[311] - Your host on Radio 3AW - Talk Back Radio 13-11-2025

We honour Detective Leading Senior Constable Dave “Stevo” Stevenson and talk frankly about why so many people feel unsafe at home. From gang history to social media bravado, we unpack consequence, culture, parenting, and what practical fixes might work.

• My tribute to Dave “Stevo” Stevenson and the blue family
• Roger’s career highlights including K9 work
• callers on VCE stress and late-night fear
• then versus now on gangs, weapons, and public risk
• culture, parenting, and community leadership accountability
• bail, prison capacity, and deterrence ideas
• social media and group offending dynamics
• practical home safety and when to call triple zero
• support for overworked police and body-worn cameras

Have a look at A Healthy Shift, the website, A Healthy Shift, you’ll find it at Roger’s toevaloo

Transcript

Roger’s Career And K9 Years

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Imagine a world where cancer is not the devastating disease it is today. Australian Cancer Research Foundation. That is a world we believe it's possible, but only through research. Find out more at acrf.com.

SPEAKER_03 0:25

Roger is the founder of the Healthy Shift, a veteran law enforcement officer. How many years now? 40. You got away with 40. I got away with it. And then after that, they said, that's it, you're done. No, I did that. You said I'm done. Was the best part of that a Vic Pol for you would have been working with those beautiful police dogs?

SPEAKER_09 0:43

Uh it was absolutely. For 17 years I did that.

SPEAKER_03 0:47

Yeah, and there's a lovely photo that somebody's just found of you, uh, a former colleague, presumably, who sent you uh with one of those very early puppies uh for which you were responsible uh in a uh helicopter.

SPEAKER_09 0:58

Yeah, one of the it was a photo that was sent through to me today by a um uh one of the members at the police air wing who was going through some photos in his locker. He's a historian, was going through some photos in his locker, and he sent me this photo and I nearly fell out of the chair when I saw it. It's a picture of me with my first dog back in 1993, yeah, sitting in the back of the helicopter about to take off to go and patrol.

SPEAKER_03 1:23

Amazing. Do we ever look at um the hair colour from those days?

SPEAKER_09 1:28

We try not to.

SPEAKER_03 1:29

We try not to. But it isn't funny to do that.

SPEAKER_09 1:34

Yeah. Um we've got the hair colour.

SPEAKER_03 1:36

Yeah, we do. We've got the hair colour. The tribute this is uh you mentioned this to me, and I thought, well, we should uh talk about this because it's the sad loss of uh one of the favourite colleagues that you had at Vic Pol. Yeah, uh detective leading senior constable Dave Steve O. Steve.

SPEAKER_09 1:55

Yeah, we um we lost uh um Steve O during the week in very tragic circumstances. And um Victoria Police

Tribute To Detective Dave “Stevo” Stevenson

SPEAKER_09 2:05

lost probably one of their most outstanding members. He was such he was just loved by absolutely everyone. Now, I've written a bit of a tribute here, I would actually like to read. Um that it's a tribute to a longtime friend. Um Vic Pole lost one of its finest and most loved members this week, Detective Leading Senior Constable Dave, Steve O. Stevenson, 31694. Steve O did 27 years in Vic Pole. Um he loved his motorsp and he had just returned from overseas having attended the Malaysian um Moto GP, and he suffered a health issue, and um he's been lost to not only his mum, dad, and wife, his immediate family, but the great big blue family out there as well. And I can assure you that they're really hurting. And if there's one thing that people don't realise is once you've been part of the police and you have someone who a colleague who you've actually worked with alongside and you are very fond of, uh, when you get this news, it rocks you to the core, even though you may not have had contact for some time. Now I know that there's literally absolutely hundreds of police members out there that are absolutely heartbroken out in the East. Um, and we just want you to know that we all stand with you in grief. Um Steve O was a highly regarded and a very, very much loved member, and I feel so blessed that not only did I work with Steve O as a colleague, but it was as unique as it was, he also worked with my daughter um in his role that he was in, which was really fantastic. And I remember my daughter telling me that she was working with him, and he called her little Southey, and um, and he was highly thought of. And I just want to say, Vail Steve O, um, geez, you will really be missed. And I I'm just um our hearts go out to the family of everyone out there.

SPEAKER_03 4:07

Indeed. Uh it is a very sad time, but uh you did that beautifully. Well done. I know it's not easy. Uh we will take some uh calls as we go through the morning together, whilst the great man is here with us. Uh you can choose to jump on board. 133693. Justin, kick it off for us. Justine, rather. Good morning. Look who it is. Uh, where have you been? Is everything okay?

