Ep 19 - International Drug Bust, His Holiness

Episode 19 of WA Police Confidential! The official WA Police Force Podcast.

On this week’s show:

- Detective Senior Sergeant Steve Carter talks us through Operation Beech - a massive international drug bust!

- Bhutanese Buddhist monk Namkhai Nyingpo Rinpoche speaks on a major traffic incident in Herne Hill.

- Mounted Section wants YOUR horses!

- Hear about an offender falling through roofing with Constable Fin Costello!

Transcript

SPEAKER_09 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_10 0:30

Welcome to WA Police Confidential. I'm Sergeant Nate Gilmore. And I'm Mike Grave. Today we take you inside a job that took a sudden turn, from tracking a person of interest to a suspect coming through a roof.

SPEAKER_07 0:41

Through the roof. That investigation really hit new heights.

SPEAKER_10 0:45

It sure did, Mona, and it's not in the way that anyone expected.

SPEAKER_07 0:49

We will also speak with a recognition of excellence nominee and finalist about an operation that quite literally washed up on W. A. Shore's.

SPEAKER_10 0:57

A billion-dollar drug haul and the plan that fell apart.

SPEAKER_07 1:01

Plus a story involving a huge crowd, a parking nightmare, and free blessings.

SPEAKER_10 1:06

That sounds like it caused a bit of congestion. It certainly did. Following that, we have a surprise guest joining us, someone you would not expect, and someone we could say we are truly blessed to be speaking with. Claire's coming along with the news headlines.

SPEAKER_07 1:20

And your history fact for the week. Ready, minor? Ready, mate. This is WA Police Confidential. Welcome back to WA Police Confidential. Today we're joined by a detective whose work over the past year has not only led to the successful prosecution of some of WA's most serious organized crime offenders, but has also earned him a recognition of excellence nomination. Detective Senior Sergeant Steve Carter has spent the past 12 months leading two of the most complex and high-profile criminal prosecutions almost simultaneously. As the lead investigator and prosecution lead for Operation Beach, he helped bring 10 offenders to justice for their role in a 1.2 ton cocaine importation linked to a Mexican cartel. At the same time, he led the prosecution of a multi-million dollar money laundering operation that enabled organized crime groups to move and conceal criminal proceeds. Detective Senior Carter, thank you for joining us.

SPEAKER_06 2:22

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_07 2:23

For someone hearing about this operation for the first time, can you take us behind the headlines and explain a little bit about what it actually took to get these convictions?

SPEAKER_06 2:33

It was um started in sort of November 22 uh with the the start of the Transnational Serious and Organised Crime Squad. Um Mr. Berros, Mr. Hutchinson, you know, Mr. Longhorn were involved in setting up TSOC.

SPEAKER_10 2:50

So these are our senior, most senior officers. Our senior, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 2:53

Our bosses um saw a need for making WA sort of a uh a hard place to get gear into and and sell drugs um and distribute drugs. So Mr. Blanch in particular um wanted the um the creation of of a investigative arm that would look beyond our borders and and um make WA a hostile place. So uh they've had their talks and got us together as an operational team and said this is what we're gonna try and do. Um just it was a yeah, a of I suppose a substitution job, which we do a lot um you know, in WIA most days, drugs coming through the post, or we substitute a kilo of meth and and you know go do a delivery. And this was just a um uh substitution job on steroids.

SPEAKER_10 3:52

But it wasn't just that, was it? It was an offshore operation with a little bit of a switcheroo.

SPEAKER_06 3:57

Yeah, so that's what it was. It was it's it's the drugs were seized um off the coast of Ecuador by the um United States Coast Guard. DA got involved, um, so we had that intelligence lead that they were going to be delivered. Well, 1.2 tons was gonna be delivered to Perth on or about you know the 28th of December 2022, so around the Christmas period.

SPEAKER_10 4:19

1.2 tonne of cocaine, what is something like that worth on the street?

SPEAKER_06 4:24

So at the time, you know, kilos of meth that originally prior to COVID were selling, say, $100,000 and $120,000 a kilo, was selling for $250,000, $300,000 a kilo. So you look at a ton, a thousand, and I had to pull out a calculator. I had to say I couldn't do this for my head, but we were conservatively saying if at a kilo rate, um selling at street deals, like a you know, a hit of cocaine was a billion dollars worth of cocaine at on the street. And in the court case, the the the judge um and you know it was discussed with us, but conservatively 300 million in a bulk purchase type of way. So it's a lot of money. Big money. A lot of money, a lot of drugs. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 5:14

So when you guys found out that obviously did the switcheroo, everything like that, the drugs were then coming towards the coast of WA. What was the process then from you guys being able to charge these people?

SPEAKER_06 5:29

So the first thing was that substitution, it had to be authentic. And that's probably the greatest achievement of this is the 12 guys and girls at TSOC. We had a diverse group of people. Uh we had to build this cocaine or the fake cocaine. So we had an ex-chippy who was doing moulds, we had an ex-butcher who was teaching guys how to wrap efficiently, you know, and we had we had so much diversity within that team. We had our forensic accountant mixing plaster of Paris, you know, we had our intelligence analysts, you know, wrapping and taping. It just was a full-on effort. It was incredible to see two and a half tons of fake cocaine. Of fake cocaine built to a kilo brick. So they were even weighing them to a kilo. So we wanted our bales, because the way the intelligence we received was um pretty much they were packaged this specific way and using um signs and words. So everything that was seized, we replicated to the most minute detail, and the ability to build that fake cocaine and that much of it was just awesome.

