldn't have imagined in their careers being seconded to The Hague or to the D the drug enforcement agency in the US.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_11: What an opportunity.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_05: It is pretty cool.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_05: And we're looking at um our next round as well of where we go to um develop those skills and build those relationships as well.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_05: And it's not restricted just to drug work either.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, we have officers from um the child abuse squad, from um sexual assault squad that are traveling uh who will be in Europe soon.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_05: We've been to um Canada and worked with the Mounties a fair bit.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_05: Um RCMP are a very modern and very capable um police force as well.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_02: Just the Royal Canadian Mountain Police.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_05: That's them.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_05: Um we like working with the Mounties because they're pretty similar to us in that they have a massive jurisdiction uh that they deal with.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_05: Um they also have remote regional communities.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_02: And they always get them in.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_05: They always do.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_05: Um the challenge is their extreme weather is really different to our extreme weather.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but either way, you know, you you've got real similarities there.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_05: They're dealing with um remote indigenous populations and communities um that have disproportionate levels of sexual assault and child abuse in them.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_05: Um so pretty much anything that they've worked out that works over there is really worth looking at here.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_05: The comms issue is the same as well.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_05: So if you imagine trying to, you know, deal with what they're dealing with to get data moved across a country that size, you know, we we do really leverage off that.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_05: And similarly, everywhere we go, we usually leave a bit of stuff behind as well because we're pretty innovative and we've um we've pushed the boundaries quite a bit.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_02: My very last question for you then, Gordo.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_02: When you do successfully extradite somebody in that instance where you know they let's just say they're hitting home soil, or it might be the handcuffs are going on at the at the other end at the airport, where whatever the case may be, is there is there a moment when there's that satisfaction for you and a realization for the crook that this is uh this is the end game?
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_05: I think there's a penny drop um for um the people who are being extradited.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_05: Um for us, unfortunately, no, it's not mission accomplished.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_05: And in fact, it's mission started uh because we've got a trial um to go through, and we have learned many times that um it ain't over till it's over.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_08: Yep.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_05: And getting a person to trial here and getting through that trial process is another couple of years' worth of work.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_05: Um so it's just starting for us at that point, but certainly um there's a there's a little moment um where you can see a person's world collapse when you lock them up.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and you often do get that, and that's that point.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_05: So, you know, whether you you kick a door and you find someone sitting over 10 kilos worth of gear, or you chase a crook and you find them um, you know, holed up under a house or something like that, you can usually see that moment where they realize the jig as well and truly up.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_05: And I think that would probably be the circumstance here as well.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you very much.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, thank you very much, Gordo.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_02: We really appreciate everything that you and and your team do.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_05: No, no worries, thanks.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_11: This is WA Police Confidential.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_11: You're listening to WA Police Confidential.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_11: We've all heard stories about people chasing a rare trading card.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_11: But a fortnight ago, police alleged thieves forced their way into a Perth collectible store and stole trading cards worth tens of thousands of dollars.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_11: What investigators will allege started as a burglary would take an unexpected turn, leading officers to a southern suburbs train station and a foot chase into surrounding bushland.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_11: Waiting for one of the one of the men.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_11: Waiting for one of the accused men at the end of that chase was a WA police canine with other ideas.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_11: Here to tell us more is canine handler, senior constable Mark Jones.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_11: Mark, thanks for joining us.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_11: No problem.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_11: Uh yeah, look, at what point does a job like this become one for the canine unit?
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_08: Uh so I'd literally just started uh my shift, signed on.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_08: I heard a hot mon over the radio for Paul Air said in the head the offender had run off into bushland.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_08: And it kind of perked my interest straight away.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_08: I thought, oh, that could be something I can get involved in.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_08: So I just radioed through, said, is that something I can get involved in?
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_08: Can I help you in any way?
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_08: What's the uh person wanted for?
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_08: Just because I've got to meet a certain criteria for serious offences.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_08: And they said, Yeah, he's wanted for a burglary and um uh about$20,000 worth of uh property.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_08: So I thought, yep, jumped on it and off to Rockingham I went.
• 18:16
  unknown: Wow.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_02: Did they say property or did they say cards?
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_08: They said$20,000 worth of stuff from a burglary.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_08: Okay.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_08: They didn't actually tell me at the time.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_02: So this time you're you're kind of going in blind, like us in in a sense, because the the the nature of these collectible cards, well, it's they're Pokemon cards.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_02: Uh my understanding of Pokemon is very limited, which is why uh and and and I'm assuming um as you know, sort of uh men with uh uh let's say a couple of couple of years under the belt, uh uh uh most of us probably weren't of a generation that that watched this or played this phenomenon, which is why we've got our our young uh producer.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_02: Young ish.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_02: Young-ish producer, Joe Gerris, must be that right.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_02: Never actually said your last name out loud loud.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_12: If you say it three times.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_02: Garrus, Garris, Gerris.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_02: There he is.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Joe Garrus, who does a great job behind the scenes every week, is has joined us on the podcast making his debut to explain to anyone who's not aware, like us, what is Pokemon?
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_12: Well, thanks for having me, Joey.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_12: I I dabbled in Pokemon around 2008.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_12: Um, so my knowledge might not be up to date.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_12: But Pokemon means pocket monsters in Japanese.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_12: I think I think that's what it means.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_12: So they're so you have a Pokeball, which you put a life-sized Pokemon into a ball and they fit in your pocket.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_12: Oh.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_12: And so the the cards I think are meant are meant to sort of give you that feeling, like you have a monster in your in your wallet.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_02: And and do they fight them or something?
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_12: In the game, the the card game, you you fight each other's Pokemon.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_12: So different levels of card have different values.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_12: Yeah, so so the better cards, the ones with higher stats that are that will beat the other cards, I imagine, are more valuable.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_12: Okay.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_12: And on top of that, you have you have shiny cards, which which have limited release.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_12: I I I think where the money is is the old cards.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_12: Okay.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_12: So the cards that were that sort of pre-2000.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_02: So the the you know, supply and demand, they're probably a little bit more limited.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, before the boom.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um I don't know.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not sure I've we've established why people want those cards, but you've got to catch them all.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_02: Like this was thrown around a lot at scene.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_02: So let's talk about the arrest.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so uh so what happens?