SPEAKER_12 4:29

Everything is fine. I have a son who's got two more exams. He's doing VCE, so I've had to be very quiet in the evening hours.

SPEAKER_09 4:40

Stress in your home. A lot of stress in your home at the moment.

SPEAKER_12 4:44

A lot of stress, and he's the last all his friends are finished, so he's still got two more to go, and it's so painful for him because he's had enough of studying.

SPEAKER_03 4:53

How do they go with sleeping?

SPEAKER_12 4:55

Oh no, he's a good sleeper because he does a lot of exercise, but you just have to tiptoe around, you've got to make sure there's plenty of food in the house. You've I mean, oh, there's such pressure on them, it's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_03 5:07

Yeah, well, we've all been there done that at some point. Just a different era, I guess.

SPEAKER_12 5:12

But I heard you talking to Dennis about bras, and I was about to turn off the radio. Oh, I'd had to ring in and just say hello in all my live.

SPEAKER_03 5:23

Well, it's good to know you. It's always good to know you're there, and I thank you very much for the r that. Uh when's the final exam?

SPEAKER_12 5:30

Uh he's got one tomorrow and then next Tuesday. So all his mates have finished now, so he's got another two, and then after next Tuesday, then they go to Byron Bay, and then

Caller Anxiety And VCE Stress At Home

SPEAKER_12 5:40

I, you know, stress about that.

SPEAKER_03 5:41

Then they go, that's something else about which you can stress. Byron Bay, what could possibly go wrong? Huh? Byron Bay. Roger. Byron Bay, what could possibly go wrong? Not a thing.

SPEAKER_12 5:53

No, no, no. No, no, Byron Bay is good because it's a good thing.

SPEAKER_03 5:56

Oh, yeah, sure. Yeah, great. Absolutely. It's really good.

SPEAKER_12 5:59

Have another son. I have been through this with my other son. But the younger son doesn't drink as much as the older son. I'm actually Oh, Tony.

SPEAKER_03 6:10

God, you live with that. You live with that. That's fine. Excellent work. Good to talk to you. Thank you. Chris Brody, good morning.

SPEAKER_08 6:17

Hello, Roger. How are you?

SPEAKER_09 6:18

I'm very well, Chris.

SPEAKER_08 6:20

Yeah, I'll try not to spread words. I mean, I made mistakes when I was young, Roger, but uh, I've turned the corner over many years, and um, yeah, we're we're really in a bit of a uh difficult situation here in the state district of Broadman. Um Yeah, I put it to the local broadband for the police I said look at pretty short there's industrial action on and uh simply must the honourable district and the governor of Victoria's honourable professor to the honourable bank. But we're in a difficult thing that uh even though I'm 61 and I am a traditional broad employee, um we were only probably days away from probably sadly having to uh make a drastic call for arms uh to protect our own suburbs.

SPEAKER_09 7:05

Oh I I don't agree with that. Uh we've had this discussion before, I think, and I don't but we feel like we need to though, don't we? This is the problem. We feel like we need to protect ourselves, and when we feel like that, then something's gone wrong in the system in a very, very big way.

SPEAKER_03 7:22

The previous program made the point with Dan uh here on 3AW in Melbourne. Uh apologies to everybody at 5AA and Adelaide and the Ace Radio Network and 6PR. Uh is does the fact that this uh is being portrayed in sections of the media on a daily basis, sometimes hourly, depending on what you're watching, hourly basis, and the reporting, they're reporting. So any little bugger that's sort of thinks there's a chance he might get away with it is absorbing all this with friends and go, oh, you know, well, look, they're telling us you can get away with it. Nothing happens.

SPEAKER_09 7:56

No, they're they're living it. Nothing happens. No, but they're living it tone. They're not the ones that are listening to the media and watching the TV and things like that. They're so busy. On their Facebook.

SPEAKER_03 8:05

Yeah, but they go, Oh, Fred got off, we'll get off.

SPEAKER_09 8:08

Oh, that's right. No, that's true. That's absolutely well when I say that's true, it's on Facebook, so it must be true. Um the the bottom line is that it they are mixing in circles and seeing what's happening to all of their colleagues. They're happy to film it and they're happy to do it. There's no consequence. And when there's no consequence is a problem. Now, Chris raises a point. We, as the members of the public, now feel like we have to protect ourselves. And that's not the job of the public. The public shouldn't have to protect themselves. They should feel safe in their environment all the time.

SPEAKER_03 8:41

Wasn't there always uh issues in various suburbs around Australia that were hot spots, known hot spots. Certainly was in Melbourne. Absolutely. Sure, they would have been in Adelaide, you certainly would have been in Perth in the day.