SPEAKER_10 6:44

Did you ever envision envisage in in your whole career that you would be involved in making uh prop drugs to dump in the ocean off the coast of WA that would then net ten people in custody? Did you ever expect to see that?

SPEAKER_06 6:59

We didn't, and these are the conversations we had. Do we have to make it so it passes a nick test? Do we have to, you know, put some sort of chemical in it that passes the the basic? Because one of our big concerns was they would pull it into the boat, open a packet, test it, and throw it back in. Yeah, yeah. You know. So all the the there were so many um views on how we could pull it off with the contingency of what if this happens.

SPEAKER_07 7:26

Yeah, of course. Um, on the night that you did pull off the arrest of the people who were on the boat, can you kind of tell us what happened there?

SPEAKER_06 7:36

Oh, there was there was two. Like there was a two-day break between the cool runnings coming to ground and so that's the name of one of the boats. So could yeah, so there was the Catalina and Cool Runnings. Um, so the Catalina was a a big sort of cabin cruiser, 42-footer, and cool runnings was a twenty twenty-foot speed boat basically, uh pleasure craft. Now the cool runnings had some problems initially in terms of um like McGregor made a distress call whilst they were practicing on cool runnings to and nobody nobody probably knows about this one, but uh he puts in a distress call because cool runnings stops working. Uh stops and it's about 12 miles off the coast, and he puts in a um distress call to Whitford Sea Rescue to say that the boat's stranded. But they got the cool runnings working, and uh that that had steering problems later, probably because of the the weight of the cocaine in the small boat, the pretty heavy seas.

SPEAKER_10 8:31

So that's another point. The the person responsible for procuring the vessels didn't really think it through and uh overloaded it.

SPEAKER_06 8:39

Yeah, well uh you know, the cool running side of things, I think they were desperate, they just needed to get that cocaine, that was their job. So um initially the Catalina was big enough to take it, and I think they they were at that point just desperate to find it because it was drifting so quickly. But we didn't anticipate it would drift as fast as it did, and I've got to say, in the first six hours it drifted 70 nautical miles, so it was way off where it was supposed to be, and we didn't our our our trackers weren't initially working, but we were relying on watching the Catalina where that was going because we knew they would be getting the updates on where it was. So so our air wing did an amazing job, I've got to say. The coordination of um Senior Sergeant Carson, um, you know, Bevan Coles is the office manager there, um everybody, all the pilots, all the the air crews, they worked long hours to the extent they possibly could under the aviation um safety regulations on how how hot often they could get up in the air. It was, you know, even that you we left that as an investigative team, you left that to Airwing. That's your business, but this is what we need. And what this is often what we say, this is what we want, this is what we need, because we need evidentiary continuity. And they came up with that plan. So Earwing were awesome, everybody was awesome.

SPEAKER_07 10:07

It really sounds like you know, the culmination of a whole group of really excellent police work coming together to pull off quite a large operation. When you got the news that those people have been convicted and everything like that, all your hard work over the past couple of years has kind of gone through and these people are convicted now. How did did that feel like a relief for you guys?

SPEAKER_06 10:32

Yeah, it's a it it was a relief. We'd we'd done a good job, you know, and half of it was any prosecution you you know, you've got to see it through to the end. So the prosecution finished last year, so it's three years. The job lasted three years. We talk about the operational period being probably six weeks. Um, but their prosecution and and the the interaction with the DPP was um amazing, the DPP team as well. Um they were they were committed, um yeah, just a lot of work and just relief, I think, more than anything. But you know, thank God it's over.

SPEAKER_07 11:09

Um we also mentioned um a little bit about Ot Mirage, this money laundering um scheme.

SPEAKER_06 11:19

Yeah, so it is just uh organised money laundering. It was like textbook money laundering. Um and some great work by some detectives again doing some some proactive work in some, you know, people ring crime stoppers and pass on information about you know they've seen this in their community, and you know, we treat all that information that's provided to crime stoppers, you know, we treat people anonymously. But what we do is we look at what people tell us and we look to cooperate it with our own intelligence holdings to say, you know what, I think that's happening. So we got we got drum about a fella who had a business in Burrswood um that he was laundering money for the the bikes. So um that started that job off in September 20. Um and that took two years to finally come to fruition. Initially, you know, the investigators involved did some fantastic work, I have to say, some s fantastic surveillance work. Um they did a search warrant at a unit in Canningvale and found 750,000 cash in a safe. Um, and then what they did was his business they seized just boxes and boxes of documentation, which our forensic accountants went through. So we employ a number of accountants in WA police. People don't know this either. You know, these accountants they tr they sifted through all this paperwork and had identified the process that um the money laundering was occurring, it's just a heap of cash going through a whole different bank accounts and um, you know, just mixing the cash, making it hard to follow, and then putting it to companies and and it was sort of a loan buyback scheme, but all to organised crime entities. So um that was extremely um rewarding that job because we we were able to charge a heap of organized crime entities that you know we hadn't um been able to catch for for other types of crimes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 13:20

How much money are we talking?

