Ep 09 - Bikie Wars Conclusion

Episode 9 of Operation Podcast! The official WA Police Force Podcast.

On this week’s show:

- Guess who's back.... Commander Gary Saunders and Detective Senior Sergeant Greg MacDonald... to talk further about Operation Ravello.

- A bizarrely festive, freezing-cold rescue from the swam river! Hear from the two Perth Police officers who rescued a member of the public.

- Neil Poh joins the show.

- A Major Crash call-in.

Transcript

SPEAKER_07 0:00

This podcast discusses real life crimes and law enforcement matters. It may include detailed descriptions of criminal activity, traumatic incidents, and other content that could be confronting or distressing, particularly for victim survivors. Listener discretion is advised. If you find any of these topics upsetting, please consider whether this content is right for you and seek support if needed.

SPEAKER_05 0:27

Welcome back to Operation Podcast. I'm Johnny Camuso. I'm Sergeant Nate Gilmore. And this week, we're going to speak with major crash investigators and ask the question: what will it take to stop people dying on our roads?

SPEAKER_13 0:41

Joey, there were eight serious and fatal crashes just this Easter long weekend alone. And that included an 11-year-old male riding a scooter who collided with a car down in Mandra on Monday evening. And that brings the total number to those who've died on our roads this year to more than 50.

SPEAKER_05 0:58

More than 50. Just think about it. Like if some if more than 50 people had died doing anything else, we we would be jumping up and down. It's almost become normalized, but it just it shouldn't be because it's 50 people. But look, we're gonna we're gonna talk to someone from major crash, and it's gonna be somewhat uncensored, it's gonna be a bit confronting. We're gonna be honest about what happens to a person during a serious or major crash, the physical trauma, the life-changing injuries, the lifelong grief.

SPEAKER_13 1:30

If you've lost someone or on our roads or you've had a near miss yourself, please do consider carefully if you want to continue listening.

SPEAKER_05 1:37

Yeah, to be clear, uh we will be not talking about any uh recent fatalities, out of respect, of course, and and the incidents that we do discuss, if there's any details, they will be very much de-identified. But if you are someone who has ever not worn a seatbelt or used your phone while driving or driven too fast or driven under the influence of drugs or alcohol, you need to listen to this because we're going to give it to you straight.

SPEAKER_13 2:02

Later on, we're gonna dive into an early morning Swan River rescue with two of Perth's finest officers. Plus, we'll talk of about a few other segments.

SPEAKER_05 2:11

Okay. All right. That sounds great. Um, but first, we're going to wind up our deep dive into the homicide investigation after the assassination of Bikey boss Nick Martin. That's coming up next. This is Operation Podcast. Welcome back to Operation Podcast. We've spent the past several weeks delving into Operation Rivello, one of the most complex homicide investigations ever run by the Western Australia Police Force following the senseless murder of Bikey boss Nick Martin at the Perth Motorplex in 2020. Last week we heard how senior homicide detectives and the investigative team had identified who they believed to be, and we're pretty damn sure was the shooter responsible for the assassination and the man who they would allege at that time and later would be found guilty in a court of law with procuring that murder, with paying for that murder. And it's another bikey by the name of David Pye. Which brings us to, as you gentlemen, said to us last week, it's the the closure, the uh there's a special resolution. The resolution. That's the way it's very it's ominous when you say it like that. Uh, we're joined by by senior homicide veterans uh Greg McDonald and Gary Saunders. Tell us about the resolution. Why was it that you decided um at a certain point in time that it was time to move in and actually make an arrest on Mr. XYZ, the shooter?

SPEAKER_11 3:45

Well, it's uh as we've explained, there's a lot that goes into gathering evidence. So we have to reach a point where we believe we have sufficient evidence to support a prosecution. Um and once you reach that, we have to balance that, or we we have to balance that point against community risk. Um, you know, these at least uh someone we believe at that point has murdered someone, he's still out in the community. Uh, although we had um, you know, we were had surveillance in place on him. There's no guarantee that we can see him 24-7. So um there's a risk potentially to the community while he's out in the community. So there is that pressure to try and do that, but we have to balance that against gathering evidence and putting that in a prosecution brief. So we put all those together, we we look at where we're at, how much evidence we have, and what point we act. So there's a considerable or a lot of planning that went into the actual arrest. So we arrested the shooter on one day. Uh, we had to put things in place to protect um witnesses and his family members that are associated with him, given that we were dealing with bikes. So once it became obvious that we'd arrested someone, we viewed the fact that uh of that arrest was a risk to not only him, but his family members, anyone who knows those who are close to him, but potentially a risk because they could be, you know, put under pressure to put pressure on him. So we had to have plans in place to deal with all the close associates of him in terms of protecting them. Um and then we once that was in place, then we're in a position to move on to Pye.

SPEAKER_05 5:18

So just quickly walking it back a step, um, we we'd heard from you last week that there was um plans afoot to murder other people that David Pye wanted to pay Mr. XYZ to carry out further executions, if you will, including one of uh uh another senior bikey uh who was overseas uh in Southeast Asia, uh Ray Chile. He'd gone to the lengths of creating a video, I think, um, where he'd shown David Pye that he could or someone he'd contracted out could take a shot from the back of a vehicle at distance, and in this case he'd used a grapefruit with a smiley face on it um to uh to show um I guess the devastating effects that that shot would have on presumably the head of uh of the victim. Yeah. So you've made this determination, you've got to move in. But where did you do it? How did you do it? Because everyone always I've I remember everyone saying it happened at the shooter's house, but I don't think that was the case.

SPEAKER_10 6:20

If no legend that's not true, if the rumors have it, it actually happens somewhere else. So part of the part of the balance in act that Greg referring to, you know, when we um say, okay, we've got enough, we're going to affect the arrest. Um that's only part of an investigative strategy. The investigation still goes on. You know, we're still going to execute search warrants and we still have to search for evidence that we couldn't have done without showing our hand um prior to the arrest. There's a whole lot of police work to do. But in this particular instance, uh, we're fairly confident of um his movements on where he was going to go. So the area that we actually chose for the arrest to take place um was probably more of an industrial area, is that fair to say? So we just so we picked that. So there's going to be no threat to the public. There's not going to be a big spectacle, you know. We can we can um take him out, secure him in custody and get him away without a big Who Harm fanfare.

SPEAKER_05 7:16

So had he pulled up on his motorbike or something? This is the That's correct. Yeah. So he's on foot, and what you just jump out and hands up, you're under arrest. How does it work?

SPEAKER_11 7:24

Well, uh tactical response group handle all that for us. Oh, okay. Um we just say this is what we want you to do, this is what his likely movements are. Uh, you put a plan in place and carry it out. So um they're very good at that sort of business. Yeah, he didn't see it coming out. He had no idea it was coming, and then all of a sudden they're there, grabbed him, uh, it went really smoothly. So, um, and then we take him back to his house, get a search warrant, um, and start searching from there.