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_02: You've you've you've put your hand up for this job.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, so I got the job, went down, uh drove down to Warmer Train Station, met the detectives that were there, and just gave me a brief rundown of what had happened.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_08: They had a couple of suspects that they'd wanted for the burglary of the card store that had run across the car park and they managed to grab one trying to climb over the barbed wire fence, and the second one managed to get over the barbed wire fence and disappear into bushland.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_11: At any point, did you know that they were wanted for this particular uh alleged burglary?
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_08: Uh so once it got to scene, I normally will speak to the officer in charge down there and fight, get get a rundown of what's happened, who's gone where, and what they're wanted for to make sure they took off the serious offence box.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_08: Um that's when they said that yeah, it was um$20,000 worth of Pokemon cards from a card store in Perth.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_08: Okay.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_02: Did at any point in time any of the alleged offenders try and throw a pocket monster at you or a lightning bolt?
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like that some of them breathe lightning into the bottom.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_12: So this is this is where it starts.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_12: I I this is where I I know a bit more.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_12: Yep.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_12: In the games, Pokemon have attacks.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_12: So you the name of your dog is P D dammit.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_12: P D dammit.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_12: You can name your Pokemon in the game.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_12: So the question I For you is you did you say damn it?
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_12: Use tackle.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_12: No, you think damn it.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_08: It was damn it seek.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_03: Well seek is his command.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_02: Hold on a second.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_02: Hold on, hold on.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_02: So for anyone who's a Pokemon enthusiast out there who's thinking, wouldn't it be great to have this buddy with you with special abilities that can do good things for the community?
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I you might want to consider going over to Let's Join Forces and perhaps maybe pursuing a career as a canine handler.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_08: Yep.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_08: Come on over.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_08: You can release your Pokemon dog.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_11: At any point did this cook pull out an Uno reverse card?
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_08: No, I think he was definitely uh he was hands up, froze when we found him.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_08: He was uh he wasn't doing anything, he had no moves left to play.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_08: Oh his pockets were empty.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, yeah.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_08: All right, okay.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so the cards.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_02: $20,000.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_02: Is that a large quantity of cards or a small quantity of very valuable cards, do we think?
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_08: I was expecting it to be like the movies where you see money blowing in the bushes and uh cards flying around, but there was actually, I think the the first suspect that was grabbed he had a backpack and he just had a little packet of cards, um, little can little box in the backpack that I saw one of the detectives going through, and that was it.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_08: There was no property on the suspect, there was just a small, small amount, there wasn't boxes of it, which is what I thought would be.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_11: Holy moly.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_11: It's crazy to think at the end of the day, these are just pieces of cardboard, aren't they?
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_02: Hold on.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_02: Isn't money also just kind of pieces of polymer that we've we've invested value in?
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_12: Yeah, the value cards have a little cellophane holographic thing, not not too dissimilar to currency.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_02: We have um we've gone we've gone to places in this episode of the podcast that we've never gone before.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_02: Uncharted terror.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_02: Out of the depth.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, let's my brain's starting to hurt.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um and so when we talk about you know uh your pocket pocket police dog, yeah.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_02: Uh they they are extremely highly trained, aren't they?
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_02: And and I mean, you know, they're they're a very valuable tool for police officers in terms of community safety.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah, absolutely.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_08: Like in this case, it was a good scenario where the cops have run off after the suspects, suspects disappeared in the bush.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_08: Um, the cops weren't able to find them.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_08: Uh, they had motorbike cops down there, detectives on foot, um, and the motorbike cops are going through the bush on the dirt track and they were still unable to find them.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_08: Uh so yeah, we got the dog down there, and their noses are a lot better than humans, so it was all relied on him to find them, and he just sniffed them out.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_08: So they um we do spend a lot of time and effort into getting them up to a certain standard and maintaining them.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_08: And it's not every dog that we purchase or train makes the cut.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_08: They've um there's a small number that are suited for policing.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_08: So yeah, it's very high-driven dog dogs.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_11: You mentioned Mark, um, just before we went went to the recording that he's a Belgian malinois, right?
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_11: Yep.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_11: So what does that mean?
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_11: Like is he a uh is he a drug dog as well, or can he do two?
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_08: That's just his breeds, and he's class as a um general purpose dog, so he just does um tracking and apprehension of suspects, and where we've got dual purpose, which does tracking apprehension as well as the drug side.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_08: And now we've got the firearms capability as well of the dog.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_08: Some of the dogs are dual purpose than that.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_11: And how long has he been partnered with you for?
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_08: So we purchased Dammit when he was one uh from a breeder over East, Brad Griggs, who I'm still in contact with now.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_08: Um, he's starting just to let him know that how dammit's proceeding and all that kind of stuff and the wins he's having.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_08: Um so we purchased him when he was one and we started training him up.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_08: He was partly trained to a certain standard, uh, just not any bite work at that stage.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_08: Um, and then I've been partnered with him for the last four years.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_08: Just celebrated his birthday a couple of weeks ago, which is a big milestone in our family.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_08: So yeah, he celebrates like little my kids.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_11: Get him a couple of Pokemon cards as a gift.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_08: No, he got some uh got some little biscuits and treats.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_02: Cute, that's awesome.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, look, I um I think our next guest is going to talk a little bit more about the investigation um into the theft.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um and maybe we'll go into a bit more detail about the cards and the value.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_02: But I I just want to say thank you very much to you and to Damon for being our real life Pokemon, what do you call them, Joe?
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_02: Pokemon Master?
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_12: I think I think that's the term, yeah.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_12: Pokemon Master.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_07: Pokemon Master.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_07: So I've got one card in my deck.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_07: PD damage.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_07: It's a pretty good one.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_07: Yep, we'll keep using them.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_07: This is confidential.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome back to Confidential.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we heard in the last segment um uh how a police dog is kind of a little bit like a Pokemon.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_02: It's deployed, it has an effect.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_02: Uh in this case, it was an arrest.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and uh now we're joined by Detective First Class Yep Michael Grills.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you for having us.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_02: Who knows a little bit more about this story uh and maybe is part of well, you've been investigating my understanding.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um so what what exactly will we be alleging happened?
