Recently retired NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller discusses his thoughts on multiple issues impacting contemporary policing. These include the evolving nature of crime, the impact of COVID-19 on the force, and the relationship between police and the community, elected officials and the media. He also reflects on his experiences as a policeman, especially the period where he led the nation’s largest force.

This is the second of our podcasts to go in depth with contemporary police leaders, to gain an idea of what they think and do to make their organisations more effective at protecting the community.

Visit the APJ’s website at www.apjl.com.au to read, hear and look at more content. Drop us a line at [email protected] to suggest what topics, personalities or stories we can cover in future issues.

Retired policeman Bob Brown talks with host Jason Byrnes about his career with the Western Australia Police in general, and the WA Tactical Response Group (TRG) in particular. Bob is the author of the article Top End Murders: The Search for the ‘Kimberley Killer’, which appears in the December 2021 issue of the APJ. The article is about a TRG search for a serial killer in a remote part of the state in 1987, during which the team came under fire. Editor Pat Paroz also joins Jason to discuss the contents of the December 2021 issue of the APJ.

Note the interview discusses an actual gun fight in which a person is shot dead by police, acting in self-defence.

Subscribe to the APJ through the website www.apjl.com.au

Music

Theme: Like We Do It by Grace Mesa, available on Premium Beat
Break: Run Run Runnin by Grace Mesa, available on Premium Beat
End: Motivational Digital Piano & Cello by AudioChemicals, available on Audio Jungle

Historian and author Michael Bennett talks about some of the amazing stories associated with NSW Police Aboriginal trackers of the 19th and 20th Centuries. Michael’s book, PATHFINDERS: A HISTORY OF ABORIGINAL TRACKERS IN NSW has been nominated for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award in Australian History. For more information about the APJ, go to www.apjl.com.au; to find out more about aboriginal trackers, go to https://pathfindersnsw.org.au

Host: Jason Byrnes
Guest: Michael Bennett

Theme: Like We Do It by Grace Mesa, available on Premium Beat
End: Rainbow Serpent by Tristan Barton, available on Premium Beat

The APJ has marked its 75th Anniversary with a special issue containing some of the most fascinating articles which have been published over the decades. APJ Editor Pat Paroz joins host Jason Byrnes to discuss what’s inside the anniversary issue. 

Jason then talks to Detective Sergeant Isobel Cummins of the Northern Territory Police. D/SGT Cummins was part of an investigation into a senseless double homicide in the country’s ‘Top End’ in 2004. The short but intense police investigation included an interstate manhunt for the two offenders, who to this day have not given authorities a clear account of their actions in the murders.

Host: Jason Byrnes
Guests: Isobel Cummins and Pat Paroz APM.

 More details about the APJ are at www.apjl.com.au

 Music

Theme: Like We Do It by Grace Mesa, available on Premium Beat
Breaks: Run Run Runnin by Grace Mesa, available on Premium Beat
End: Motivational Digital Piano & Cello by AudioChemicals, available on Audio Jungle

Did you know Adelaide police once conducted a bayonet charge into a mob who were attacking their police station? Did you know police stations often were used as improvised mortuaries, even though this posed a serious risk to the health of the officers? One South Australian Police station was even, for a time, made from disused beer crates! Author and former senior police officer John White talks to host Jason Byrnes about White’s book ‘More than Just Bricks and Mortar’, a social history of the almost 500 police stations South Australia Police (SAPOL) have occupied throughout their history. The two talk about stories of courage, sacrifice, tragedy and service, in places as far afield as Maralinga, Coober Pedy, Tarcoola, Innamincka, Glenelg and Port Adelaide. 

Host: Jason Byrnes
Guest: John White

Book cited:
More than Just Bricks & Mortar: A History and Reference Book of South Australia Police Stations  by John White

Music
Theme: Like We Do It by Grace Mesa, available on Premium Beat
End: Motivational Digital Piano & Cello by AudioChemicals, available on Audio Jungle

The feature interview this episode is with the author of the article ‘The Bridge Street Burglary of 1894: The Arming of the NSW Police’. The crime was so serious it resulted in the colonial government of the day deciding to issue firearms to all its police. The author, retired Sergeant Danny Webster, also talks about his ground-breaking work chronicling the duty related deaths of NSW police. APJ editor Pat Paroz also gives an overview of the articles in the latest issue of the APJ, including four award winning articles available at www.apjl.com.au

Host: Jason Byrnes
Guests: Pat Paroz and Danny Webster

 APJ articles cited:
30 Minutes of Forever by APJ editorial staff
Between the Lines by Greg Casey
Black Widow Carer: The Murder of William Adamson (Strike Force Human) by Anthony Holmes
The Bridge Street Burglary of 1894: The Arming of the NSW Police by Danny Webster
Dead but still ‘Live’ by Paul Devaney
House of Horrors by Cameron Blaine
Lethal Injections on the Vulnerable by Matthew Faber