SPEAKER_05 7:52

Wow. Okay. At this stage, has he said anything? Has he expressed some surprise? Do you know if there was video that you later reviewed?

SPEAKER_11 8:02

Uh no. Look, we we were um you've got to be very careful how you go about interviewing and when you do it. So our purpose was to have uh formal interview of him in a controlled environment because there's a lot of um evidence and exhibits that we wanted to put to him in a formal interview. Um so he was conveyed to his house, which is normal practice. The search is videoed. Uh, there was no specific questions in relation to previous actions. Um, that was more around exactly what was seized during the search. Once that was completed, he was conveyed back to our office and he was interviewed later.

SPEAKER_05 8:44

Is there any indication that he would be was he expecting this to happen, do you think? Or do you think he was surprised that he was on the radar?

SPEAKER_10 8:52

Um I I think um I think he was highly confident that he'd actually um gotten away with this and he he wasn't the point of focus in relation to it whatsoever. Um there was certainly no change in his character or uh his normally daily functions or how he went about his business. He was um, you know, spending the money, you know, buying a few things that he'd always wanted, and um he was not expecting it whatsoever. It was a big shock to him. Took a while for it to for it to sink in and for him to absorb uh what had actually occurred. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:28

Do you I mean was it was it true that at some point perhaps maybe he had he had actually vo verbalized uh that he thought you guys had no idea that he existed?

SPEAKER_11 9:42

Well that was earlier in the yeah, yeah, that was that was a little earlier. So as I've mentioned, we had um we had a listening device in Pai's house, so we were listening to a number of conversations. Um at one point there's a conversation. Actually, when he was talking about the shooting video with the grapefruit and things like that, he's explaining how it could happen, and there was another person present as well. That person made the comment to him that, oh, the the police must hate you. Uh, and he he said, Well, they don't even know I exist. Um, so he was very confident um that he got away with it at that point in time. So uh that was pretty useful for us because you know, you never know how much someone knows about what you're doing. Uh that added a little bit of um uh it was a benefit to us to know that he at that stage he probably didn't think that we had him under surveillance to the degree we did.

SPEAKER_10 10:39

So that was really you know, our surveillance teams are doing a really good job, you know, and uh the strategy we had in place he hadn't picked up on.

SPEAKER_05 10:48

So gentlemen, you get him back you get him into the interview room. Is it there must be an art to this uh to to get somebody to a point where they're prepared to potentially confess? And this this individual, Mr. XYZ, who we can't name by order of the court, he did actually cooperate with you in the end. How did you get in there to that point?

SPEAKER_10 11:12

Well, there's a lot of planning as it goes through with our interview teams. Um you know, the the interviews basically you start preparing that um at the time you start preparing your investigation. You know, you you you may not know who you're gonna be interviewing at the time, but you know you're gonna be interviewing someone. You know, that's the mindset that we go into. So there's a lot of planning, a lot of evidence uh that we're gonna have to put to him. Um I think it was about a seven and a half hour interview, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_11 11:39

Uh yes, the the first one was pretty lengthy. Um and then uh he rested overnight and we came back again the next day.

SPEAKER_10 11:47

Was he cooperating from the outset? Did he did he realize he's gonna be able to do that? He wanted to listen to what we had to say.

SPEAKER_02 11:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_11 11:54

Which he did. He was he uh essentially our our our case was explained to him, effectively. As in the evidence that you had against him.

SPEAKER_05 12:03

Yes. And was he quite reasonable and logical in looking at that, assessing it, and thinking, geez, my goose is cooked, is that Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 12:11

Well, he went into that interviewer and thinking I'm smarter than you, uh, and he didn't think that we would have had the evidence that we did. So when we sit there and explained, as Greg said, we explained our case to him and said, Well, this is you, and we've walked him through from start to finish. Um Blind Freddy could say that he had nowhere else to run. So he was a little bit um he'd realize that uh well, what was his words? His operational security went was not as good as what he um had planned.

unknown 12:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 12:43

So that was what he said.

SPEAKER_05 12:44

He said, My operational security was.

SPEAKER_11 12:47

A little bit shorter than that, but that's essentially, yeah, uh so he was aware then that that his his um uh his steps to hide his identity and his actions had been spectacularly unsuccessful. So uh, you know, uh over a period of time it was pretty obvious that that he understood exactly the position that he was in.

SPEAKER_10 13:11

And he complimented and complimented us on the job that we'd done. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:15

Does that happen very often?

SPEAKER_05 13:17

No, pretty rare.

SPEAKER_13 13:19

That's incredible. That's uh that's nice.

SPEAKER_05 13:21

Yeah, uh leave a Google review. We appreciate your feedback. Five stars, gentlemen. Um that is something different. Okay. So did he understand, I guess, the danger that he and everybody else associated with him suddenly was facing? I mean, surely having killed one bikey boss, basically looking at potentially cooperating with you to convict the guy who's paid for that, another bike senior bikey, and having planned to kill another senior bikey from another gang, you've got to think, you've got it, you've got a target on your back for sure.

SPEAKER_10 14:00

He wasn't particularly concerned about any threat to him, was he? He was concerned uh a little bit more about um threats to family friends.

SPEAKER_02 14:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_10 14:10

Understandable. Yeah. Um but to himself, no, he he didn't he didn't think that that was much of an issue at all.

SPEAKER_05 14:18

Is it just not a great sense of self-preservation or did was he more confident that his skills were?

SPEAKER_11 14:24

I think he's confident in his own abilities. Yeah, um, and he didn't consider that he was a he was particularly at risk.

SPEAKER_05 14:31

Okay. I will note that it is interesting that a bikey contracted outside of the bikey world to to perform a professional murder. Is that because they don't have those skills, generally speaking?

SPEAKER_10 14:46

Well, normally we all know, you know, you read about it in the paper, you see it on the news all the time. You know, their their way of uh undertaking that sort of thing is pull up outside someone's house and let, you know, 500 rounds go and then drive off down the street. Um, that's not how this um was to to play out. You know, this wasn't a lot of shoot-ins maybe undertaken as a threat or a warning. This wasn't, this was a this is a planned execution.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 15:11

Okay. So at what point in time then does he say to you, and how does how does that transpire when he says, look, I'm I'm going to give evidence against David Pye?

SPEAKER_11 15:23

It's a complex process which takes some time. So we we don't uh get particularly involved in that side of it at all because you know there there's issues, legal issues, we're not pre we're not in a position to offer any sort of inducement um to for his cooperation. So we effectively put that in the hands of his lawyers and the DPP. So any any negotiations between them as to what was occurred, what was uh to occur was done by them. We had no involvement in it. Um we've you know and we were obviously aware of what was going on, but we had no direct contact and no direct involvement in that. That was purely an arrangement made as part of the prosecution by the DPP and his defense team. Once um there'd been an agreement reached, um, we were involved in taking a statement from him. Um and then he subsequently became a witness against O.

SPEAKER_05 16:20

How many how many years did he get?

SPEAKER_11 16:23

Twenty.

SPEAKER_05 16:24

So he's a young man, he but the best years of his life he'll spend behind bars.