SPEAKER_09 8:55

Yeah, see, you know, we talked about the gangs. I can vividly remember in the CBD of Melbourne around the time when I was growing up, that they had the Lebanese tigers running around in town, you know. Um that was a gang that was running around. We were terrified in in town,

Do Media Narratives Fuel Youth Crime?

SPEAKER_09 9:10

just in case the Lebanese tigers they used to walk around with black jackets on with a Lebanese a tiger on the back of it, um, bearing colours. And the Broadie boys uh weren't talking about. And the Broadie boys? The Broadie boys weren't talking to the Mulvern boys. No, and Sunshine and the Sunshine Boys, and and yeah, they were on buses and and things like that travelling. So what's changed? Uh I I I think the lack of consequence for it, it wasn't as severe as it is now. Like they used to, you you get off a bus and like the Broadie boys would get off the bus in the city and and go and box on with a group of people and then leave, and then you know, and then the next bus would go out to broad meadows and so it would be on again. And I know that that sort of thing went on.

SPEAKER_03 9:47

So they didn't just come in for a Chinese meal and go home again.

SPEAKER_09 9:50

Well, no. No, they would No. No, they didn't. But the thing is, they weren't pulling machetes out and slicing each other up with machetes and fighting. I think But there were knives. There was, but there wasn't the incidence of stabbings back then that there is today. It's just common now, so common. And I I always say, and let's take out of it the the stabbing, when I say take out of it. If you're holding a knife, I can understand why someone would carry a knife to protect themselves, right? You carry a knife, but to take it's a big decision to plunge that into another human body, isn't it? Like when you think about it, it's a huge decision to make. Maybe I'm wired differently, but I I Most of us are wired differently.

SPEAKER_03 10:34

Well, majority of us are wired, you're not going to do that. So it's a few that are uh taking the risk.

SPEAKER_09 10:40

Well 1100 at least that the Vic poll know about. We saw Mike Bush come out and say that.

SPEAKER_03 10:44

He did. The the point of that is why are that why are those people so inclined? What's going on in the world? What's happening that they grow up in a community that goes, oh, uh what will this is what we'll do. Is it cultural? I don't know. That's why I'm at that's why I'm asking. We'd ask the audience 133693. If it's cultural, what are the parents doing? If it's cultural, you've got to take the parents out. What are the leaderships? What are the leaderships inside those community groups?

SPEAKER_09 11:16

Oh, I totally agree with that because they come out and say, Oh, he's a good boy and they're nice kids and all the rest of it. But the bottom line is the offending is severe and we can see who it is and what they're doing. There's massive problems. So, what are the leaders doing in relation to it to try and work in and fix it? That's that's one of the biggest problems that we have.

SPEAKER_03 11:35

There's a lot of them too. All right, we'll do this. We'll come back, take your calls, 133693. I'm Tony McManus. Roger Sutherland is here, long-serving police officer, 40 plus years. Uh, and we'll also talk about things to do with uh shift work at some point. 133693, come and join us.

SPEAKER_01 11:55

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SPEAKER_00 12:10

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SPEAKER_03 12:43

Let's have a look at the uh text line there, old son. Uh Roger, Roger, Roger. Uh Tony Mack. I'm a regular listener to you as always. Keep up the great work uh and always. But my request is can you please have Roger on the programme a little more often? Uh he's very, very good.

SPEAKER_09 13:00

That's very kind, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 13:02

Uh Jack, good on you, Jack. Thank you. Uh morning, Tony and Roger. Please find your close a little something I wrote. Uh sympathy is quiet understanding, a gentle presence that listens without fixing, stands beside pain without fear, reminds us we're not alone. It's the warmth of one heart recognizing

Then And Now: Gangs, Knives, Consequences

SPEAKER_03 13:20

another ache, offering comfort, not through words, but through the steady kindness of simply being there. Excellent. Good on you, Dave. It's very nice. Thank you, Doug. Uh I grew up in uh St Albans the entire nineties, and trust me, knife crime was not new. Yeah. You would have been exposed to a lot of that, surely.

SPEAKER_09 13:40

Yeah, well, we were I I honestly I don't recall that. I don't recall the knife crime and that. We were busy running around after like the Flemington crew with their armed robber, they were doing the armed robberies on the banks back then, yeah. Um, which was all all cut out. So we had that was type of a gang, I guess, at that time. But um it's it's good that callers call in or text in and tell us about stuff like that as a reminder. Otherwise we go, oh no, it wasn't like that back in my day.

SPEAKER_03 14:08

But it was. Yeah, it was. And and I think we we should, and that's not that's not to forgive what's going on now, but it's a reminder that some of it is historical as well. Totally. Uh 133693, RD morning.