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so essentially what's happened is we had two offenders break into ours card card shop in Perth.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_04: Um essentially what's alleged there is they've smashed the glass panelling to the front of the store, um, and then they've made their way inside and essentially allege that they've helped themselves to a number of high valuable Pokemon and sporting cards.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_04: Um once they've had them on their possession and they've departed the store.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_04: Um as one of the investigating officers of this job um up at Perth Detectives, it really came to a good office because we've got a fair few Pokemon and card collectors up there.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_04: So we're all we're all quite keen to get involved and and have a crack at trying to solve it.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_04: So um essentially forensics were a big part of this one for us.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_04: Um on the initial scene attendance, we located uh what we believed to be blood at the entry point of the of the card shop, um, which was a crucial bit of evidence for us and trying to maintain the continuity of that.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_04: Um so obviously forensics came down and and played their part.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_04: I guess for us in the background, um, in the background, we were looking at CCTV.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_04: So a big thing for us was trying to identify how the offenders got to scene, how they departed, um, did they depart in a vehicle or anything like that?
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_04: Um, given the time of night and and what we believe the co-offenders were wearing at the time, it was really hard for us to identify strong identifying particulars and being able to ID someone off that footage.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_04: And obviously, as you move your way out of the CBD, it is hard to kind of keep up with that CCTV track.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_04: Um, there's parts of the CBD that are a bit harder to get footage for, especially when it moves into residential areas and places like that.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_04: So it was really big for us to rely on that forensic evidence.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_04: Um, as well as we inform the card, well, the card community was aware the card shop plays quite a big role in the community, all those small the kind of Pokemon card scenes growing.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_02: So and people are really in who are into it are really into it, aren't they?
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_02: They know what they're looking for, they know what they're looking out for.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_02: They probably, you know, I guess do they do they battle each other with the cards as well?
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_04: Um, they can do.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_04: I think these days it's more about collecting the high value and kind of growing a collection.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_04: Um but the great thing is everyone knows everyone in the in the Pokemon community, so everyone was keeping an eye out for these cards, especially the graded ones, because they have a serial number um and you can actually track the card through the serial number.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_04: Um so if anyone was to trade the card or try and cash it in or anything like that, you'd be able to ID ID the card.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_02: I wonder if they knew that, because I mean that's that seem makes it seem very silly when you think about it.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and that's the thing, like these these kind of jobs are increasing at the moment just because the cards are the value of them is just increasing at a rapid rate.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and if you're not in the know, you wouldn't necessarily be able to identify, you know, how people can pick these cards and and whatnot.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_04: Um so clearly they knew what they were doing to some extent.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so it was actually quite interesting.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_04: So we got um we did get a DNA hit off the blood at scene, and we actually reviewed the CCTV footage from inside the shop um from the previous days just to see if there was any suspicious activity, and we were actually able to ID one of the one of the offenders through that footage.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_04: Um so it's alleged that they I guess in the days prior entered the store to kind of see the layout where the cards were stored, how they were secured, um, and all that good stuff as well.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_11: So were these guys in any way, shape, or form actual avid card collectors, or are they more, you know, going going after it because they knew it was valuable?
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so as as we went on with the investigation and we did a bit of social profiling on on the um the alleged offenders, it was from our understanding that they weren't.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_04: Um makes it even worse, really, doesn't it?
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I I from our understanding they weren't in the card scene.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um hates art stealing the monitor Lisa.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_11: Cards against humanity.
• 31:41
  unknown: Yeah.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_04: Um I think it was purely um given the value, like I said, of what these cards are worth um and what they could potentially get for them.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_04: Um quick turnaround kind of setup.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so there is, uh I think there's also an app-based version of this game where you it's kind of virtual reality and you can put your phone around and look for Pokemon and catch them, can't you?
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you can.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_04: Um, I haven't gone that far.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_04: I'm a collector myself, but I haven't gone that far into the hobby.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_02: Did did did you ever at any point in time in the investigation think you might have to upload these these guys to the Pokemon color?
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_02: Catch these.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it is it is funny you mentioned that.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_04: There is an app called, it's called Collector, um, which essentially for people that collect Pokemon cards, you can actually upload your collection based on the card code.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_04: Um I have that up, being a Pokemon collector.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_04: So I did run a few of the serial numbers on there just to see if you know if anything was popping up and whatnot.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but yeah, we didn't have any luck on that avenue.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_04: But yeah.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_02: In the end, you got the hit, you ceased to be, and what did you did you end up tracking them down to a certain location?
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we heard about about an arrest.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_04: Um Yeah, so what we did, we did a bit of social profiling um on the alleged offenders, and we had we had some good intelligence um surrounding their kind of social lifestyles.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_04: So we had some good lengths on where they might be um and who they might be associating with.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_04: We ended up um through our intelligence tracking them to Warnborough.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_04: Um we did have eyes on the two coal offenders at that time.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_04: They fled the area on foot into a bushland, and we essentially had the bushland covered.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_04: Um, so we had a cordon around.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_04: Um, so it would have been quite difficult for them to to kind of leave that area.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and then we requested uh canine as well as as Polaire to come over top, and uh the canine handler was great.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_04: He um he really came through with the goods for us.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_02: And he he yeah, he was in here just before you uh yeah, talking about his dog's special abilities being and I mean when you've got a dog named Dammit, I think it's time to just give up.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_04: I think there needs to be a Pokemon card for I do too.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_04: I think it's fantastic.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_04: I definitely grabbed that one, but um, yeah, look, he came through and it was quite a quick process from there.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_04: And um once the once they were both arrested, obviously we went through the property and and the jackpot, all the cards were there.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_04: So it was a really, really good outcome.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we believe they're on their way to potentially trade the cards.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_04: Um at this point, that part of the investigation's ongoing.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but for us being able to being able to get the cards back is is huge for us given the value of the alleged value of the cards as well.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, with a lot of these jobs, sometimes you know, getting the property back's hit or miss, but yeah, it was a really good outcome for this one.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_11: And they're alleging that they're worth tens of thousands of dollars.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we're we're predicting at the moment um to be around twenty to twenty-five thousand dollars worth of cards.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_11: So this isn't just a casual, you know, um couple hundred bucks flip flip it and make a quick profit.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_11: Like these this is serious.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's it's a a trip to European some in value.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_04: And given given some of the cards, like there were some PSA graded 10 Charizards and and other.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_02: Now you're gonna have to explain what that is.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_04: Charizard's one of the one of the old school Pokemon that everyone tries to collect.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um what is it what does it do?