SPEAKER_06 16:29

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 16:31

He agrees to help you. How do you move in on Pi? And was that also quite fraught given his violent history and access to weapons?

SPEAKER_11 16:41

Uh well at that point no, because we So there were other, as I mentioned, there's a series of factors around the time of the arrest.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_11 16:49

So Dave Pye had a court appearance in relation to the charges he was actually on bail for, which were sexual assault matters. Um he'd been making threats towards the victim for that. He um so we had actually um worked with sex assault squad. Um, so we arrested Dave Pye. We didn't charge him with for anything to do with our offence. We then searched his house, but he was handed to sex assault squad. So they dealt with him in relation to attempt to pervert matters for him and others associated with attempts to have the sex assault victim withdraw her evidence or not give evidence at all. So um he was then his bail was revoked. So he was in custody at the time. So we that gave us a little bit more time to prepare um our brief against him, uh which was largely based on the evidence of the shooter. So um we had a little bit more time up our sleeve when when we charged Apo, it was simply a matter of prepare a brief and go out prisoner, tell him he was going to be charged and then put him before a court.

SPEAKER_10 17:58

So we had a lot more control over that and the the way it unfolded in the strategies we implemented. Um we knew we had that time. The the risk to the community or the risk to any other person had been removed, we'd already been able to execute a search around his house um when we were investigating the other offensive attempt for the course of justice. So a lot more controlled, a lot more, a lot more relaxed, so to speak. Sure.

SPEAKER_05 18:23

What was um what was I guess you you then would have gone through a similar process though, where you've potentially interviewed David Pye in relation to procuring this murder? I mean, was that was that more difficult? No, he's never been interviewed. He's never just just did not agree to do it. Refused.

SPEAKER_11 18:43

Refused. But she's right, he's entitled to that. Um which we anticipated anyway. So um he's never been formally interviewed at all in relation to this. Made no comment in relation to anything.

SPEAKER_05 18:54

He's been found guilty by a court of law, and I believe sentencing is coming up soon. In May, yes. In May?

SPEAKER_10 19:04

13th of May.

SPEAKER_05 19:05

13th of May. And I think that's probably where we'll pick this up again, I think, gentlemen, just after after the sentence sentencing. Is there anything else in terms of um the case that we've missed? Because it's been really interesting, it's been fascinating, it's been a real insight in just the amount of work that you and your team and the gang crime guys on the disruption side of things have done. Uh, it's it it's been, I guess, probably really interesting for anybody who's thinking about joining the Western Australia Police Force. And if they are thinking about joining, where can they go now?

SPEAKER_13 19:34

You can go to let'sjoin forces.wa.gov.au.

SPEAKER_05 19:37

And I'm telling you, these guys are wearing some pretty sharp suits right now. So, you know, if that's your your jam, you don't want to wear the blue uniform, heading to Detective Land. Is there anything else we've missed, though?

SPEAKER_10 19:47

Anything else you want to add? I don't think we've missed, but I'd just like a past comment, even though it was Greg and I sitting here as the, you know, the senior investigating officers and that are, you know, uh controlling the investigation, there's a huge team of police officers that contributed to this result. There's a lot of um, and there's also a lot of unsworn stuff, a lot of in uh have our intelligence section and um people uh in those veins that contributed significantly to the outcome. And it's probably fair to say that every single person that um was involved in this investigation personally contributed somehow to the result. Would that be fair to say? Uh and even through the um um court process, all our disclosure officers uh assisted in a massive investigation and uh made in all our disclosure requirements under the legislation was a huge, huge effort that was undertaken um by our disclosure team. Uh so I just want to really reinforce um the size of the team and the people that were involved, and everyone had a uh input into the outcome. Anything you want to say?

SPEAKER_11 20:54

No, I'll just reiterate that. You know, it's uh one person can't do this, you know, two people can't do it. It's uh, you know, it's a team approach, and and you know, the the term team gets used a lot, but that's the reality of it. Um it's uh it's a meshing together of a whole group of people doing different things that come together to produce uh a brief of evidence that supports the prosecution. So uh, you know, it's not just then it goes to the DPP and they put an enormous amount of work into this prosecution as well. So uh, you know, this is this is about trying to achieve some justice uh for the victim and for those connected to it, but also about community safety. You know, there's an important message here from my point of view is that people think they can get away with this, they won't. You know, that's it's important that the criminals that that are in the world, the OMCG or others who think they can do something like this and get away with it, they need to really think about it very carefully before they undertake an action such as this because nobody thought we would solve this one. Uh and we did.

SPEAKER_05 21:56

And here we are. Come and join our team with the sounds of things that It's pretty fascinating work. Certainly sounds rewarding. We'll see for the sentencing gentlemen. But there is, there is, it looks like Gary, you've you've got one more thing I was just going to say.

SPEAKER_10 22:08

You know, um, just for the people listening, yeah, uh our team wasn't all detectives either. We had some quite young junior, junior uniformed constables that are involved in this investigation that um have learned a lot and as a result have gone on to actually become detectives and very good detectives, you know, what they learned working on this job. So uh it was a really good uh development opportunity for a lot of our staff that they took advantage from and and forwarded their career. And it's really great to see.

SPEAKER_05 22:33

I'm worried because you keep looking at Nate and um he's doing a great job just here. Uh don't even think about it, Nate. No, no. Uh but um I I guess the final payoff, and maybe maybe this is uh a good way to bookend this right now, is that we started this whole this whole thing by talking about the fact that Nick Martin was he was a son, he was a brother, he was a partner and he was a father, he's a member of the community, and that nobody in our community deserves to be murdered. When you finally had those arrests, those people in in custody, and then further to that, then went through the court process and you know you've secured a conviction. How does it feel when you're able to then go back to the family, the victim, and say to them, hey, we've done it, we've got justice for you?

SPEAKER_11 23:25

Uh well, it's it's uh it's probably one of the better parts of the job, I think. Um, you know, we see a lot of bad things, but we do see a lot of good things too. So um, you know, it's nice to be able to achieve um achieve something like that for the family of the victim. Um and you know I don't like the term closure personally, and it gets used a lot. To me, that's about you know, it says puts you know putting things in a little box and just putting it away. It's not like that in my experience. If you deal with the victims of of crime in this way, it you know, their grief stays with them forever. They they deal with it differently and they learn to manage it, but it never goes away. So if we can do something to prosecute and put someone behind bars who deserves to be there, then in my view, we're helping them a little bit deal with what's occurred, you know, because they will carry that with them forever. You know, for us, um, we invest a lot of time and effort into it, and uh, but it in the end, it is our job. That's what we do for a living. Uh it's quite personal, but it's not personal the way it is for them. So if we can we we can, you know, make their life a little better by doing this, then that's a really good thing.

SPEAKER_10 24:39

And it's really good to know that these people have been removed from the community, you know. Um, in this particular instance, they weren't going to stop at this one. So, you know, to know that their community is a little bit safer because these two boys are behind bars, um, really, that's something that we feel real happy about, you know.