SPEAKER_14 14:24

Good morning, Tony Mac, Roger, and Simon. Yes, you should be on more and condolences to your colleague, I think. Yes, thank you. Roger, I wanted to ask you, you do you remember the sharpies and the skinheads in the dance?

SPEAKER_09 14:39

See, there's another group. That's true. Yes, that's right.

SPEAKER_03 14:42

And and historically they clashed, but not in a violent way of like.

SPEAKER_09 14:48

It was box on. It was fisticuffs, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_03 14:51

With blokes.

SPEAKER_09 14:52

Yeah. But but Artie, do you you remember the Lebanese tigers and things like that as well?

SPEAKER_03 14:58

Is he still there? Artie's disappeared, hasn't he? He's gonna we've lost him for some reason. Uh but yeah, so just remind us then. I don't know what happened to the side.

SPEAKER_09 15:06

Well, we had the the the there was the boneheads as well. The bone boneheads, the boneheads, the boneheads, the skin heads, there was the um the sharps. Was it the Frankston Sharps? I think they were down from Frankston, right? I'm trying to remember. Well, yes. Um the punks as well. We went through that stage as well, the punk punk era. Um, yeah, I know. It's it's an it was an interesting time.

SPEAKER_03 15:31

Well, history, history is an interesting time. Uh, for whatever reason we lost you, uh Artie, you were you were in the middle of saying.

SPEAKER_14 15:38

Yeah, look, they I didn't get touched by the uh Lebanese Tigers, do you know though? Some of them were martial artists and uh consequences would occur like um they just knew a bit of history, like I don't go looking forward to, but I've dealt with a lot too in the security game, and uh the first uh attempt at armed robbery I had a gun to my head at a Foot Square 7 Eleven store, and thank God we uh you'll probably remember that, Roger. I was the security manager there.

SPEAKER_09 16:06

You know why they're called 7 Elevens, don't you? Oh yeah, this will be good. Seven out of eleven of them got held up.

SPEAKER_03 16:12

There goes another, yeah, there goes another client. 133693 our telephone number. Barry on mobile. Good morning to you, Barry. Uh uh sorry, where are we going? Sorry. Oh, it just dropped. Uh Barry, we're gonna have a word with you, but you've disappeared. Uh 133693 is our telephone number. Look at all these uh texts. We'll get to them in just a moment. Uh Justin, good morning.

SPEAKER_10 16:35

Morning, guys. Um, just want to start off by saying um I love your um thoughtfulness to your former colleague there, Roger. Um, I actually lost my great, great granddad as a free topic as well too quite real to your lost while too.

SPEAKER_03 16:52

Thank you. Uh very kind of you.

SPEAKER_10 16:54

Yeah, it was it was um I didn't actually get to see him before he passed away. I was only about four or five months of passed away. So, um yeah, but I just wanted to ask you, um with learner license, um when they expire, can you renew them or can you go for your peak tape or your um full license?

SPEAKER_09 17:21

That's a question I honestly cannot answer. I I honestly I do not know the answer to that with your learners, because your learners go for a period of time, but I'm not someone that would know your area of expertise. It's not my area of expertise. It was back in the day, but not now. I don't know. I'm not up to date with learners' permits and crossing over into P plates.

SPEAKER_03 17:42

Uh somebody will know. Uh jump on board, let us know. 133693 is our telephone number. You can also send a text. We'll get to them in just a tick. Uh Trev, morning. Hello, is that Tone? That's the one, Trevor. It's Tony speaking, and Roger Sutherland is here as well.

SPEAKER_02 17:58

Yeah, well, I I was listening to you talking about games and things like that.

SPEAKER_04 18:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:04

Uh I mean, I I came in as a migrant in 1986. And back then there was no fear of uh problems or anything going on. But now I'm I'm I'm I'm now 65 and I am now worried. I've got an electric gate, I've got cameras, I've got everything to try and protect myself.

SPEAKER_09 18:29

So you've you've grown up, if I can just say, so you've grown up, even though we had gangs around like the Sharpies and and the Lebanese Tigers and things like that, you weren't in fear in your own home, were they? They were doing their own thing.

SPEAKER_02 18:42

That's right, yeah. Back back in the eighties and nineties, there was no worries about it.