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_04: But I couldn't go that far.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_04: It breeds fire.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_04: Yep, yep, yep, it's and they were PSA graded as well.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_04: So a lot of the cards were PSA graded 10.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_04: Um, what essentially that means is the quality's really good.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_04: The quality's elite, yeah.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_04: And usually they're graded over in America as well.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_04: And to get a graded 10, it's it's got to be a spot on, spot on card.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_04: So to be able to get those back and and get them back in the community was was a big win for us.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_02: So I mean, is there any, you know, did you do any overtime?
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_02: Did you are you considering maybe now that it's back at the shop purchasing a great PSA graded 10 chariz Charizard?
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, well I I came through and it was me and my colleague that actually went down to the card shop and gave the cards back.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_04: And there were a few people in the shop at the time, and the community is quite small, and they they all knew, and to be fair, they were probably somewhat involved, keeping an eye out for these cards.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_04: And we walked in, um, you know, we had the bag full of all the goodies, and everyone kind of came over to the council where we were and were kind of asking what happened, or the and everyone was checking the cards, and yeah, it was a really humbling experience.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_04: It was good to give back, I guess, to the community that I'm involved in as well.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah, it was a great outcome.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so my last question then is, and we touched upon this in the other segment, but yeah, yeah, the Pokemon tagline is you've got to catch them all.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I knew that was coming.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_02: But is is that I mean, is there is there uh for for people who are listening who maybe are also Pokemon enthusiasts, yeah, is it a good job being a police officer?
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_02: Is there is there a bit of a bit of a crossover there?
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, definitely.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_04: I think um, yeah, I think obviously, you know, in the field that we're in, you get to cross over to a lot of different industries and communities and whatnot.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_04: And I think for us at Perth being a part of the community as well, we all had a pretty invested interest in in getting these cards back and and whatnot.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_04: And yeah, to be able to to be involved and you know, especially given the value of the cards as well, to be able to get them back in in circulation and find them a loved home.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_04: Um, yeah, it was quite a humbling experience, this one.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_04: Awesome, mate.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you so much for uh for your time.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_02: And um, yeah, I guess look probably on the cards for our alleged defenders, uh, a date in court.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, yeah.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_04: So that's upcoming.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_04: Um yeah, we'll we'll be waiting out to see further actions from there.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_07: So okay.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_02: Well, don't don't steal, don't mess with someone else's Charizard.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_02: Especially in that's the moral of the story here, and especially if it's PSA grade 10.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_04: It's a PSA graded 10.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_04: Think twice about stealing it.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_04: This is WAP Confidential.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome back to Confidential.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we talk a lot on this podcast about the dangers of doing the wrong thing on our roads, and sadly, um, as we've heard recently, we the death toll is extremely high at the moment.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um, people are getting injured, people doing the wrong thing still.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_02: Road policing are doing what they can, major crash, uh often they're picking up to pieces, and you know, it's hard on everybody who's involved.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_02: There was a serious crash uh over the weekend involving a vehicle that was travelling under lights and sirens conditions.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_02: It wasn't a police car though, wasn't a fire engine, and it wasn't an ambulance.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_02: Here to talk to us a little bit about what it may have been, we will allege, is acting sergeant Peter Campbell from Major Crash.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_02: Pete, thanks very much for coming on.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_01: More than happy to be here.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_02: So this was a this was a head-on collision, it was a pretty serious crash.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_02: What was the circumstances as we know it?
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so on Sunday, the 4th of October, um, just last weekend at about 12.35, there was a white Ford Everest driving in a southerly direction on Franklin Road in Wanneroo.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the driver of that vehicle um had emergency lights and an audible um siren fitted to his vehicle.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um he activated the lights and siren um along Franklin Road.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_01: He's then travelled at speed, uh excess speed.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_01: The supposed speed limit is 70 kilometres.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_02: How fast was he going?
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_01: At times he was travelling at 126 kilometres per hour.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um he has gone over double white lines.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_01: He has uh forced other road users off onto the soft sand that were coming towards him and on the same opposite the same side as him as well.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he's proceeded up over a crest and he's overtaken three vehicles which were in the left-hand lane, travelling in the same direction as him, and as he's gone over a marked painted island, uh another vehicle has come in the opposite direction with the intention of turning right onto Trickett Road.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_01: Because he's on the same same side of the road as that vehicle, he's then gone further into that lane as the victim in this matter, uh uh Mercedes-Benz was coming up that road and he's collided head on with that vehicle.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_02: Good gosh.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_01: So I think we've put him at about 103 at the time of impact.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_02: How is the, I mean, probably the first most important thing, how how is the victim?
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh there was five people in the car.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_01: Five.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_01: So there was a husband and wife in their eight-year-old son.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, there was also a uh middle-aged couple as well.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_01: So one of the passengers, the I think she's a 27-year-old female, has sustained some serious injuries consistent with grievous bodily harm.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_01: She's still at the Royal Perth Hospital.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_01: She'll be undergoing surgery this week.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_01: The eight-year-old boy sustained some bodily harm injuries.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_01: He was in Perth Children's Hospital overnight.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_01: He's been released, he's got some significant bruising and injuries uh over his body.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_01: The male passenger who was also in the rear has broken his elbow, got some significant bruising as well.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_01: He was at uh hospital overnight.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and the other two passengers have got yeah, severe bruising and swelling and cuts and scrapes all over them as well.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_02: Could have been so much worse.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_02: A head-on collision at 100 K's.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um okay.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_02: The big question we will allege that this person wasn't uh effectively uh uh driving a police car, they weren't a police officer, they weren't what we would, I think, traditionally think of as an emergency first responder.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_02: How what were the circumstances we will allege of this person going lights and sirens, forcing people off the road, driving fast, overtaking vehicles?