SPEAKER_06 13:23

We're talking so between sort of July 2019 and October 2020, or say December 2020, he'd put 3.2 million cash through bank deposits. So that was just the cash that we could see in that short period of time. Um and then basically integrating it back through layering processes um through all his company, he had like 60 accounts, he would send money through all these different accounts and they'd rock up it, mainly two accounts at the end, which was like a um financial services company, which was a straw company that it didn't it didn't provide financial services. But on the face of things, if I was the tax office or I was looking at going, oh, financial services loan to such and such, oh, it's a legitimate loan or or whatever. So but yeah, incredibly rewarding having that final one finishing court and appeal. We've got another um uh a retrial for one of the charges next August, but um yeah, that went through an appeal process which we won or was dismissed by the the Court of Appeal. So to say that the charges we're charged them with, they were found guilty in court, and then for to be upheld by the appeals court is is a really good outcome.

SPEAKER_07 14:40

Absolutely, and kudos to you guys as well.

SPEAKER_06 14:43

Yeah, it was a great effort, and uh yeah, that that both of these jobs, just very proud to be a part of them, for sure.

SPEAKER_10 14:51

Uh and like you said at the start of the interview, that the end result in protecting the community is the ultimate goal, isn't it?

SPEAKER_06 14:57

Well, that's why we do what we do, isn't it? People join the police and we all join with a sense of community. We we want to look after the community. I'm sure you joined for the same reason.

SPEAKER_10 15:06

I sure did. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_06 15:07

And uh, you know, it we do it in so many ways. And everybody who works for the WA police has input and participates in that. So it's uh you know, I join the police, I come from a family that you know that community service side of things is important. And um, you know, protecting the community from whether it's drugs or violence or domestic violence or or you know street robberies or burglaries, you know, it's it's extremely rewarding. And it's why we do it.

SPEAKER_10 15:38

And on that note, we are currently recruiting if you are a team player, if you feel like you want to be involved in something as uh complex of an investigation as this particular one, go to let's join forces, uh Google Let's Join Forces and uh put your application in from there. We'd love to hear from you.

SPEAKER_06 15:56

Yeah, ex-chippies, ex-butchers, you might be you know making some fake cocaine in a couple of years. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 16:03

Thank you so much, Steve, for talking to us about your row nomination. But please don't go anywhere. We're gonna bring you back when we talk to a very, very, very special guest.

SPEAKER_10 16:14

This is WA Police Confidential. You're listening to WA Police Confidential. On Saturday, the 6th of June, a gathering expected for just 300 people quickly drew to around 10,000 in Herne Hill, bringing a major highway to a standstill. The event, led by a visiting spiritual leader, saw extensive roadside parking and large numbers of people walking along the busy highway, creating serious congestion and safety risks. WA police force take public safety very seriously. If you're planning a large gathering or a community event, please let authorities know well in advance. If anything gets out of hand or unsafe, don't wait. Let authorities know. Call police immediately on 13144 or 000 in a life-threatening emergency. Good planning keeps events safe for everyone involved. So, what drew that kind of crowd and how did it get so big so quickly? To explain exactly what unfolded, I'm joined today, or we're joined today, by a very special guest, the man at the centre of it all, his holiness Lama Nankai. Um and uh a big entourage, might I add, hey Maya. Um, we've got um senior sergeant, detective senior sergeant Carter here from uh Midland District, who was on duty that day, um, and uh the um his holiness's uh entourage, um, including an interpreter. Um so uh yeah, we welcome to uh WA Police Confidential Podcast. Can you please um tell us what what was happening in Hearn Hill two weeks ago that drew such a crowd?

SPEAKER_00 18:00

Uh thank you so much. Thank you so much for having us and his holiness here. So I'll just uh translate it to his holiness. Uh the Captain Higi Hemala Remuche. And uh so on that day we had a cultural uh uh Buddhist spiritual event where Remuche was giving blessing, uh so uh empowerment and blessing to the public. So on that day we expected about uh three to four hundred people to come in, so three to four hundred people, but it was very unexpected that the crowd was so huge, like overwhelming crowd, and that was totally unexpected. And it's true, uh the crowd was truly because of the devotion they had on me and the belief they had on me. And most of them are my followers back home, and they knew that I was here, and then they came forward to receive blessing. And uh moreover, we did uh inform people on the event that's going to happen, but we didn't ask anyone to like this. We didn't force anyone to come for the event or participate in the event. It was purely voluntary and out of their devotion towards me.

SPEAKER_03 19:14

Then I needed to look at the jindos.