Book cited:
Beyond Courage: The Circumstances of New South Wales Police Officers who Have Lost their Lives by Danny Webster 

Music
Theme: Like We Do It by Grace Mesa, available on Premium Beat
Transition: The Workshop by Oliver Lyu, available on Premium Beat
End: Motivational Digital Piano & Cello by AudioChemicals, available on Audio Jungle

How and why do police coordinate Search and Rescue (SAR) operations for missing or lost people? What processes are involved in deciding when to call the searches off? Can police predict the behaviour of lost people? Join host Jason Byrnes as he learns about police involvement in SAR, by talking with Queensland Police Senior Sergeant Jim Whitehead. Snr Sgt Whitehead is a highly experienced SAR coordinator, having been involved in SAR duties for over 30 years. Several case studies are discussed, including the 2011 search for the remains of missing boy Daniel Morecombe, the 2017 search for six missing divers on the submerged vessel FV Diana, the 2018 search and rescue of a South Korean bushwalker who was stuck at a waterfall near Tully, and locating the body of a man who fell off a lilo in Lake Eacham in 2014. Listeners are encouraged to subscribe to the Australian Police Journal, Australia’s premier true crime and policing publication, at www.apjl.com.au

Host: Jason Byrnes
Guest: Jim Whitehead

APJ articles cited:
Lost Persons: Sometimes we don’t find them, by Jim Whitehead, September 2015 issue of the APJ
Search and Rescue: The Suicide Factor, by Jim Whitehead, June 2016 issue of the APJ

Book cited:
Police Rescue and Bomb Disposal: An Extraordinary History by Jason Byrnes, Big Sky Publishing, 2017

Music
Theme: Like We Do It by Grace Mesa, available on Premium Beat
End: Motivational Digital Piano & Cello by AudioChemicals, available on Audio Jungle

Tasmania Police Commissioner Darren Hine AO APM joins us this episode to discuss his thoughts on a number of issues including changes in policing, the role of police today and into the future, countering domestic violence and what is involved in heading both a police force and a government department. Of all the current Australian Police Commissioners, Mr Hine is the longest serving in the role, having formally led the Tasmania Police since 2010 (although he acted in the role between 2008 and 2010). The Tasmania Police was formed in 1899 and today has over 1300 officers. For more information about the Australian Police Journal (the makers of this podcast) go to www.apjl.com.au  

Music
Theme: Like We Do It by Grace Mesa, available on Premium Beat
End: Motivational Digital Piano & Cello by AudioChemicals, available on Audio Jungle

This episode features a great story of how police brought a bank robber to justice, 40 years after committing his crimes. Through a mixture of chance and luck the offender had escaped detection at the time of the offences, but a request by a retired police fingerprint expert for police to re-examine an old thumb print, led police (detectives, forensics experts and archivists!) to make a break-through and the arrest. Also in this episode is an overview of the contents of the March 2021 issue of the APJ.

Host: Jason Byrnes
Guests: Detective Senior Constable Musa Adalis, APJ Deputy Editor Barry Fay and APJ Editor Pat Paroz.

The story and more details about the APJ itself can be found at www.apjl.com.au 

Music
Theme: Like We Do It by Grace Mesa, available at the website Premium Beat
Break 1: Run Run Runnin by Grace Mesa, available at the website Premium Beat
Break 2: Always Infinity by Nick Petrov, available at the website Premium Beat
End: Motivational Digital Piano & Cello by AudioChemicals, available at the website Audio Jungle

Author and APJ Deputy Editor, retired Detective Senior Sergeant Barry Fay, discusses his 2016 crime case article titled An Unexpected 'Mayday' in November – the callous murder of three men in NSW. The first two were shot inside a Sydney gun shop in 1977. The third victim was a police sergeant, gunned down in 1980 when he unknowingly asked too many questions of the offender in remote bushland to the west of Newcastle. The offender subsequently shot another police officer in an attempt to avoid capture.

This episode includes some of the actual police radio transmissions made in the aftermath of the murder of the sergeant and when the second police officer was shot.

Host: Jason Byrnes
Guest: Barry Fay

 The story and more details about the APJ itself can be found at www.apjl.com.au

Music

Theme: Like We Do It by Grace Mesa, available at Premium Beat
Break: Rainbow Serpent by Tristan Barton, available at Premium Beat
End: Motivational Digital Piano & Cello by AudioChemicals, available at Audio Jungle