SPEAKER_03 18:51

Lost him. Going beautifully with our phones here this morning, let me tell you. Uh humble apologies. We'll do this, we'll see if we can sort it out. 133693 should point out that for uh people travelling inbound on the monash, thank you for this caller. Inbound on the monash, we understand there has been a uh crash uh just before the east link turnoff. So those coming in from, say, uh, you know, that Clyde Road area, in from the uh that area coming into town. Uh a it seems to be based on what we're hearing, a car has become uh off-road and has been a crush just before the East Link turnoff. If you see anything, let us know 133693.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

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SPEAKER_03 20:08

Yeah, a big fan.

SPEAKER_09 20:10

But I didn't go this time, I saw them last time. Good. Fantastic.

Culture, Parenting, And Community Leadership

SPEAKER_09 20:15

Yeah, memorable. Very it's a very memorable, it's a big show, and it's a very memorable show.

SPEAKER_03 20:20

What's interesting coming, I said to Dennis Walter of 3AW just in the last hour, uh, coming in, and as you go into the tunnel, uh you could see the MCG in the distance and the light coming from the top of the stadium. Phenomenal.

SPEAKER_09 20:34

And I heard Dennis saying as well that people were ringing up and reporting it from Q. They could hear it in Q. Yeah, I know. Well, can they though?

SPEAKER_03 20:42

Maybe they were hearing the neighbour playing trying to match it. The queue was uh the sounds of silence. Trev, hello, we're back. I think we've got you back to the back.

SPEAKER_02 20:52

Yeah, we're back.

SPEAKER_03 20:52

You were saying.

SPEAKER_02 20:53

Yeah, I was saying about how how much uh crime is starting to affect Melbourne.

SPEAKER_09 20:59

Yes. Um because you were talking about how eve you've started to batten down the hatches at home now, which is something that you never had to do years ago, is that right?

SPEAKER_02 21:10

That's correct, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 21:11

So you've you you don't feel safe anymore, but you felt safe even back then with everything that was going on. And Tony, that's the difference tonight.

SPEAKER_02 21:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:19

Trev, where did you where did you grow up? In uh which part of the UK?

SPEAKER_02 21:23

Uh Coventry.

SPEAKER_03 21:24

That's right. So uh Coventry, wow, that was a person. So there was a time when Coventry had uh challenges.

SPEAKER_02 21:31

Uh not not too bad when I was growing up in the 60s, 70s. Um we had a lot of trouble in Ireland. Remember that? When I was.

SPEAKER_03 21:41

Yeah, of course, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:43

Um, but um no, I I had a pretty good childhood, very good. Uh I I met an Australian couple in Corfu. Um that's what made me come to Australia.

SPEAKER_03 21:57

Uh so you studied Corfu?

SPEAKER_02 22:00

No, we were on holiday in Corfu. I think it was an Australian couple in Corfu.

SPEAKER_04 22:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:07

And they said you gotta come to God's own country. And I came here for a holiday and then uh decided to migrate. Um got in, um, and we migrated in 1986. So I've been here 39 years.

SPEAKER_03 22:28

39 years, and you sound like you've uh just arrived. Yeah. Good on your tri good on your trip, sorry. Thank you. In Croydon, hello, Chris, good morning.

SPEAKER_06 22:40

Morning, gentlemen. Morning. Uh I think you're underplaying the seriousness and regularity of what's going on these days compared to back in, say, the 70s or 80s. I mean back in the 70s and eighties, it was generally, as you said before, gangs on gangs, Roddy Boys, Sunshine, or I I grew up in Pasco Bale and and you know we we had quite a few. But there was generally a reason behind it. It was arranged and it was out of public eye. And and not you know, we we didn't have the home invasion, we didn't have the carjacking, we didn't have four or five four or five teenagers with machetes, um targeting a person, targeting one person to to to rip them off and and leave the people leave innocent people, so devastated as uh as is happening these days.

SPEAKER_09 23:32

Yeah, I I totally agree, Chris.

SPEAKER_06 23:35

And you go back in those days, and if you're in the job back then, as you know, you'd stick a size 11 up a up a kid's coit, drag him home to his parents, and 99% chance he would never offend again. These days they don't give a rodent.

SPEAKER_09 23:48

I was speaking to my colleague, uh my colleague that I work with literally about that today. That if you got spoken to by the cops back then when you were growing up, terrified, no way, no way would you go home and tell your parents because you would have got it again, and you would also got punished at home. Whereas now they're down at the cop shop making complaints in relation to it and and it's being accommodated. And that's one of the biggest problems that we have today. But Chris Chris makes a really valid and a really good point here. It was all sorted out amongst them. It didn't involve innocent members of the public ever. Didn't ever. Unless someone stuck their nose in.

SPEAKER_03 24:32

So what what's is it uh goes to then the casualness is it the right word?

SPEAKER_09 24:40

It's a lack of care, I think.

SPEAKER_03 24:41

Lack of care.