SPEAKER_00 19:17

Then love to during this event, I took it as an event for myself to advocate our Bhutanese living here, not to get involved in anything that's uh against law, to be involved in something that you can contribute towards the community rather than getting in conflict with the law. I asked all my followers here and everyone who was there in this uh during the event to follow the rules of Australia since you are here in Australia. So I urge them to follow the rules here in Australia, do what the law says and not over uh not go against the law. So I urge everyone to be a good human, not to harm others, do as much as good you can do to the community, to everyone who was there in the blessings. So this was purely an opportunity I took them to give some advice that I know to all my devotees.

SPEAKER_07 20:15

Um when the event obviously got a bit larger than expected, um, were the police helpful in helping kind of create calm for the crowd?

SPEAKER_00 20:31

I'm truly uh happy and would like to appreciate and uh convey our heartfulness for all the support that you all rendered to us on that day because of your help and your support. Nothing happened. And then uh we really want to convey our thankfulness and our gratitude to the police department for managing the crowd and also helping us to calm down that situation because the crowd was totally unexpected and the number was too much.

SPEAKER_10 21:00

I might throw it over to um uh Detective Senior Sergeant Carter, a boss, you were on that day. Um, how many people um arrived in Hern Hill and how did you manage?

SPEAKER_06 21:13

Um yeah, it was it was unexpected. It was initially, I think, um, as has been said, about 300 were expected. We weren't aware of the event. Um, and about you know, half past twelve, the report started coming in of traffic congestion along Great Northern Highway, and it was it turned out his holiness was um giving giving blessings. Um so the crowd w was a lot, and it was a lot of traffic congestion banked right back. Uh for the police officers who attended, it was our regional operations group, our road uh policing command, local resources. Sergeant Redhead from Midland Police Station was out there. Um it's just a matter of these things happen. Um the beautiful thing was everybody coming out of the event was so happy and they were so um you know respectful to the police who attended. Um so the blessings were working. Everybody was in a very good mood. Um the cause the issue was down at the end of traffic congestion where people just didn't know what was happening, uh frustrated that they couldn't get home or couldn't get um get to where they needed to go. And that happens, and a lot of times with with traffic congestion it leads to angst and um people who are upset. So, you know, we were glad that there were no behavioural issues, it was it was merely traffic congestion, and by 4 30 I think it had all sorted itself out. But uh, you know, these things happened, and our state operations command center, Mr. Gilmore, he sort of ran um was doing a lot of the work. Um and as I've said, everybody just jumps in and and and sorts it out. And our main thing is protecting the community, making sure everybody gets to where they need to go safely. Um but everybody at the event um was very kind to the police who are attending and and uh very respectful both ways. So it was uh it was handled well, even though it was um unfortunate we had that much congestion.

SPEAKER_00 23:18

Ah, thank you so much. I think it's really lovely to hear that people were respectful, and then I, on behalf of uh His Holiness team and our community, we would like to like sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused on that day because that was truly unexpected, like I mentioned earlier, and we would really like apologize. All those on the other end, which you mentioned that they were not aware of the blessing happening on that day. So, and like Hughes mentioned, the blessing really worked for our community. So, all of us who attend the blessing, I think we always come out with happiness and uh devotion that we have in respect to his holiness. So we always feel like we are staying away from our country, away from our the uh leaders, away from our teachers here in Australia. But when we get the opportunity to get blessing from a revered holiness like Remuche himself, we feel blessed and we really feel like this really makes up our day here in Australia. Although we are very much Australian here, living here, but our roots to Buddhism is still very much tied up.

SPEAKER_07 24:26

Absolutely. And is there anything that His Holiness would like to say just to the wider community of WA at all?

SPEAKER_00 24:32

Yes. So all I wanted to say is to be kind and compassionate and whatever you do, like keep this two in mind with your work.

SPEAKER_10 25:09

Thank you to His Holiness and yourselves for for joining us on on the uh the podcast. Um thank you once again, and um we wish you all the best uh for the rest of your stay here in Western Australia. And uh thank you once again.

SPEAKER_00 25:25

Yeah, thank you so much. It was a pleasure being here.

SPEAKER_07 25:29

This is WA Police Confidential.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

All units, the WA Police Force is looking for people, all kinds of people. People in the tech, in the comedian, into formal driving, dog people, and horse people, people who like motorbikes, push bikes, planes, helicopters, and bullets, people who are big on community, helping others and solving true common, not just watching it, you know. Ordinary people who are up for doing extraordinary things.

SPEAKER_08 25:56

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

SPEAKER_07 26:02

Welcome back to WA Police Confidential. Sometimes on the job, things can be thrown at you in any direction. For example, Constable Finn Costello, uh part of the Geraldton Raw team, was there when a man fell out of the roof. Finn, can you tell us what happened?