SPEAKER_05 25:00

Gentlemen, thank you to you and everybody else who's involved in Operation Rivella. Truly remarkable work. We'll see you for the sentencing. You're listening to Operation Podcast.

SPEAKER_13 25:11

You're listening to Operation Podcast. Dawn had barely broken over the Swan River near the narrow bridge when the call came in last Thursday morning. A 38-year-old woman in distress, sat alone in the cold, dark water. Within minutes, two Perth police officers were on scene. There was no hesitation and no second guessing. They entered the river, keeping calm, keeping her afloat, and holding the line between panic and survival until the water police cut through the silence and brought her to safety. This morning we're joined by the two officers who went into the Swan River without hesitation. Constable Michael Kent and Constable Peter Tienen. Gents, welcome. Thank you for having us. Uh you're a lot drier than we last saw you on the uh vision. 100%, yeah. No, it wouldn't be hard, no. Walk us through what happened that morning.

SPEAKER_03 26:00

Uh yeah, so we're just we're just going through the the malls. We're just sort of thinking about uh days off looming. That was the last last of the night shifts.

SPEAKER_14 26:08

And we've got last hour of the night shift, yeah. Always have the way always the way, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:13

It's the time we hope no distress calls come through. But we got a priority one call. I think it was a one.

SPEAKER_14 26:19

Priority one straight away. Yeah, we're thinking of it.

SPEAKER_13 26:21

It's quite serious, right? Priority one is you know, lights and sirens get there urgently. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 26:27

Um, and yeah, just the the call said um over the radio, the dispatcher said that there was someone in the water and uh in the Swan River, and they needed they were yelling and screaming, and we got on the radio and yeah, I think we're about the fourth car to shout up.

SPEAKER_14 26:44

Obviously, priority one, everyone's just on it straight away. Um, so yeah, probably three cars prior to us called up and we were like, yeah, we'll we'll go 200%. And um yeah, off we went, absolutely fanging it down the Perth streets to get there.

SPEAKER_05 26:58

And you arrived first, yeah. Was there a part of you like, oh damn it?

SPEAKER_14 27:04

Yeah, because it's early morning and it's the Swan River, and I was driving the car and I could just see um a member of the public's um like phone flashlight kind of waving us down, and I was like, Oh yeah, we're first on here. Like we're kind of having a chat in the car. Um, because you know, you have a chat to your partner prepping, you know, what could happen and what you might do. Plan of action. And um, yeah, I think I mentioned um, yeah, if there's someone in the water, I mean one of us is gonna have to drop the kit and go and someone else look after the the kit, and you know.

SPEAKER_03 27:35

I think I'd uh being in the passionist seat, I was um being a parody one call, I thought, oh, this is probably something pretty serious. It probably there probably really is someone in the water that really needs help. And got the seatbelt off just before we stopped and um yeah, it was pretty clear that there was someone in the water. I think I think you could even have my the window pop down a little bit, you could hear the screams coming from the from the window as we pulled up.

SPEAKER_05 27:58

Okay, all right. So every what but basically are you you have to take off, you'll imagine, some of that gear, because that's what 15 kilos or something of gear? 15. We're in 15, yeah. Depending if you have the hard plate in or not, yeah. It's so heavy kit. Boom, boom, boom, and just what, jump in the river or boots off? Like, how does it work?

SPEAKER_03 28:17

Yeah, well, we we got down there, we were the only car there. There was a few bystanders. Um, and we we thought, uh, I think I I radioed through saying, yep, definitely someone in the water. We're gonna think about I think I said we're gonna think about what to do next because that's not too sure what we're gonna do. And we got down to the side of the river there, and there's a wall. There's like a it's a good sort of one and a half metre drop. Yeah, yeah. So it wasn't just a straight sand, just walk into the water. It's a bit of a plunge drop. Yeah, no, yeah, wow, just gets better and better. Yep. And um, obviously being in the dark, couldn't see a lot. I went um Pete, I think Pete started to get his um kit off.

SPEAKER_14 28:56

I pretty much as soon as I got out of the car, I heard um her screaming in the water, and I was like, oh, like straight away one side of the kit got off. Because I was like, Well, we're not just gonna stand on the side of the you know the water and call it.

SPEAKER_03 29:10

Straight away.

SPEAKER_14 29:10

There was no hesitation.

SPEAKER_03 29:11

Yeah, my torch and my torch was in the car, so I ran back to the ran back to the car, get the torch, did a quick sit rep on the on the radio just to say what we're gonna do, and then got back to the car and Pete was ready to get in.

SPEAKER_14 29:24

It's just instinct. There wasn't much chatter between me and Kenty, but we both knew what we were doing. I saw him go for his torch and when he came back, the kitchen jumped in.

SPEAKER_05 29:33

Both jumped in or just uh jumped in.

SPEAKER_14 29:35

Start off with, yeah, because um obviously we have our guns and yeah, all of our accoutrements and all of that. So I dropped my kit, and that was pretty much um Mike's um priority at that point was looking after of course my kit until he got relieved by another unit. Um, yes, jumped down the wall.

SPEAKER_03 29:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 29:52

And um, so we've established out that Pete's probably more David Hasselhoff than I think someone.

SPEAKER_14 30:00

I wouldn't say that he's a lot taller than me and better looking, but um I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 30:04

Well, I'm I'm I'm a bit older, so I thought I'll just be a bit wiser here. I won't go gung-ho straight into the river.

SPEAKER_14 30:09

Yeah, I feel like any other copper listening to this, that if there's a probationary officer and another officer who's a bit more senior, you're kind of naturally the probe is going and going in the water or scaling the fence or chasing after the offender, you know. So you jump in the water. So you did just sort of climb down the wall or just sort of jump in the water. Yeah, to climb down the wall and took the kid off. Oh, yeah, took all the kid off, took the shoes off, um, all the stuff out of the pockets. Luckily, I wasn't really thinking it was just adrenaline. So I'm glad I took all the stuff out of my pockets because I would have just jumped straight in with it. But um, yeah, jumped over the wall. Um instantly, it's like sludge. Yeah. First, it's pretty much thinking.

SPEAKER_13 30:46

It's black too, right? Yeah, fully black.

SPEAKER_14 30:47

When we um yeah, when we first rocked up, it was yeah, you couldn't say much at all. So didn't really, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 30:54

So you're you you're swimming towards the sounds of somebody in distress, I guess. So you once you get through the sludge part. Yeah. I know what I'd be thinking, but I'm just curious, what were you thinking?

SPEAKER_14 31:07

Not much to be no, I'm joking. No, like, yeah, just adrenaline. I was like straight away instant freezing cold water to to get it to start off with. But um, yeah, I wasn't really thinking about sharks or anything like that, to be honest.

SPEAKER_05 31:19

I wish my my brain would have been going bull sharks, bull sharks, bullshakes.

SPEAKER_14 31:24

To be completely honest, until I got to her, that didn't even cross the mind. To be completely honest.