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_01: So this individual is the managing director of a private ambulance service.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um at the time he was driving a vehicle registered to him personally.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_01: He had members of his staff at an event in Jarridale.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um they were there as an emergency or an ambulance capacity providing first aid.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_01: He alleges that he received a text message or a phone call from one of his employees saying that he had an elderly woman who was having cardiac issues.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, in response to that message or phone call that he received from his employee, he activated his lights and sirens with the intention of going to his workplace, his depot in Nangara, to retrieve an ambulance to then drive to Jarudale to provide assistance to this elderly woman who was having a cardiac episode.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_01: Keep in mind Jarrodale's about an hour away.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_11: Significant distance away.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_01: Significant distance, yeah.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_01: So that was his reasoning behind why he was driving with his lights and sirens on.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_02: Oh okay.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_02: So uh before we go any further, uh this private ambulance service thing, this it's sort of a relatively new uh new development, I think, um, here in Western Australia.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um there must be some rules around it, I would have thought.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_01: There are.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_01: Department of Transport um do issue um authority to particular services, um ambulances in particular, to have the authorisation to have um emergency lights and sirens fitted.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_01: They must have appropriate decals, they must have the visibility with ambulance on the side, etc.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_01: And they do have the permits through Department of Transport.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um the owners of Of these vehicles must apply for them and be and be granted um that status to be recognised as having those fitted.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_02: But he wasn't driving an ambulance.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_01: He was not driving an ambulance?
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_02: No.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_02: So he's driving his own personal car and he's got lights and zero and so you know.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_02: Is there any legal uh reason why or that he should be allowed to do that?
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_02: No.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_02: So this seems um a little bit concerning.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um is if there are other people who are going down this this this road, I guess, um and uh becoming involved in this sort of I guess growing industry of private ambulances, what what do they need to know?
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um they need to know that there has to be the proper authorisations in place.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_01: They have to have the proper permission from Department of Transport, um, and they also have to be operating within the guidelines of the rules surrounding when you can and can't drive in emergency conditions.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_01: So um obviously if they are have completed uh relevant training qualification or course, being able to operate uh a vehicle under emergency um conditions, you know, they must be directly transporting a patient or dealing with a patient or assisting with a patient that is requiring emergency assistance.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um what about the the the sort of I guess the in terms of the the explanation that he provided, wouldn't would there be any um how do I phrase this?
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_02: If the best care available and the quickest care available is St.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_02: John's ambulance, would people be obligated to call St.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_02: John Ambulance?
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're correct.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_01: So the information that we've got is that the uh provider down at the event in Jarrodale did actually make contact with St.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_01: John Ambulance.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um we've got confirmation from St.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_01: John that that did happen.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um we're still conducting further inquiries in regards to that.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_01: However, St.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_01: John have advised that shortly after they were contacted to assist and had dispatched an ambulance, um that same company called back and cancelled the ambulance and advised that they were going to transport the patient themselves to a facility.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_01: At this stage, I don't know what what or how much money is involved with that.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_11: Either either you would think that the the paramount importance is getting that person help and not arguing about who's got jurisdiction over it.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_11: Yeah.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_11: That's bewildering.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_02: And scary too.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um really really frightening.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think SJA do a great job, um, and certainly you know we work very closely with them.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um hundred more than a hundred kilometres an hour.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_02: Is it true that certain cars are made better for impact?
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you always hear you know, if if that person had been in a crash and it hadn't been a Mercedes or a BMW, potentially it could have been fatal.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_02: Would that was that a factor that could have played into account in this instance?
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, when I spoke with the driver of the other vehicle, um, he was absolutely shocked.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_01: He said his his first thought on seeing the vehicle come towards him was that it was a police car, and he just thought, my goodness, they're driving so recklessly.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_01: And then his second thought was it's a stolen police car.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_01: He he just said he was absolutely panicked.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um he said, obviously, then the impact happened.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then he said, in that slight moment where he had a decision or a chance to make a decision, he made the decision to drive head on at the vehicle because he just thought my my little boy's in the back.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_01: If I hit side on or if I turn, it's gonna hit him.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_01: And he he just said I'd rather take that impact to myself as as dad.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I do think the fact that he has gone head on has saved them all from more serious injury.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because the impact on the side would have would have caused further uh damage to everyone inside.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_01: So he's he's made a really smart decision in trying to really difficult circumstances, yeah.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_11: Risked his own life to save his family.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_11: Wow.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_02: That's incredible.
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_02: What a legend, though.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_02: That is what a cool that's got to be serious data.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_01: He did a good job, yeah.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, what a what an absolutely But flowing on from that, again, his second thought was a stolen police car, and then a a person jumped out in just a normal clothing, and he thought, now I have to fight someone who's stolen a police car and rammed me.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_02: So not only did he have concern for his wife, his child, and his passengers, he then had that additional what's now happening kind of fight or flight um response as well to I guess just look to round out what is, I think, a cautionary tale for people who are entr entering into this sort of business.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um what sort of charges is this individual facing?
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so he's been charged with dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm in circumstances of aggravation because of the excess speed.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um he's also been charged with uh dangerous driving causing bodily harm, four counts of that, and again the pervert the course of justice.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_01: There will be uh further charges in relation to the utilisation of that vehicle and operating at that.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'm still just waiting for further clarification from Department of Transport, which I'm hoping to get today to prefer those charges.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_11: And I understand that even though charges have been laid in the interim and that's proceeding through court, major crashes still investigating, aren't they?
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_11: So they're calling on members of the public if they've seen anything.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_11: What should they do?
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they can call crime stoppers um and and report their details to us.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_01: They can do that anonymously through the website or calling crime stoppers on their phone number.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, or I believe we've sent out media releases as well.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_01: We've got a uh community portal if anyone's got any dash camera footage.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_01: I believe there were quite a few members of the public who encountered this individual prior to the crash.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_11: So you'd want to hear from them and put together the the the bigger picture of the circumstances leading up to what happened.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_02: Well look, uh I just want to say thank you very much to you and everybody at Made You Crash, because um as sadly we we hear too often.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_02: You guys are busy.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, really busy, and the work that you do is extraordinarily hard.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um so thank you very much from the bottom of our hearts.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_02: And um yeah, we we we hope that maybe even one person listening gets the message and does the right thing, it might might actually make a big difference to them or someone they care about.
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_11: This is WA Police Confidential.
• 50:39
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• 50:43
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• 50:53
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• 51:07
  SPEAKER_11: You're listening to WA Police Confidential.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_11: A hungry soul wanders into a country service station.