SPEAKER_05 26:22

Uh yeah, it's a little bit of a long story, uh, but I'll keep it short and brief, uh, as good as we can. Um, yeah, as you said, I'm uh a constable I just work in the Geraldton RAW team. Uh the RAW team's a team that works for the Geralton Detective's office. Um Raw standing for rapid high harm offender response. So usually we deal with um some of the serious offenders in Geraldton uh that unfortunately have been locked up fairly quick. Um and yeah, on this particular day, this uh offender was wanted for wanted for a number of serious offenses uh throughout Geraldton. Um he was pretty well known to us, and we've actually dealt with him a handful of times. Most of us are on actually pretty good terms with him, which is quite fortunate for when we're dealing with him and looking for him. And um he'd actually been wanted for a couple weeks at this point. Um so yeah, on that particular day we'd gone to a number of homes um still looking for him. And to be honest, I think we were going down a bit of a dead end, and we were kind of a little bit unsure of if we're actually going to get to him. Um and if we kind of thought we're hitting a dead end of the investigation in terms of locating him. Um fortunately, a couple of uh members of public gave us some information into where he might have been staying. Um so we got that information and blasted over to this particular house. We've swarmed the house. We know that he is a pretty quick fella on foot, so we we got as many of the coppers around this house as we could just in case he did try to bolt over the back fence or try to get away from us. Um so we've surrounded the house and made ourselves pretty well known. We've knocked on the door a million times, we're knocking on all the windows, um, and no one's answering inside the house, which we found a little bit weird because we could hear a TV on inside, we knew lights were on inside, and we literally there were signs that someone was definitely in there, but you just no one was answering, no one was at the door. Yeah, we definitely knew someone was in there because um the information we received is that minutes prior to us they saw a group of individuals enter the house. Um, and that was only minutes prior to us getting there. So we had really good information. There was someone in the house. Uh we just they didn't want to come to the door for some reason, whoever that might have been at that point. Uh eventually, uh a lady's opened the door. Um, she's told us no one's inside, um, which is words that we hear every single day. Um we obviously took that with a grain of salt and had to let them know that we were going to be searching the house anyway.

SPEAKER_10 29:02

Um It's important to mention here to our audience that may not be aware uh an arrestable person, in this case, someone that you're after, you you can enter without warrant, can't you?

SPEAKER_05 29:14

Uh yes. So if a person is wanted for a serious offence, um, and we have reasonable suspicion that they are inside the house, we do have powers to enter the house and search for that person. Um obviously in this instance he was wanted for a numerous number of serious offences, and while still wanted committing further serious offences, um, so we had the power to enter the house. Obviously, this lady had opened the door, so we didn't have to do any of those. Um we've gone into the house. Um, myself, my colleagues from the Jelton's role team and other officers from the Jelton police station. We've all gone in, um, secured each room. We did uh identify a uh a separate male um inside the house who was wanted for a separate incident. But unfortunately, it wasn't actually the male we were looking for. Um so a lot of us had kind of got our hopes up thinking it was the male we were looking for originally, um, which is why they wouldn't have answered the door. Uh and then when we found this guy who was wanted for a separate incident, we kind of got our hopes down a little bit thinking that it now it makes sense why they weren't opening the door and our hopes got down a little bit. Um that fellow was taken into custody for a separate incident and taken back to the police station. Um at that point, we're all we're still inside the home. Um we're all kind of hands on hips, staring at each other a little bit.

SPEAKER_10 30:36

Where did he go? Where could he be?

SPEAKER_05 30:38

Exactly, exactly right. So we've all gone around um during which there's uh we're searching the house, we've we're looking through everything. We're looking through cupboards in the kitchen, underneath sinks, underneath couches, bedding, anything that a person could conceal themselves in, we were looking.

SPEAKER_10 30:57

Well, this is essentially hide and seek, but you're being paid.

SPEAKER_05 31:00

And this person is pretty much hide and seek. We're getting paid, and I felt like at that point we were probably losing that game. Um, and just as we were giving up, uh, myself and another um detective in in our squad has noticed uh a manhole in the front uh passageway of the home. Um and actually on that manhole was what looked like two or three fingerprints, almost like a hand, a dusty hand, has touched that manhole covering. So I've dragged a chair in through the kitchen and popped the manhole and hopped up and had a look in. Uh the house was a fairly small house, fortunately. So where I was standing in the manhole, I had my torch and I was looking through, and I was I was actually very luckily able to look through the whole house through the manhole and see nothing. It is normal roof insulation, everything I could see the whole way through. I was fairly happy with that. So I put the roof cover back on, hopped down. They've I still remember the words because I was I was made fun of a little bit for it. They're asking, Have you are you happy no one can be in there? And I've turned to them, I said, I'm pretty sure there is no person in there. I'm real happy with that. And just as we were about to turn, leave, one of the other colleagues said, You sure you want me to pop up and have a check? So I've thought, yep, why not? I've been proven wrong a million times, and I'm always happy to admit I'm wrong. So I said, Yep, go on, hop, hop on up. So he's gone, hopped up. Seconds later, someone's asked, Yeah, mate, you all good up there? He's gone, oh, there he is. The other officer from our team has crawled through the manhole, quarreled all along the structural beams, walked along to the roof, and has found this guy hiding underneath the insulation in the roof between the plaster and the insulation. During this, I think the uh fella that we were arresting has probably got a little bit scared, thought he was out of the thought he was good and that we hadn't found him. And by moving, he's actually fallen shifted off the rafters onto the plaster boards. And so by doing that, all his weight has gone on to about a five centimetre plaster, and he's fallen straight through the roof.

SPEAKER_07 33:18

Oh no.