SPEAKER_09 24:42

Just it's a lack of consideration, care, or um it's just it it we're not it's a lot of it's not being reported. Like I'm speaking to a lot of police. When I say not being reported, we're hearing stuff on the media. But a lot of it like I know Vancouver's and that that are just going from one to the next every night. They're just flat out, or flat out doing jobs and dealing with them. And I just want to make this point as well, which is I think is a really important point to be made at the moment. These police are working to the bone at the moment. They're really working hard, and they catch these offenders who laugh at them the whole time. They have to show control, they have to then um they have to then interview them, do all the paperwork for them, and 90% of the time the offender is back out on the street before that officer is back home.

SPEAKER_03 25:31

Yeah, which is an issue. Uh morning, I grew up in the 60s, 70s, Tony Mac and Roger, and yes, there was rival gangs who fought amongst each other, and also the conflicts of the wars. Remember the I mean that was a whole different culture as well. Exactly. Uh but you never heard them attacking families in their own homes or carjacking women and kids in cars, correct. Mainly amongst themselves. Correct. So what's w if if anybody can let us know, what shifted, what's the change, what's the It's cultural in my book. It's cultural. A consideration around their nation of his of arrival of origin. Okay. Barry and Reservoir. Hello, Baz. Morning.

SPEAKER_11 26:16

Oh, good fellas. Enjoy your show very much.

SPEAKER_03 26:19

Good on your right.

SPEAKER_11 26:20

Thank you, uh Barry Rather. You know, there is a cure to Melbourne's crime situation. And it is no building uh prisons, out in the country you have a bar buyer, sell whatever, and bungalows. And when

Public Fear, Home Security, And Policing Reality

SPEAKER_11 26:40

they commit a crime, they're in there for two years only with their phone. And they walk around the bungalow at their exercise, no commitment to anyone else. And they get out of there and they're thinking I'm not coming back here. And if they do come back, it's a double sentence, say it's two years you get. If you come back, it's gonna be four years. And if they do this, I'll tell you what, it will c completely mullise crime in Melbourne.

SPEAKER_09 27:14

Oh, I've got another solution. For every offender that you're with, like if there's one of you, then you get the single penalty. If there's two of you, then it's doubled. If you get if there's three of you, it's tripled. Wow. If it's four of you, it's quadruple. There it is. Because the more of you that there are together, then the more of the longer the penalty there is. Because if you think about it, the more people that enter someone's home, the more terrorizing it is.

SPEAKER_03 27:40

Yeah, good point. It's a really good idea, Rog. Uh Barry, thank you very much for that. We'll go to uh Dave in just a moment. The point of that is given given all the wealth in the world, or in Australia in particular, available to them, whether they've got their telephone, uh, they've got their computers, uh, we are a great sporting nation. You can go and kick a footy, you can play a round ball game, you can play tennis, all the things. There would be a zillion things available to young people. Why do they then, why do they feel so disenfranchised? I don't know. Nobody's been able to tell me.

SPEAKER_09 28:12

No, I don't know. But I do think it's just anybody asked. Um I don't think they would know. You you could ask them and they wouldn't know. They wouldn't know.

SPEAKER_03 28:22

They wouldn't know.

SPEAKER_09 28:22

They're so self-interested and they wouldn't know why they do what they do. Self-absorbed, self-interested, self-absorbed, and there's no consequence for doing what they're doing, and they get encouraged by their friends on social media. That's the thing. Yeah, social media has a lot to answer for which to answer, I agree.

SPEAKER_03 28:38

Uh now, Dave, you're driving back from uh the MCG, how was it, and where are you in the traffic conditions?

SPEAKER_05 28:45

Yeah, no, I'm driving back. Look, it was unbelievable. I'm not a massive fan. I was actually working there tonight, but um look, that was high voltage rock and roll to the point of race. But they were unbelievable. The energy they brought to the show was um you know 10 out of 10. The the volume, like you said, was popping off the scale.

SPEAKER_09 29:07

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 29:07

Umbelievable for their age. They really put on the screen.

SPEAKER_09 29:12

How amazing is Angus Young at 70 years of age doing what he does on stage.

SPEAKER_05 29:21

Yes, yeah, it was unbelievable. It just helped uh help the audience captive. Um he probably walked three laps to the MCG doing his playing his solo, but um you know, yeah, since they were as sharp as they were in the 80s, I reckon. Unbelievable.

SPEAKER_09 29:36

Now tell me, oh last time I saw Ray C do see, in between songs, they were off stage for an extended period of time. But like they do two or three songs and then they'd be off stage, and everyone said that they were on the oxygen tanks. Right? Was that obvious tonight or not?