SPEAKER_13 31:29

So you were floating there for a extended period of time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_14 31:33

That that wasn't the first priority of my mind, to be honest, was uh a shark. Probably probably should have been, to be honest, or at least uh in the top three priorities of my mind.

SPEAKER_13 31:41

But for our international audience that may be listening and may not be aware, our beautiful Swan River, it's a uh tourism uh draw card. It is, it is actually full of bull sharks, it really is. And they will well, they have killed someone uh in recent years. Very sadly, very sadly. Yep.

SPEAKER_05 31:57

Um okay. So you get to her. What how would you describe her state? Did she she was in a lot of distress?

SPEAKER_14 32:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 32:06

Um clinging onto it onto something, wasn't she?

SPEAKER_14 32:08

Yeah, yeah. She was she was right near the boy. Um, there was a red um like channel marker kind of thing that was really projecting the only light at that point, besides Kenty's torch at us.

SPEAKER_03 32:20

Well, let's just be I did get actually get in. We're eventually strategic torch from the shoreline. He didn't just watch I waited for the other there's another car that or another two cars that came pretty much straight away. Pete was halfway out, I dropped my kit, did the same as Pete, got in. Pete was already out there. Um, but yeah, anyway. Yeah.

SPEAKER_14 32:38

Um Yeah, we got out there and she was Pete Pete had established there were no bullsharks, so you were ready to go. I wouldn't say that.

SPEAKER_03 32:44

I thought I better back my partner up.

SPEAKER_14 32:45

Um if we go down, we go down together, you know. It's good. But um, yeah, no, we got out there and she was, yeah, she was still flapping about. I don't think she realized initially that I was even there because she was just so panicked. Kind of panicked, yeah. But um, yeah, when she kind of saw us like eyes wide, she could tell just relief straight away that at least someone else was in the same boat she was. Yeah. Um, and yeah, she at first kind of just grabbed on to me, and then um we kind of calmed her down at that point because you know, just having to I don't know if she was in such a horrible position, but you've got to calm down at that point and you know, go into survival mode instead of so um was was there a kind of a thought that maybe you you could or would take it ashore or was it Well, I think I straight away I said to Pete, let's get her in.

SPEAKER_05 33:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:39

And then um we sort of thought, well I thought, well the the water place wouldn't be far away. You know, surely that yeah, that'd be that'd be pretty close. Um that possibly, yeah, possibly would be out on the water at this time, like pretty close. So we Pete said, No, let's let's just wait here. She seems pretty comfortable. Well, not comfortable, but I feel like sometimes removing yourself from that area might might have been worse.

SPEAKER_05 34:01

Actually, I mean she obviously got swept away by the current at some point. Um, and we probably didn't cover off on that. But um, but yeah, she'd she'd gone into the river, I think, to maybe you can tell us to retrieve a personal item. Yeah, we think something like a something like that.

SPEAKER_14 34:17

Yeah, we asked her while we're in there, and obviously in the frantic of it, we heard thong. As in T H O N.

SPEAKER_05 34:24

Yes, that's the one, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:26

On your foot, on your foot. Yeah, the foot one.

SPEAKER_05 34:28

Which again, for for people in the UK, it's they've it's footwear. They call it flip-flops. Yeah, other people call them flip-flops, which is like Gucci branded or something to the Swan River. If you're gonna go into the Swan River pitch darkness for a thong, it'd have to be a damn good thong.

SPEAKER_03 34:44

Something better than a double plug or something like that. Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_14 34:47

Once again, for the international viewers that know nothing about what he just said, the double plug. Exactly.

SPEAKER_05 34:51

But um, but it might have been a phone as well, which we think. Yeah, could be a phone. We're not gonna let it go. Let it go. I I mean, I'd yeah, I mean, although apparently you can put them in a in a bowl of rice and that's good. I don't know if that's true. Is that true?

SPEAKER_13 35:06

I think it draws the moisture out of it, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:08

Yeah, I've tried that once, it didn't work. Nah. Um, okay, so water police arrived.

SPEAKER_03 35:14

Yeah, it took uh well look, they were just starting day shift. Yeah. So and I just thought, oh, that'll be done at Mail Ends. I'll be just getting in, you know, getting ready for the day. And I kept looking down towards the causeway end over the the water current and that. Just thinking, come on, it's gonna be cold. Was the current strong?

SPEAKER_14 35:34

Um, there was a bit of a current. I feel like if we didn't have the the um the channel marker kind of hang on to and keep us where we were, yeah, we probably would have drifted a bit. Yeah, but it yeah, it was you could say it was a little bit strong. But um, we had um one of our sergeants kind of running the show on the sidelines because obviously we didn't have any radios or anything out there. Um, and yeah, he was giving us little updates on where the water police were. And I think at one point he screamed out, um, water police are 10 minutes away. I think that was the longest 10 minutes of our life. Wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:05

Yeah, it took a while, yeah.

SPEAKER_14 36:06

Yeah, it felt like 45, but yeah, very cold.

SPEAKER_13 36:10

You mentioned before you you um you kept her calm and that you didn't want to move her from that situation. Um, can you tell us how you kept her calm? I believe there was some um interesting tactics there.

SPEAKER_14 36:20

Yeah, so she um it was actually her idea in the end, yeah. So she um I think in the the the cold mixed with the panic, I think all of our brains were doing weird things and it was just pitch black. And she um I think she looked at me and she started singing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Because I'm guessing maybe my nose or Kenty's nose was red from the how cold it was. And um, yeah, I didn't didn't want to judge her at that point, so I thought, yeah, let's we'll sing along and we'll join in. So we started singing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. I'm kind of glad we weren't wearing body warms at that point. Because that would have been shocking. Uh definitely not a singer.

SPEAKER_03 36:56

Yeah, I mean well, the the boy was bright red, so I thought we'd singing, we're just looking at things and singing about what we're saying in front of us.

SPEAKER_04 37:03

So yeah, yeah, that was good.

SPEAKER_13 37:05

I thought that was a brilliant move to keep her calm and I reckon.

SPEAKER_04 37:09

Yeah, it was I'm sorry, but that that was that's I was not expecting that. That's brilliant.

SPEAKER_14 37:14

Did not expect in my last hour of the last night shift of the swing to be 6 a.m. in the Swan River singing root off the red-nosed reindeer. That's yeah.

SPEAKER_13 37:23

And that's and that's the beauty of this job. It takes you into very strange and interesting places.

SPEAKER_05 37:28

Definitely, definitely interesting, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:30

Um you never know what's gonna happen next.

SPEAKER_05 37:31

Speaking of, you had an interesting uh encounter this morning, I believe, on the job.

SPEAKER_03 37:36

Yes, I was riding, I was on the police pushbikes, and we were um me and the three other the my partner and the another another um bike unit was riding down Row Street, and um dog just thought it might have a bit of a the dog was hungry. And um this dog was just barking, and I thought, oh, that dog looks a bit aggressive, and I've just as the lights went green, we've gone to pick up the pace, and this dog's just lunged at me and taken a bit of a bite out of my my left calf. What sort of dog was it? It was uh a staffy. Oh short little sort of staffy little thing.