SPEAKER_05 33:19

Half of us officers were standing just below him uh in the hallway, still looking through the manhole, and to our right has just seen half of a man's body appear straight straight through the roof, plaster being sent everywhere, dust everywhere, and uh all of us have just turned to each other and just look, yep, there he is. We found him, we got him.

SPEAKER_07 33:42

There you go. Well, it was a happy ending, definitely uh uh in the end there, Finn. Um, what is the weirdest place that you've found someone?

SPEAKER_05 33:51

My most memorable find has been found um a person that we were looking for. He was wanted at that point for a number of serious offences. Um and we'd cleared the entire house. We were so happy that he wasn't there. And I was in fact leaning up against a a freezer, and I remember it being on, and I was particularly leaning up against that freezer thinking, man, my hand's getting quite cold. It's pretty late at night. And why what it's just he w the lid wasn't fully shutting correctly. So I remember opening this freezer, and as I've opened it, he's jumped out of the freezer. And at first I thought it was that he was gonna try to run, uh, but it was actually for the fact that he'd been hiding in that freezer for about 10 minutes of us searching that house, and he was just in shorts, no shirt, no socks, no nothing, just body shorts and freezing. It was it would have been real cold in that freezer, and he was hiding in there for about 15 minutes trying to get away from us.

SPEAKER_10 34:50

Did you yell out freeze?

SPEAKER_05 34:52

Oh, I wish I did, because that would have been that would have been way better than what I probably said.

SPEAKER_10 34:57

Oh, that's crazy. Hey, look, Finn, I think it's safe to say that the Geraldton detectives, the rapid high harm offender response unit, the stats are through the roof, quite literally. Um, thank you to you and to your team for the work you're doing up there. I know it's uh it's quite busy. Uh, and thanks for joining us on the podcast. Uh chat soon.

SPEAKER_05 35:17

Sounds good. Thank you guys very much for having us.

SPEAKER_10 35:20

This is WA Police Confidential. You're listening to WA Police Confidential. Well, you might be walking through the CBD or one of your suburbs and notice uh a couple of police horses with police officers on the back. But you've got to wonder how do we actually come around to sourcing horses? Well, to answer that question, we're joined by Dave Carey, who is the mounted section training supervisor. Dave, thanks for popping in. Yeah, thanks for having me this morning.

SPEAKER_07 35:52

Now, a lot of the time we get our horses from over east. Is this correct in assuming?

SPEAKER_04 35:58

We actually get them from all all around Australia. Obviously, we like to try and source from WA first. Um but if we can't locate the type of horse uh with the right behaviour and the right mentality, then yep, we uh we look over east as well.

SPEAKER_07 36:14

Absolutely. And we've got a bit of a video out at the moment, which is really trying to target getting horses from WA. Um can you tell us why we're kind of in this situation where we're looking for horses?

SPEAKER_04 36:28

I suppose it's somewhat of a little bit of bad luck where we had some of our um very reliable long-term horses that, you know, and uh quite a few of them together that decided that it was good to get arthritis and you know, and they weren't able to do their job, and we don't ask the horses to do the job when they're in pain. So uh yeah, we're we're looking and we're putting the call out to everyone in WA who's a horse person who might have a horse that they think is suitable for the role.

SPEAKER_10 36:56

Absolutely. And what what does that look like? Are we looking for a like a solidly built horse, an X-rays horse? Are we looking for Clydesdales? Like what I'm not a horsey person, so what are we looking for?

SPEAKER_04 37:06

Well, first up, we don't discriminate with um breeds, but we do like them to be over 16 hands, uh, and the horse people all know what that means, but over 16 hands, 160 centimetres, and we like them to have good bone and a bit of substance because we have to use them sometimes in a you know capacity of using their body weight. Uh we like them to be between the ages of four and nine. Look, we will look at ten-year-olds if they're really fantastic, but um we want to get some longevity out of and the horses generally work with us for about eight years. And then that we we think they've done their job after about eight years.

SPEAKER_07 37:47

Yeah, and what's the kind of lifestyle for these horses?

SPEAKER_04 37:51

Cool. Um, so when they come in, if they're sourced in WA, we like to trial them. And that's for the not only for you know, say us seeing if we like the horse, but it's whether the horse copes in the environment. Because, you know, what we ask of our police horses is quite hard for most horses to tolerate. So we don't put them and throw them in the deep end, we take them on trial for it could be anything from six to eight weeks. We genuinely know pretty early if they're going to be okay, but we like them to be out on the street um, you know, being exposed and you know, to give us an idea whether they will make the grade one day. We're also looking for horses that we can teach riders on. So they might not have to be out on the road all the time, but where we get someone who's come into the section whose riding ability perhaps isn't as high as we'd like it. So we've got a schoolmaster, so we're looking for them as well.

SPEAKER_10 38:48

The uh role that these horses undertake is quite um diverse, isn't it? What what sort of things can you expect?