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_11: Without hesitation, a police sergeant gives up his own meal.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_11: No cameras, no recognition, just a simple act of kindness.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_11: These are everyday heroes, and this is the story of Cunderdon Police OIC, Sergeant Chris Turner.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_02: Chris, thanks very much for coming on the podcast.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_02: Before we actually get into this though, uh, we're just gonna play a little bit at your body worn camera if you um you uh uh interacting with this hungry lost soul.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_10: Who's that, eh?
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_10: How long since you've been fed?
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, good.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_02: So Chris, um the big reveal, the hungry lost soul, what was it?
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_02: Who was it?
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_10: Oh look, we were we had the Cunderdon um or the the football league in our area had their grand final that day um at Caliber and so we were doing a bit of holloway work um as we do out of Cunderdon.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_10: A lost football?
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_10: Okay.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_07: Was it a lost football player?
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_10: No.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_10: No, that came later, but it wasn't a football player, it was a football player's father.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_10: But anyway.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_10: Um, yeah, so we pulled into Tamin because we've got a huge meeting problem up here at the moment.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_10: We couldn't see that the wind screen, and it was a it was there's a lot of stray dogs in Tamin, they they don't really get looked after by the owners.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_10: And this particular one was obviously a puppy, and it had actually got itself into one of the bins next to the bows.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_10: So one of those little bins that you can dump all your McDonald's rubbish in after you've had a fight.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_10: And black legs were hanging out.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_10: So I was clearly really hungry.
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_10: So um, me bringing a bit of a pet lover and um not you know not liking what I was saying.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_10: I I went into the roadhouse and bought the bought the poach and the sausage.
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_10: Um, and then I just stood there for for a few minutes and the dog came over to me and I had to break it up and blow on it because it was too hot.
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_10: It's like feeding it to a child.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_10: So I mean um I mean, yeah, it was uh so I was blowing on it and then testing it to make sure it was to do it, and then feeding it uh bit of beef sausage a bit at a time.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_10: I broke it into about ten bits.
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_10: So and then it um after that it was happy and wandered off.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_10: So um never to be seen again.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_10: But just a the contrast of what we do.
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_02: It really is, it really is.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_02: So uh just uh I guess for for clarity's sake, not a not a lost footballer, uh a that the the lot hungry lost soul was uh was a local puppy dog.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um and um as you said, it's a contrast, isn't it, Chris?
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's the sort of thing that that you would never probably do in metro in metro policing um in the city where you have things are I don't sh I don't share food very well either, so I was a very lucky dog.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_02: Oh so you've you I mean you've worked you worked down here in in Perth for for some time, mate, and um you've made the the shift out to the wheat belt.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um and like you said, there there's it's a different change of pace.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_02: Tell us tell us about it.
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_02: Tell us what you love about it.
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_10: Yeah, well look, I I was so I've been in 38 years coming up in February, and uh I was a detective for 23 of that, and I was a detective sergeant for 19 of that.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_10: So I worked at homicide and gangs, um organized crime, um, child abuse.
• 55:00
  SPEAKER_10: Um my last three years was a license quite before I'd um I'd uh just had enough and I had to get out of Perth.
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_10: So I thought come on Bush again.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_10: I went bush when I first graduated back in '89.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_07: Yep.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_10: Um and I came up, had a look at Cunderdon, and I thought I always wanted to run my own little station before I retired, which is coming up, you know, probably in 12 months.
• 55:27
  SPEAKER_10: Um and uh absolutely fell in love with the place.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_10: So I put in for it, got the job, and awesome little town, really good people.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_10: Um the it's still a busy station, but then it's a busy station because of what sort of copper I am.
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_11: You like to keep busy, that's for sure.
• 55:47
  SPEAKER_10: Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think they do a mean beef sausage up there as well.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_10: Funnily enough, I just got a sausage dog puppy as well.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_10: So no.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_10: Yeah, but uh, and that's that's another story.
• 56:01
  SPEAKER_10: What a nightmare.
• 56:03
  SPEAKER_11: I can I can totally relate, Chris, because I've got one myself, and uh as stubborn a character as they are, they're they're hilarious and they're very loyal.
• 56:13
  SPEAKER_10: Yeah, I'll tell you what, he's um he's certainly lightened my life up.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_10: Very, very funny.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_10: We gotta know absolute little turd, but acute little turds.
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_11: We gotta know the name.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_11: Is it a police related name?
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_10: No, Charlie.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_10: It was already Charlie after he was born, so he's six months old now.
• 56:32
  SPEAKER_10: I got him at about 12 weeks old, but um, yeah, now he's just like a big smelly, sweaty, floaty teenager, so um at six months old.
• 56:43
  SPEAKER_10: Um I fell in love with Camden and the people are awesome.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_10: The the it's just a really nice town, only two hours out of Perth.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_10: I've decided I'm gonna stay up here and I'm I'm I bought a little house in town, and um so long as they let me stay over my tenure by a little bit, I'll retire probably uh I'd say end of next year.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_10: Um and uh that'll be me.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_10: I'll I'm I'm I'm pretty well cooked.
• 57:13
  SPEAKER_10: So but but I I've I've enjoyed the ride, that's for sure.
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_10: There's not much that I haven't done or seen.
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_02: U and look, and yeah, we thank you very much, Chris, for your service.
• 57:22
  SPEAKER_02: I've I've I've thankfully had a bit to do with you over the years every now and then.
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um and I've always thought thought you're a fantastic operator, mate, um, and a and a brilliant person to boot.
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_10: Yeah, mate, there's a lot of people that that would agree with you and a lot that wouldn't agree with you on that.
• 57:39
  SPEAKER_10: I say it how it is, and uh it's funny the night or that afternoon of the the puppy dog incident at Tamman, we um we got a couple of drink drivers.
• 57:50
  SPEAKER_10: Um all the traffic was coming back from uh coming back from the caliber and um from the grand final.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_10: Of course, all the Cundit supporters were happy and the Northern supporters weren't.
• 58:03
  SPEAKER_10: Then after our second drink driver, which was later in the afternoon, we we pulled this young girl over right outside the Cunditon pub and she was a um elephator, went over.
• 58:15
  SPEAKER_10: So I went into the pub, and because I know all the locals, they all know what I'm like, I'm I'm firm but fair.
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_10: But I went in and I just quiet everyone down and I just said Cunded and Goodwin boys really, really proud of us.
• 58:28
  SPEAKER_10: I said, but we've just got our second drink driver, please don't be the third.