SPEAKER_05 38:22

At least it wasn't a bull shark. I mean, karma wise, if you're gonna have a one or the other, I think probably the staffy is moral of the story.

SPEAKER_14 38:30

If you're working with Mike Kent, expect the unexpected. I was about to say, were you standing at the side of the road with a torch card? Wasn't present for this one, no. No.

SPEAKER_03 38:39

It was in the office all nice and um nice and warm. Nice and warm, yeah. Was out there just fending off the dogs. Yeah, but it wasn't look, it wasn't too bad. Yep. Went to hospital for a tennis shot and survived another day.

SPEAKER_05 38:52

Well, I want to say thank you very much, gentlemen. Um really, really good great work. And um uh the the the woman was saved, uh, which is fantastic. Um Christmas Carols, Christmas was saved as well. And uh so in honor of in honor of you guys taking us out of this segment, I think we'll get the uh WA police pipe hand playing. Rid of the red nose brandy elite.

SPEAKER_13 39:16

Love that. Thank you. This is Operation Podcast.

SPEAKER_05 39:34

I know that um it's it's probably very confronting for a lot of people to hear that if a car traveling at speed crashes and someone's not wearing a seatbelt, that body can be that person it can be flung 15, 20, 25 metres. I mean, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what happens to a human body if it's flung 15 to 25 metres at more than 100 kilometres an hour. It's not that pretty.

SPEAKER_13 40:12

You're talking about a a vehicle as well, Joey. Imagine that is is amplified if you're on a motorcycle or on an e-ridable, for example, the uh the chances of survival are perhaps limb to none.

SPEAKER_05 40:26

This is controversial again, but we are talking about dismemberment, whether we're talking missing limbs, that we're potentially talking about decapitation, that we're talking about lifelong injuries, paralysis, not being able to remember who you are necessarily, changing your personality because you've had a traumatic brain injury. These are the things that we don't often talk about. And and I know that we we do that because we don't want to offend anybody. When are we gonna start talking about it? I don't know. It's um I'm I'm with you.

SPEAKER_13 41:07

I'm very passionate about it, Joey, and um, you know, traffic was was it was uh an interesting time in my career. I I did one death notification and um that was one too many. So I can't imagine how my colleagues would feel at major crash having to do this day in, day out. You know, it must be really hard. So um yeah, and that was that was a decade ago and it still it still tears me up. So yeah.

SPEAKER_05 41:37

Understood and and Nate, I I I don't know. I mean we talk about uh slowing down, we talk about the fatal five, we talk about all of that stuff. But this is this is real. People think it's not gonna happen to them, and you know from experience it does happen.

SPEAKER_13 41:53

More than 50 people have died on the road this year already. And that they are people, they are not a figure, they are people, they have families, they have friends, and they're all affected by this too. So like you said, we we put that safety messaging out every uh every holiday period, and it it still happens. So if anyone's listening and they can take on the message like this just doesn't affect you, it affects everyone. Slow down, don't be distracted, put your seatbelt on, don't take drugs and don't drink and drive. It's simple stuff, but uh we're still not getting the messages as a community. And um, yeah, the 30-second story you see on the news is someone's life story and they gotta live with that for the rest of their life.

SPEAKER_05 42:43

Yeah, the people that uh people that have to live with the knowledge that they potentially caused the death of a guest, mate or a family member.

SPEAKER_04 42:56

Just think about that for a second.

SPEAKER_05 42:59

Thank you, Nathan, for opening up about that, Mike. And please do the right thing on our roads. Welcome back to Operation Podcast. As we foreshadowed in the introduction this week, we've had eight serious and fatal crashes over this Easter long weekend. We've already seen more than 50 people die on our roads here in Western Australia this year alone. And right now, Major Crash are on their way to another serious crash. We're joined by acting sergeant Craig Davis from the Major Crash Division. Craig, thanks very much for taking the time. I know you've unfortunately, sadly, very busy at the moment.

SPEAKER_12 43:42

Yes, we've had a very busy weekend.

SPEAKER_05 43:45

Okay, okay. We talk about um we've tried uh uh many different things over the years to try and uh get people um to be more aware of the risks on our roads. For you, when you say you've had a busy weekend.

SPEAKER_12 44:04

Yes, yeah, it it can be very confronting to uh not just us um as officers uh but also members of the public as well and uh the families involved in the crashes and their extended families.

SPEAKER_05 44:18

What's the reality, mate, that when uh when you arrive at a crash scene? And obviously we're not talking about any of our any recent fatalities, and certainly we would not ever identify anything. But what what does a crash do to the human body? Like we're talking no seatbelt, for instance.

SPEAKER_12 44:36

Um the injuries obviously vary dependent on the nature of the crash, the nature of the vehicles involved, the speeds involved as well. So there's no two crashes are are identical, but uh the level of injury to body can be uh variant due to a a multiple of factors really, which we can't really define in in a few minutes.

SPEAKER_05 45:00

Are we talking potentially uh and and uh full disclosure in my former life as a news reporter, I've tr attended quite a few uh uh fatal car crashes. Um so uh would it be safe to say that uh we're talking potentially missing limbs?

SPEAKER_12 45:19

Some of the more ext um extreme uh crashes that we concur to can r result in serious trauma to uh a member of the public or or the or a um a deceased person, yes.

SPEAKER_05 45:32

It's uh I mean it's probably safe to say that uh it's a lot more when you say you're busy and you've had a busy weekend, uh there are uh people like yourself who have to deal with some really confronting stuff.

SPEAKER_12 45:47

Yes, yeah, that's something that we see pretty much every uh week of the year we will attend a serious crash as a bare minimum.

SPEAKER_05 46:00

What about uh those instances where people die don't die? But uh they're living with uh I mean I guess a life-changing industry in uh injury. Have you seen that happen very often?

SPEAKER_12 46:13

Yes, yes, we see that as well. We deal with uh serious GBH crashes as well as the fatal crashes.

SPEAKER_05 46:21

Okay. What sort of uh in your experience, I mean, what sort of uh life changing when we take say life changing, what what would that mean for for someone?

SPEAKER_12 46:32

It varies on the again in the injury level, so it could be anything from major uh surgery to um to life changing injuries which may affect their their personality, how they uh how they work, um how they uh how they um have to reconstruct their lives after this crash.

SPEAKER_05 46:56

So we're talking um unable to potentially uh move unassisted, that sort of thing?

SPEAKER_12 47:02

Yeah, some in in some of the most extreme cases, yes. You know, there could be part of an injury to people. Is there a then recover from?

SPEAKER_05 47:13

What about and this is a different way of thinking about it. I think even if some somebody has considered the fact that maybe they could be injured or or killed in our roads, what about those times when actually it's not the driver but the driver's done the wrong thing and it's somebody else, be it a member of the public or someone in the car that maybe they care about. I mean, does that happen?