SPEAKER_04 38:55

Anyway, okay, the life in the a day in the life of a police horse, yeah. Uh so the horses will uh patrol the suburbs, and uh it's quite a unique being so high up, so we get to look at the perspective from a totally different angle, even looking over fences as you walk along. Um we also they're a great tool for engaging with the community. You know, we find there's people that we've been to protests where there's been 30,000 people and protesters are sort of like you know, calling coppers everything under the sun. And they'll go, not you guys on the horses, you know, you're you're you're okay, you know. So it's a really good icebreaker with with the with the public. Um the horses will do afternoon shifts, and we'll respond to uh police stations that'll send in request forms for us because they might have an antisocial behaviour, they might have a high burglary rate, they might have something going on. Um so we will respond as best we can to support them. Um the section was sort of like shut down a little bit in our terms of our response for a while because we had to bring the level back up. We're getting out there again. Um, we also do shopping centres of a Thursday night. Uh, we go down to Scarborough where the markets are down there, and they'll often see the horses meandering through the thick crowds. We do Night Safe in Northbridge. Um, and I'd say when it comes down to it, that's pretty our bread and butter of how we can help the coppers on the ground most. So we're there to support them, we're there to support them, and and um so if they're affecting an arrest, just the sheer presence of having our horses barricade them in to protect them from other people coming in um is an important role.

SPEAKER_10 40:39

I gotta jump in there. I've I've come from Northbridge before media, and I've got to say that is the most fantastic thing is to see a couple of police horses coming up behind you and they're gonna create that barrier from the peanut gallery essentially, who pull their phones out and are yelling things at you. They're such a fantastic asset, aren't they?

SPEAKER_04 40:58

Oh, absolutely, yeah. We um we always get, you know, when they're there to support, we always get lots of positive feedback. Um, but and and it's really interesting, you know, having the horses there has does have a deterrent effect on people coming in to interfere with police doing their job. Um we there might be situations where we have to use uh reasonable force with the horse to move people away out of the line of danger. We could be going through a crowd of people to take an ambulance to get to someone who's had a heart attack. Um so but if there's a big disturbance and the horses have to go in and help and break fights up, one horse can easily match 30 people on the ground.

SPEAKER_07 41:41

100% used effectively.

SPEAKER_04 41:43

So when we put them in formations, we're able to um we're able to really affect um um really help the cops.

SPEAKER_07 41:53

Impressive to see these horses out and about. How do you guys go about keeping in contact with the owners after they've sold you their horse?

SPEAKER_04 42:01

We see that as a really important part of buying a horse from someone, is that they've formed relationships with their own horses, haven't they? And so it's a hard thing to part with your horse. So when they come to this new career, because it is a new career for the horse, we try and keep them in touch with the owner. So we'll send them video footages. Every now and then we'll, you know, the other day I sent one of our new horses, Chester. We we sent a picture of him with the police hat on his head and being a bit of a clown, or or we could we send him out on the road and where the po people are coming up and patting their horses, or a graduation parade, or anything in the first time in night safe. And um the public absolutely love that when they can see their horses out there.

SPEAKER_07 42:44

After a horse has been with the WA police force and it's up to that retirement age, what happens in that scenario?

SPEAKER_04 42:52

So, as you can appreciate, we we've we form really strong bonds with our horses. So we want the best for them. Uh, and they they've worked done a great job in their career, so we want them to have a great retirement. So what we do is that we open up where people can put in applications for a police horse that's finished its life, and we then assess, we look at properties, we look at the individual, and it goes before a committee and they make a choice for the best home for the horse.

SPEAKER_07 43:24

And that can include going back to the previous owner.

SPEAKER_04 43:28

Absolutely, absolutely, and that's happened, but we don't make guarantees that it can. Um as you can appreciate, you know, um some some officers form strong friendships and they like to take them and look after them afterwards. Sometimes we might know of really good caregivers that have done it, looked after our horses before and we reach out to them. But yeah, sometimes it goes back to the people that because they they you know they would love to have it back for retirement.

SPEAKER_07 43:56

Will you ever change a horse's name? Okay. Police officers are known for it. They get nicknames? Do the horses get a nickname while they're in your care?

SPEAKER_04 44:03

All right. So when we take a horse on what used to be the case, because I was in the the police a lifetime ago as a sworn officer, and we used to name the horses by the letter of the year that relates to their birth. So it might be, you know, 2006 is the letter P, 2007 is the the next letter on, right? So we would rename them back then. And we tried to make their names, you know, relevant to policing, I suppose. Nowadays, since I've come back, uh they keep the name that they came in with. Unless it's really horrible.

SPEAKER_10 44:38

Have you got any interesting names currently in the stables?

SPEAKER_04 44:43

We have oh we've got uh a few of the trial horses that have come in. We've got a major, a chief, a chester, Fergus. Um Fergus. Um we had a trial horse called Valentina. We had yeah, so a bit of everything. Yeah, Tarve, we've got a beautiful horse called Tarve. Yeah. Um uh yeah, so they've just got the names that they come with.

SPEAKER_07 45:05

Uh thank you so much for joining us. If you think that your horse might be the right fit, please send an email to WA Police Confidential at police.wa.gov.au. And we will hopefully get some new police horses out there.

SPEAKER_10 45:19

And uh you might be receiving updates from Dave soon. Cool. Thanks for having me. This is WA Police Confidential.

SPEAKER_07 45:37

Joining us now, we have Claire Sienta with the weekly news headlines. Hey Claire.