• 58:33
  SPEAKER_10: Um and everyone cheered, and you know, as I said, really good town locals are lovely people.
• 58:38
  SPEAKER_10: Just a contrast on what we do, you know, like we get drug pinches.
• 58:42
  SPEAKER_10: I was a second coming on scene at the Caliberon um act of shooter that turned out to be a murder.
• 58:48
  SPEAKER_10: Um two or three different homicides since I've been up there.
• 58:53
  SPEAKER_10: Yep.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_10: It's a um not in Cunderdon, but you know, we're close to Meriden Northern.
• 58:59
  SPEAKER_10: Um Caliberon and Queridang are our sister stations and we all look after each other.
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_10: So it's it's not a quiet little country spot, but it's a it's it's good fun.
• 59:10
  SPEAKER_10: It's a a really nice step back to get back into uniform after wearing a shirt and tie for so long.
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 59:17
  SPEAKER_10: So yeah.
• 59:18
  SPEAKER_02: Well, look, we're we're very happy that you're happy.
• 59:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um and uh it it really sounds like you you've you've leaned in, you're the the sheriff of the town.
• 59:26
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 59:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um and yeah I don't know, I'm just thinking maybe there might be a song we could play, get the the WA police pipe band to uh to play a song, I think, in honor of you and all everybody else in RWA.
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe but what do you what do you reckon?
• 59:43
  SPEAKER_02: How would Country Road sound on the bagpipes?
• 59:46
  SPEAKER_11: That's traumatic for me having just seen the uh the Dockers lose.
• 59:52
  SPEAKER_10: But it's Chris's it's Chris's segment.
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_02: This is Country Road, uh played by the WA Police Pipe Band.
• 1:00:02
  SPEAKER_02: Chris, thanks very much to you and everybody else in Country and out in Regional WA.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_10: Uh thanks, guys.
• 1:00:08
  SPEAKER_10: It's um yeah, nice to get a little bit of recognition.
• 1:00:11
  SPEAKER_10: And you know, we we do work hard out here in RWA.
• 1:00:14
  SPEAKER_10: So um, and if anyone's thinking about it, best move, best move you'll ever make, so long as you get the right town.
• 1:00:21
  SPEAKER_10: Love it.
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_11: So if you're interested in country policing, search up Let's Join Forces, put your application in, and you could be working with good people like Sergeant Chris Turner.
• 1:00:30
  SPEAKER_11: This is WA Police Confidential.
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_11: She's here once again for the It's probably bad news segment, our very own Claire Sienta.
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  SPEAKER_11: Claire.
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  SPEAKER_06: Thanks for having me.
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  SPEAKER_11: What have you got for us?
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  SPEAKER_06: Well, Justin, actually, uh, we've had a uh pretty landmark sentencing of a pretty well-known case that you may have heard in the media recently.
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  SPEAKER_06: Bishop Christopher Saunders, um, he has been convicted of grooming and molesting two young Aboriginal men more than a decade ago.
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  SPEAKER_06: So that um he's now 76 years old and he has been sentenced to six and a half years in prison.
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  SPEAKER_06: Um, and he will be eligible for parole in four and a half years' time.
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  SPEAKER_02: Wow, okay.
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  SPEAKER_02: That a lot of work went into that case um over a long period of time.
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  SPEAKER_02: Um, and obviously some very brave victims who came forward uh to put that that senior uh member of the Catholic Church um uh in a position where justice could and has now been done.
• 1:01:42
  SPEAKER_06: Absolutely.
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  SPEAKER_06: Um meanwhile, in some other news, we've had a spate of some pretty serious crashes over the last week or so.
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  SPEAKER_06: A couple involving quad bikes as well.
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  SPEAKER_06: One in particular down in Postons um occurred between a dirt bike and a quad bike where they collided.
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  SPEAKER_06: Um and an eight-year-old girl actually suffered some pretty serious injuries in that crash.
• 1:02:03
  SPEAKER_06: So um, yeah, it's it's not new news.
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  SPEAKER_06: Um, those, you know, really serious or fatal crashes that we see on our roads every day, and our road policing group do so well to try and prevent.
• 1:02:15
  SPEAKER_06: But um, yeah, just that message is it's still the same.
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  SPEAKER_06: Take care on the roads.
• 1:02:19
  SPEAKER_06: And off-road.
• 1:02:19
  SPEAKER_06: And off-road.
• 1:02:20
  SPEAKER_06: Off-road.
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  SPEAKER_11: I mean, it's it is it's coming up to the end of school holidays too, so there'd be a lot more traffic out there, and just yeah, like like we've been saying with our major crash colleagues that were on earlier, just be patient, take time, don't make risky decisions.
• 1:02:34
  SPEAKER_11: It could end badly.
• 1:02:36
  SPEAKER_06: And just lastly, uh this week is the land forces expo.
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  SPEAKER_06: Uh, you may have seen some temporary special powers for police, so it just means that um, you know, during this time, during this expo, the police have some special powers um within that designated security area.
• 1:02:54
  SPEAKER_06: So just to support police operations and and keep the community safe during this this um period between the 1st and the 10th of October.
• 1:03:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and land forces, uh, for those who maybe isn't aware, it's it's sort of like a defence industries expo.
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  SPEAKER_02: Um you know, for our American listeners or our UK listeners, it's all tied into AUKUS.
• 1:03:14
  SPEAKER_02: That's the uh the Australian-UK US military uh alliance.
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  SPEAKER_02: Um and you know, eventually there'll be a lot of a lot of a lot of things going on here um in that military space, US submarines and UK submarines docking, and then we'll have submarines and anyway.
• 1:03:30
  SPEAKER_02: The special powers are just there to make sure that everyone's cool, shut down roads and that sort of thing.
• 1:03:36
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, they're only temporary, right?
• 1:03:37
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, that's exactly right.
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  SPEAKER_06: So they will finish up on the 10th of October.
• 1:03:41
  SPEAKER_02: Cool.
• 1:03:42
  SPEAKER_02: Excellent.
• 1:03:42
  SPEAKER_02: Claire, see what you can do about maybe bring us some good news next week.
• 1:03:46
  SPEAKER_06: I'll try my best.
• 1:03:47
  SPEAKER_06: I'll try I'll keep an eye out.