SPEAKER_05 29:54

No, I looked on for probably um 15, 30 seconds, not so long. Okay. Um Think the same thing, but no, look um yeah, good band.

SPEAKER_09 30:03

Just a really good Aussie band, aren't they?

SPEAKER_05 30:06

They were great.

SPEAKER_03 30:07

That's fantastic. Great call. They go behind the stage to use oxygen tanks. Oxygen tanks. Yep. 133693. If you're at and about, give us a call. Uh let us know uh who, how, why, where, and when. It's all part of Australia overnight. Tony McManus is here. Roger Sutherland, uh, long-serving member of Vic Pol, Victoria Police. You can join us. 133693. Text line, uh, as I mentioned, uh, lot of people have comments. We'd love the calls as well. 133693. Uh, there's one there from Damon who says the parents of uh teenage offenders, where are they? Uh and I just wonder whether or not uh communities have got together as communities and said uh to uh senior members of uh whatever the communities are, you know, what's going on? What do we have to do? How do we what value can we add to turn the so-called cultural instinct around, the cultural perspective around?

SPEAKER_09 31:02

But the cultural the cultural perspective comes from the parents as well. Like they're the ones that are bringing this in, and now but I'm not saying that they're encouraging they're not saying to the kids uh pick up a machete and off you go. Yeah, I know, but where have they come from that was an acceptable behaviour? This is the thing. Now the other thing, this what what this text that we've got, where are the parents? I see this comment all the time. But people have got to understand we laugh at that. We laugh at that because the parents, the police. Alright, okay. Sorry, the police, we laugh at that because the police they know the parents don't care at one bit, one iota. They do not care at all. The only time you hear from the parents is he's one of those poor little children are injured, and then they come out and say, But he's such a good boy. He's it he just had a bad experience. And that's wrong, because they've done nothing about it beforehand, and they throw their hands in the air. And a lot of these kids don't have parents. Don't have parents at all. They're they're already like years ago, they used to be called wards of the state. They're now just um I can't remember what they call them now.

SPEAKER_03 32:09

Well, a lot of people are saying uh youth crime home invasions escalated, increase of refugees and immigration. Uh that is the issue across Western countries. What is the solution, particularly in youth crime? Bail after bail with repeat offenders, perhaps part due to limited capacity in our jails. Well, that's part of it as well. Very expensive to accommodate, uh, run and maintain. Why can't we introduce very basic facilities?

SPEAKER_09 32:34

Well, the facilities, you know, when we talk about building jails, we're gonna build jails that are ex that that are expensive and comfortable. Oh, hang on a second. Like these people have made informed decisions as to what they're gonna do. You've got to feed them. Well, yeah, I agree with that, but you've got to remember that these people are making informed decisions, knowing. Yeah, no one's gonna tell me that a 13-year-old and 14-year-old doesn't know the difference between right and wrong. That's absolute baloney, right? They do. Um, and the thing is,

Bail, Prisons, And Deterrence Ideas

SPEAKER_09 33:05

we we don't have to build expensive prisons for them, they're going to jail. And we need to protect the public, not protect. I'm hearing things today about research around um, you know, when people if you put them in jail, you're gonna make them worse offenders. No, not while they're in jail, they're not worse offenders. When they come out, they're gonna go back in. End of story. But we need to protect the public.

SPEAKER_03 33:29

So must come first. So the the idea of prison once perhaps may have been where you go in and become rehabilitated. That hasn't been the case, I wouldn't imagine, forever.

SPEAKER_09 33:39

Research shows that that's not the case. Yeah. Sadly. That's not the case, but they're safer. We are safer when they're behind bars.

SPEAKER_03 33:46

The 50s are the bodgies and the widgeys. I don't remember them. The bodgies and the widgeies, massive, trendy rebels. Uh they don't compare to the violent gangs of uh today. Not at all. Uh Nathan, hi, you wanted to say good morning.

SPEAKER_02 33:59

Good morning, uh guys. What do you think about this shetty stuff? You don't mean to put the the big bins they put out. What do you think about them?

SPEAKER_09 34:11

What do I think about the machete bins?

SPEAKER_03 34:13

Where you put the bins where the people are supposed to donate the machetes into these so-called bins.

SPEAKER_09 34:17

Well, who's gonna put a machete in a bin?

SPEAKER_03 34:19

Yeah, exactly. Uh it's just so time-deaf. Yeah. Uh Sue, in summary, good morning.

SPEAKER_13 34:25

Oh, good morning, Johnny.

SPEAKER_03 34:27

Hi, Sue.