SPEAKER_09 45:42

Well, Nate and Meyer, it's been a pretty busy week in news. Almost 7,000 drivers were subjected to alcohol and drug testing in a road policing command initiative down in Mantra. It was a lockdown where more than 11,000 drivers were monitored by mobiles mobile cameras. Um, hundreds of motorists were unfortunately caught speeding. So 205 motorists, and that was over a sort of 24-hour period on on over the weekend. Um, and look, there's no sugarcoating this. It's pretty disappointing. The level of offending, Commander Mike Peters said that the level of offending is pretty unacceptable and shows a blatant disregard for the safety of others. There was a string of other um offences detected, including alcohol, illicit substances, um, people driving without the authority to do so, and um mobile phone use, and obviously people not wearing a seatbelt. So a very um broad range of offenses and very disappointing for our road policing command. Um, speaking of being safe on our roads, uh, a few weeks ago you may remember us talking about a crash which happened in Allenbrook on the 12th of May, where a station sedan, a red MG um and a greyford ranger towing a horse float actually collided. Um, the 36-year-old male passenger of that MG was initially conveyed to Royal Perth Hospital with critical injuries, but he later died from those injuries. Um, and a 34-year-old woman uh from Ellenbrook has been charged with a string of offences, including manslaughter. So some pretty significant charges there. In other news, detectives from the Arson Squad are appealing for information in relation to a car fire that occurred in Barragup on Saturday, the 23rd of May. Um so about 11.30, an unknown offender approached a car and set it alight. There's actually some vision of this up on our social media if you want to go and take a look. You can see the kind of uh ball of light um when the car gets set on fire, and then you can see someone actually running away from that as well. Um, and the fire caused about uh $8,000 worth of damage. So if anyone has any um vision or information around that, please get in touch. And lastly, like I said, it's been a pretty busy week, but lastly, we've we've got quite a unique item that had been stolen uh from a home on Say Street in Midland between the first and the second of June. So it was a garden ornament and it was actually in the shape of a T-Rex. So it was made of welded tools, about 70 centimetres long and 20 centimetres tall, that was taken from a garden. Um, so yeah, Midland uh Midland police are asking anyone with information about that stolen item. Yeah, you know, keep an eye out, and if you've got any information, give us a call.

SPEAKER_07 48:27

Thanks, Claire. Talk to you next week. This is WA Police Confidential. Last week we mentioned for our history fact that WA police have taken all sorts of extra roles over the years. But did you know there was a time when they delivered mail?

SPEAKER_10 48:47

I did not know that, Maya. But when was the last time you received anything in your letterbox that wasn't a bill or a brochure?

SPEAKER_07 48:53

Uh probably about a year ago.

SPEAKER_10 48:55

Okay, well look, let's take a trip back to the 1880s where mail delivery was so important it required police assistance. We're literally talking horse and carts here, and when a royal mail service between Perth and the East and Southern districts was conducted, it was done so by the WA police force. All the coach drivers were sworn in as police constables to make sure the mail was safely delivered across large distances.

SPEAKER_07 49:19

This arrangement lasted only eight years, though, when the service was replaced by the Iron Horse following the completion of the Great Southern Railway.

SPEAKER_10 49:28

I'm assuming that's a train, right?

SPEAKER_07 49:29

I would have to say so.

SPEAKER_10 49:31

The final royal mail delivery from Perth to Albany took place in July 1888, and the occasion was even immortalised in a photograph and painting, which will form part of the collection at our new WA Police Museum.

SPEAKER_07 49:45

Now for next week's teaser, we have sorry. Now for next week's teaser, what have the Romans ever done for us? Monty Python fans might have a few answers, but we have one here in the WA Police Force with a tradition that dates back to the Roman Empire. We'll tell you all about it next week on WA Police Confidential.

SPEAKER_10 50:05

Maya, I'm still in awe that we had a visit from His Holiness from Bhutan.

SPEAKER_07 50:11

It's incredible. And how many people actually went out of their way to go get a blessing? Something that you don't often see or hear about.

SPEAKER_10 50:19

Um in the tens of thousands. And I think it's a credit to the officers over in Midland District and to our own policing uh group uh for their quick response uh in handling that and uh making sure that the community were kept safe and everyone went home um well blessed.

SPEAKER_07 50:37

Absolutely. And just a quick reminder if you do have a horse that potentially could be a good fit to our WA police mounted section, send us an email to WA Police Confidential at police.wa.gov.au and hopefully we'll be able to pass on a few horse options for the mounted unit.

SPEAKER_10 50:57

Shout out to our um guys and girls at the mounted section. They also do a fantastic job, and so too do their animals. Uh, if you have any other questions in general about policing, uh you can also email that same address and uh we'll respond in 10 or 15 business days, I think is the standard response. Um thank you once again to all of our guests, and uh we look forward to bringing another episode to you next week. This is WA Police Confidential.

SPEAKER_09 51:49

WA Police Confidential was produced by Joe Gerrist, Danny Vandeveer, Lisa Evans, and Sam Oo. Sound editing by Joe and Danny and Sam, 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