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  SPEAKER_06: If you guys hear of anything, feel free to email in or um yeah, get in touch because we're always happy to share some good news every now and then.
• 1:03:56
  SPEAKER_11: I should actually on on a good note, ended on a good note.
• 1:03:59
  SPEAKER_11: Shout out, what a fantastic job you did going live with Maya at the Royal Show.
• 1:04:03
  SPEAKER_06: Oh yeah, look, it was it was a different experience, I'll give you that.
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  SPEAKER_06: But um, no, it was great fun.
• 1:04:08
  SPEAKER_06: So yeah, good to see everyone down there over the the last week or so.
• 1:04:11
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Claire.
• 1:04:12
  SPEAKER_02: This is confidential.
• 1:04:18
  SPEAKER_11: Joey, are you ready for our history fact of the week?
• 1:04:20
  SPEAKER_02: I am ready after another another excellent episode.
• 1:04:23
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Nate.
• 1:04:24
  SPEAKER_02: Uh let's go.
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  SPEAKER_11: Okay, uh well, this one is just labelled on my running shit here as drunkenness.
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  SPEAKER_11: Uh, and it goes like this.
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  SPEAKER_11: It's probably no surprise to our audience that one of the leading causes of crime is the abuse of alcohol.
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  SPEAKER_11: Yep.
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  SPEAKER_11: That's certainly been the case across the history of policing in WA.
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  SPEAKER_11: You may recall that our history fact from a few episodes ago where the Queen's silver was stolen from the Treasury was because the robbers got the guards drunk.
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  SPEAKER_02: That is true.
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  SPEAKER_11: Well, we thought we'd have a little look at what we've done to crack down on drunken behaviour for this week's history fact.
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  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
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  SPEAKER_11: So what does it legally mean to be drunk?
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  SPEAKER_02: Um okay.
• 1:05:02
  SPEAKER_02: Keep going.
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  SPEAKER_11: I'm I'm not sure 100%, but the definition was published 99 years ago in the WA Police Gazette uh from November 30, 1927.
• 1:05:12
  SPEAKER_11: Okay.
• 1:05:12
  SPEAKER_11: Based on the findings of the British Medical Association.
• 1:05:15
  SPEAKER_02: This sounds like an interesting experiment was conducted, but go on.
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  SPEAKER_11: I feel like I should read it in a year's voice.
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  SPEAKER_11: The word drunk should always be taken to mean that the person concerned was so much under the influence of alcohol as to have lost control of his facilities to such an extent as to render him unable to execute safely the occupation in which he is engaged at that particular time.
• 1:05:39
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 1:05:40
  SPEAKER_02: That was a good that was a good yeldy voice, by the way, Nathan.
• 1:05:43
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, thank you.
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  SPEAKER_11: There have been several drinking laws, starting with the Lunacy Act of nineteen oh three.
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  SPEAKER_11: I know a few people who might be familiar with that act.
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  SPEAKER_11: Which included an option to manage habitual drunkards.
• 1:05:59
  SPEAKER_11: Drunkards or drunkards?
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  SPEAKER_11: I don't know.
• 1:06:02
  SPEAKER_11: Drunkards, I think.
• 1:06:02
  SPEAKER_11: Drunkards.
• 1:06:03
  SPEAKER_11: Drunkards, drunkards.
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  SPEAKER_11: In terms of drink driving, the Road Traffic Act uh only came into effect in 1974.
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  SPEAKER_11: Uh, before then, alcohol testing in WA was just a visual test.
• 1:06:13
  SPEAKER_11: Okay.
• 1:06:13
  SPEAKER_11: Yep.
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  SPEAKER_11: So if I say you drank.
• 1:06:15
  SPEAKER_02: Walk the line, as they I think in their they do in some jurisdictions still in OC.
• 1:06:19
  SPEAKER_11: C or ABC's backwards, I don't know.
• 1:06:21
  SPEAKER_11: Yep.
• 1:06:22
  SPEAKER_11: Yep.
• 1:06:22
  SPEAKER_11: Um but over time blood tests started to become more and more used uh as evidence, and things got more serious in the 80s.
• 1:06:29
  SPEAKER_11: The WA Marine Act of 1982 sets limits for blood alcohol or illicit substances for skippers and allowed for drug and alcohol testing on WA waterways, which we have seen um recently with our friends at the Department of Transport doing testing on the water.
• 1:06:46
  SPEAKER_11: On the roads, RBT's random breath testing was introduced in October 1988.
• 1:06:51
  SPEAKER_11: I would have been two years old back then.
• 1:06:54
  SPEAKER_11: And in July 93, the legal blood alcohol content was reduced from 0.08 to 0.05, which it still is now in certain circumstances, unless you're a pea player or a learner.
• 1:07:07
  SPEAKER_02: Good qualification there.
• 1:07:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 1:07:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 1:07:09
  SPEAKER_11: Our first dedicated booze bus was introduced in July 95.
• 1:07:14
  SPEAKER_02: That is not a bus filled with booze, that is a bus that busts you.
• 1:07:18
  SPEAKER_11: For our international listeners, they're a mobile police station that block the road and they test every driver that comes through, and they continue to get results every week.
• 1:07:28
  SPEAKER_11: Sure do.
• 1:07:29
  SPEAKER_11: Doing a great job out there.
• 1:07:30
  SPEAKER_11: Uh and while the message eventually got through, alcohol is still one of our biggest contributors to road trauma in Western Australia, with on average 28 people killed from alcohol-related crashes every year.
• 1:07:42
  unknown: Yeah.
• 1:07:42
  SPEAKER_02: So there you go.
• 1:07:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's not good.
• 1:07:44
  SPEAKER_02: And look, that's all, you know, that's that's that's necessary, that evolution, as you see.
• 1:07:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um unfortunately, we're still seeing crashes on our road on that sad and somber note.
• 1:07:55
  SPEAKER_02: It's just confidential.
• 1:08:45
  SPEAKER_06: Sound editing by Joe and Danny and Sam.
• 1:08:48
  SPEAKER_06: Cover song by the WA Police Pipe Band, and cheesy podcast theme music by Joey Katanzaro.
• 1:08:54
  SPEAKER_06: By the way, why just listen to a podcast about policing when you could actually be doing it?
• 1:08:58
  SPEAKER_06: Let's join forces.wa.gov.au.