SPEAKER_12 47:43

Yes, that happens as well. Um we go to clashes where a passenger has been seriously injured or a or a pedestrian or a cyclist.

SPEAKER_05 47:52

I guess the the in that conversation that you're having with the driver where you know potentially the driver has well well let's say one of those instances where the driver has done the wrong thing. Is that I mean, geez, what are they going through?

SPEAKER_12 48:12

Yeah, so uh they're obviously have to kind of live with the uh the effects that they're uh the crash has had on them as well as uh obviously the victims who who has been injured. So uh it's not just the the victim who was injured, but it's also the the damage that has done, so maybe psychologically to uh the driver of that vehicle has obviously has uh that's gonna have a lasting effect on uh lifelong effect on them as well.

SPEAKER_13 48:38

I think uh just to add further to that, Craig, it's it's it's the job that no police officer ever wants to do, and that would be the notification to the next of kin. How hard is that for uh for officers like uh the ones you work with to do every day?

SPEAKER_05 48:54

Delivering that news.

SPEAKER_12 48:56

Yeah. That has of an effect on the officers involved. Every case is different, um, but it bears on us as well, you know, doing that notification and more serious questions, that prolonged kind of involvement we have with the families. Um obviously we so we carry those files first on time um during our course of our investigations and we have contact with the families. So we'll obviously we see the progression of their grief all the way through until our investigation ends. And even after that, we are still available to the families of uh people affected by road trauma.

SPEAKER_05 49:38

There's nothing um there is no sound in the world, I reckon, like uh a mother being told that her child uh is dead. And and I say that from experience, and it is a horrible, horrible sound. I don't know if you would agree with that, Greg.

SPEAKER_12 49:56

Yes, yes, yeah, it's one of those things which you will never if you've experienced it and you've you've had to do that and you've been present, it's something that you will never ever forget.

SPEAKER_05 50:07

Mate, thank you so much for the work that you guys do. I I know it's extremely difficult and confronting, but it's vitally important. And I really hope that just even one person listening takes your message to heart and and does the right thing on our roads, it might make a massive difference. So thank you very much to you and to everybody at the team there at Major Crash. Great.

SPEAKER_06 50:29

Thank you.

SPEAKER_13 50:30

If you or a loved one have been affected by uh road trauma, you can contact the road trauma support line on 1-300-000 four eight one four. This is Operation Podcast. You're listening to Operation Podcast. Welcome back once again to my lovely colleague, Claire Sienta, with the weekly news wrap-up. Claire, what's been happening?

SPEAKER_07 50:53

Thanks, Nate. Um, we actually had some pretty serious incidents over the weekend. Over in Northbridge, there were two separate alleged one-punch coward punch attacks. Um now they happened an hour apart, completely um not not being treated. No, not being treated as linked at all. Um, two completely separate incidents. In one of those incidents, three people have actually been charged with grievous bodily harm. So they're fronting the courts at the moment. Um, but there's obviously an appeal for information. Northbridge is a very popular place on a Saturday night. Happened in the early hours of Sunday morning, so between one and two o'clock for both of those separate incidents. So if you're in the area at the time, Francis Street and Row Street, um, yeah, definitely give us a call with any information you have.

SPEAKER_05 51:39

Still just boggles the mind when you think about it in this day and age. But put yourself into those shoes for a minute. You you punch somebody and they fall back and they hit their head and they die, that's it. You've you've thrown a punch and you're gonna you're gonna spend serious time in prison. It's just not worth it. It's just dumb. And not to mention, of course, somebody has lost their life, there's family affected. Just everyone just chill out.

SPEAKER_07 52:08

Yeah, absolutely. And in this case, you know, two two very serious, serious injuries for those victims. So um, both still in hospital, I believe. It's um, yeah, pretty traumatic for those who just really wanted to head out on a night out and and enjoy themselves. So um in other news, we had some uh success, I suppose, uh in detectives are appealing for some more information in terms of an armed robbery. So some people broke into a house in Balladura on the third on Thursday, the 26th of March, uh, armed with what appeared to be a machete. Always a machete. Yeah, yeah. So um pretty scary stuff for those um those occupants of that house. They the detectives have actually in um let me start again. The investigators have actually released two images of a vehicle of interest that they're they're looking for. So it's a blue Ford Falcon um with no registration plates, unfortunately. So those images are up on our Facebook at the moment. Head to the Midland district page if you want to have a look at that. If you've got any information, please give us a call.

SPEAKER_05 53:10

Help us solve this crime.

SPEAKER_07 53:12

Find out who did this.

SPEAKER_05 53:13

Yeah, they if they if they do know something already.

SPEAKER_13 53:16

You can go on to the Crimestroppers uh website, CrimeStoppers WA.com.au, or you can call the 1-800 number, 1-800-3330. Excellent.

SPEAKER_07 53:25

And lastly, we had a pretty, pretty exciting arrest down in Collie. Um, it was a really great foot chase by the team down there, a 19-year-old man who was wanted for a string of offences, I should say. Um, he's actually been slapped with 19 charges.

SPEAKER_05 53:41

19?

SPEAKER_07 53:41

Yes, 19 charges for a 19-year-old. Um, but yeah, that all came from a community tip-off to Crime Stoppers.

SPEAKER_13 53:48

There you go. It it works. Community engagement and um public support is is invaluable towards solving crime and certainly was on this occasion. And, you know, he's been charged with burglary and drug offences, driving offences, you name it, like they've thrown the book at him. So well done to the the coppers down there at uh collie.

SPEAKER_05 54:06

Was it a good I mean, was it like a a good old-fashioned sprint? Yes. And if you're somebody who doesn't mind a run, you can um, well, you can get paid to do it. Just search Let's Join Forces and put in your application. Absolutely. And you know, instead of a little trophy, you could take a 19-year-old with 19 offences off our streets. This is Operation Podcast.

SPEAKER_00 54:30

All units, the WA police force is looking for people. All command to people, people in the tech, in the comedian, in the form of comedy, dumb people, and horse people, people in mini bugs, mid bugs, lanes, helicopters, and bullets. People in the beagle community, helping them listen, moving true community, not just watching it, you know. Ordinary people look for doing extreme ordinary things.

SPEAKER_09 54:53

If you can be one of these people. You found your people. So much, let's join forces.

SPEAKER_05 54:58

Welcome back to Operation Podcast. Now, I'm not entirely sure if our listeners are aware, but there's there's another podcast, I mean, obviously clearly not as good as this one, but it's it's not bad. It's not bad. It's getting a bit of attention at the moment that's also made by the Western Australia Police Force, and a bloke by the name of Neil Poe. Now, you might have heard his voice on Cold Case WA. And today, the man behind the voice joins us here in the studio to have a chat. Neil, thanks very much for coming in. Thanks for inviting me. Uh certainly anybody who has been in the crime reporting, uh, the business of crime reporting, shall I say, uh, in Western Australia would definitely know who Neil Poe is, but maybe others don't. Um, you have a bit of reputation as uh as a hard-nosed crime reporter back in the day, and you worked with police as well after you after you hang up hung up the microphone.