SPEAKER_13 34:28

Yeah, I've had the just uh on big scare.

SPEAKER_03 34:32

Yeah, and that and that's the issue for many, the to live uh feeling frightened as Sue. And that's not the that's not the great city we know and love.

SPEAKER_13 34:42

Yeah, I know it is me. I just had four police come to my house.

SPEAKER_09 34:49

Just now.

SPEAKER_13 34:51

Yeah, just half an hour ago. Yeah, I had um a lot of noises and sounded like a a human jumping over the fence and um and I heard a rattle and I heard noises and uh I started my heart and I didn't know what to do. Um I was asleep, not as you're you're in bed, yeah. And I didn't know what to do, so I just ran triple out. Yep, that's the right thing to do.

SPEAKER_03 35:26

And um so you're by yourself, obviously.

SPEAKER_13 35:30

Yeah, me and my dog. I mean, I've got people in the units around, but that doesn't mean anything because everyone sleeps.

SPEAKER_09 35:40

So you did the right thing. You did the right thing by ringing triple zero. That's what they're there for, and they'll take that call and get someone to come and check it for you.

SPEAKER_13 35:49

Well, I was surprised there was four of them.

SPEAKER_09 35:52

Yep, that's fantastic.

SPEAKER_13 35:53

Uh-huh. They came in, they went around the backyard. Good. And uh they said, Look, we know things right now are worrying people and we know that you're well gonna ask me, you know, check every room in the house. I said, Look, you can go in, come around, come in and go in the backyard because I've got a side gate that's always locked anyway. It's my fence, we've already damaged a fence.

SPEAKER_03 36:22

Sue, sue, sue. Uh you Sue, I I'm pleased that you had the uh four officers and uh it's an ongoing challenge and uh you know, we've all got to be aware of some of the challenges that we're all facing at this uh stage. But uh you look after yourself and uh thank you for that very important call. Uh that lovely note. That's sorry, Sue, go on.

SPEAKER_13 36:46

My son was a police officer. Oh yeah, in um in Melbourne. He doesn't live in Melbourne, now he's in England, but he was in for ten years.

SPEAKER_09 36:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 36:59

Very good. Well done. Thank you for that. Uh that lovely note, uh, where's that note gone, uh, Simon, from the uh caller who rang through? Chris spent 37 years in armored vehicles. Uh just wants to send sympathy to Roger and all of Steve O's. Yeah, very nice.

SPEAKER_09 37:15

Yep. Thanks, Chris. Appreciate that.

SPEAKER_03 37:17

It's very kind. Uh, Jill David Mark Lee and we'll come to you the other side. It is Australia overnight. Morning. In excess. In excess or AC DC. In excess or A C D C if you had the choice. In excess, yeah.

SPEAKER_09 37:29

All day everywhere. I saw them live when they came back from America.

SPEAKER_03 37:32

They were amazing. With Michael Hutchins, so yeah, of course they'd have to be there as uh with Michael.

SPEAKER_09 37:37

It was they were amazing band live and still great to listen to.

SPEAKER_03 37:42

So the loudest band used to be Thorpey, so based on what we're hearing, uh Thorpey no longer would hold that title.

SPEAKER_09 37:49

I heard the caller called Dennis saying that he went to Metallica the other night and said that ACDC left Metallica for dead. That's a big call. As far as as far as the volume went.

SPEAKER_03 38:00

Big call.

SPEAKER_09 38:01

Huge call.

SPEAKER_03 38:02

I was awarded 7780 uh three years, uh three years in Tirana, couple of stints in Pendridge, changed my life around 42 years ago. After my last sentence, these days prison is considered a holiday at government expense. Youth of sport, the attitude, you can't touch me in my day, you've

Social Media, Group Offending, And Accountability

SPEAKER_03 38:20

got a good kick up the clacker.

SPEAKER_09 38:21

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 38:22

Uh Marcus Coresby says that.

SPEAKER_09 38:23

Yeah, that's right. Thanks, Sergeant Cook. I probably knew that, Sergeant Cook, too, I reckon.

SPEAKER_03 38:30

Is that what's shifted in terms of uh how how officers are permitted to behave in doing their job? Body worn cameras now, you see? Uh well.

SPEAKER_09 38:41

It's protective both ways. Like I I know a lot of the officers love them. But um anyway, what a pleasure. Thank you so much for having me today.

SPEAKER_03 38:50

Have a look at uh A Healthy Shift, the website, a Healthy Shift, you'll find it at Rogers Tovaloo. Uh thank you. It's always good to have you in the studio. It's great to be here. We'll take more of your calls the other side. 133693. Come and join us.

SPEAKER_01 39:03

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