SPEAKER_08 55:50

Uh yes, I did. I so I I have a I I I think I'm I'm can say an affinity with police, having reported on the police round, the crime round for about seven years. I worked at channel seven and channel nine and did the cover the crime round. And and in those days things were a bit different. We were probably the rules were a little bit uh easier in terms of you know, we could go and have a beer with the detective's office after a good result. Whereas, well, that's not coached today, of course. So we had we had I'd have a beer with you, Neil. As long as I'm paying.

SPEAKER_05 56:25

Times have not changed that much, Neil.

SPEAKER_08 56:28

Well, I did buy the cartons most of the time in those days, but we had a good rapport. When I say we, the the the cohort of police reporters, and you did it for a while too, didn't you? I certainly did.

SPEAKER_02 56:39

I certainly did.

SPEAKER_08 56:40

Back in those days, it was myself, um, Sue Short, Rex Hoare, Howard Gretten. And so we we had a good rapport with um uh the detectives' officers and the and the and the the the police then. And so I did that for about seven years, got to know a lot of them. I worked in the country for a while too. So some of those in Calgooley and Bunbury, the officers that I, you know, did the rounds with there, they went on and became senior officers. So that was it was good relationships to start. And then when I decided that I had enough of reporting, I I um I actually applied here. I had helped out with some media training um up at the academy, and uh I contacted Neil Stamper and said, Have you got any other work going on in that space? And he said, Well, why don't you come and work with us? And um shortly after that I worked with Carlo Callahan, the police commissioner, for about five years as his media advisor.

SPEAKER_05 57:33

There you go. You know, I love that's the glory days. That's a there was a list of who's who of crime reporters that that Neil just um rattled off there. Uh and the thing I liked about that era is whenever you walked into a room, clearly there'd be like that sort of like it was a dark and stormy night kind of vibe happening. Just just a soundtrack that just followed you around at the time, Neil. Uh is it true that you once covered a job by chance that was um effectively an armed robbery in process?

SPEAKER_08 58:06

It was definitely an armed robbery, yes. It was uh it was a bit of uh a lucky get, I suppose. But uh um I was working at uh Channel 7 and we the studios were then out at Cheward Hill, and we would I was driving with the cameraman into the city to go to a news conference, and as I was looking aimlessly down Charles Street, out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw something suspicious, you know, maybe a person carrying a rifle running into a chicken treat. So I said to the cameraman, look, can you just pull over? Let's go back because I think I've seen something that doesn't look right. And then so we parked up uh in the car park. I didn't want to go in just in case it was it was, you know, there was an armed offender in there. He got got his camera. I sat in the driver's seat and we were filming, and sure enough, out comes a a bloke in a balaclava with a rifle and a bag of dough.

SPEAKER_04 59:00

And and and and maybe uh you know a 10-piece chicken treat or something as well.

SPEAKER_05 59:06

Uh very discerning, and for our listeners who maybe are not from Western Australia, chicken treat is it's a WA thing, it's a fast feud train chain, and it is actually frankly, I'm because I'm not from here originally, it is delicious. Chicken treat is definitely I mean it's a discerning criminal, definitely. I mean, it's not like running taste, it's not running into like a red rooster or something. Just sorry if you're a red rooster fan.

SPEAKER_08 59:32

So uh the cameraman was filming, we filmed him coming out. So that's a that's a very rare get if you're in the TV game to you know film a crime being commissioned.

SPEAKER_06 59:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 59:42

And uh we watched him get into a car and drive off, and we actually followed him for a short distance until we realized that wasn't our job. And then we ran the story that night, gave the vision to the police, and he was later identified and charged with armed robbery. Wow, that's a cool one. That was yeah, and that was a good exclusive because there was obviously no one else there, and it was pure jam.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:05

Beautiful. Uh, can we just can we finish by asking season three? Are we gonna lock it in? Cold case WA season three? I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say that's a hard yes. Uh and also, guys, just how good is his voice?

SPEAKER_07 1:00:20

Oh my gosh, I could see. I could listen to you all day, yeah. Right?

SPEAKER_05 1:00:24

But just lock just you know, maybe maybe the next thing Neil Poe is doing is I don't know, reading lullabies, bedtime stories. I'm not sure. I don't know. But it's good stuff. And thanks very much for coming on the show. We really appreciate it, Neil.

SPEAKER_08 1:00:37

Thank you, Joey. I think you might have had too many coffees this morning, but uh I appreciate it. This is just me. Can you say this is Operation Podcast? This is Operation Podcast.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:53

Well, thank you very much for listening to another episode of Operation Podcast. It did get pretty serious, pretty heavy there, but you know, this is a serious topic, and um we make no apologies for that. Uh certainly once again, if you are somebody who has had a near miss or has lost loved ones on our roads, and I think we were talking about it off air. Almost all of us have, I think. Um there are people that you can talk to, and and Nate was kind enough to to mention that road trauma number. Have you got that still?

SPEAKER_13 1:01:23

Yeah, it's uh 1-300-004814.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:28

Thanks, Nate. Um, on a lighter note, our history fact of the week. You teased this last week. It sounded very interesting. It was how a former commissioner and a starched, heavily ironed shirt might have saved that commissioner's life. Can you remind me?

SPEAKER_13 1:01:43

That's right, Joey. Uh, commissioner Fred Hare at the time survived an assassination attempt. Uh, he was working in his office uh back in April 1907. It was quite some time ago, when an armed man burst into the room. The first shot that he fired tore through a pile of papers that he was holding for a report. The second shot was fired at close range. That bullet struck his shoulder, but ricocheted off his heavily starched shirt.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:14

Real.

SPEAKER_13 1:02:14

No, and uh leaving only a bruise and saving his life. So back then, no body armor, it was just heavily starched shirts.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:22

Can I just ask? So ironing, is that a big deal when you when you go to the police academy? Do you have to know how to let you know?

SPEAKER_13 1:02:28

Polish your boots, iron your shirt, make sure it's all schmick.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:32

But they don't tell the story about how it could actually save your life, though, do they? They don't, and I think they probably should. There you go. Yeah. Well, next time uh next time you're doing paperwork or ironing, uh, remember, if somebody just happens to burst into the room, well, you're you're probably gonna be alright.

SPEAKER_13 1:02:49

Hey, I got a teaser for you for next week's history fact. Come on, what is this time? Bravery is part of the job, but one medal is now part of history. Next week we'll tell the story about one award that can no longer be given. And the WA police officer who earned it 60 years ago.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:05

Okay, that is a very good one. Um, make sure you send in some some uh questions, uh, keep them coming for the commissioner. Um, he will be back on. And taking us out of this week's segment, the WA Police Pipe Band once again with Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.

SPEAKER_13 1:03:26

This is Operation Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:07

Sound editing by Joe and Danny, cover song by the WA Police Pipe Band, and Cheesy Podcast Theme Music by Joey Catanzaro. By the way, why just listen to a podcast about policing when you could actually be doing it? Let's join forces.wa.gov.au