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Chook Henwood - Detective for 37 Years in South Auckland, Convicting Malcom Rewa & Joseph Thompson

August 14, 202401:25:45
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sh Henwood welcome to my
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podcast thank you very much for having
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me the pleasure is all mine retired
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detective Sergeant Dave Chuck Henwood um
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the winner of do you say winner of three
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silver mer merit awards yeah I guess so
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your award and what does that mean
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exactly for well it's a it's kind of the
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highest award you can
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get internally in the police really um
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so usually goes anywhere that but mainly
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in investigations I think but yeah a lot
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of people have got them and and you got
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them oh but not many people have three I
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wouldn't imagine only one other person
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and he was at the he was at the large
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last night with me who's that Peter
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mford Burgers right and what are these
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three for well the first one was for
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working in papur we had numerous
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homicides and u a lot of serious crime I
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got it for that in in 94 I think 96 was
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up Park and 98 was up Harvey
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you you say park and Harvey like the
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because I mean it's such a big part of
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your life most people would be like
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what's it what's he about we but we
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we'll get into that cuz it's been um
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hell of a career 47 years in the New
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Zealand Police yeah yeah a long time but
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I started at 17 so and you're um you're
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retired now and you just um play um you
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literally blow your own trumpet now yeah
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absolutely which I'm not very not very
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used to yeah 50 50 years out of that um
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while I was in the police and just to go
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back and it's amazing how you can pick
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it up again it's good yeah so you plant
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a brass band um you also tend to your
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rose gardens um yeah yeah I thought
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about that after the um after the the
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you the high octane career you've had do
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these um like Hobbies just sort of give
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you the you know the peace and Calamity
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that you sort of need at this stage in
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life yeah I think so I think I think you
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um you got to walk away in the end and
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it's why one of the reasons why I left
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South Oakland to retire went into
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Cambridge CU you know every street and
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every Corner's got story you know and I
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I didn't want to retire there so we're
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somewhere new yeah and you enjoying
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retirement loving it yeah loving it yeah
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um you can pick your own moments what
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does that mean well you can you can kind
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of do what you want to in any time you
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can sleep in you can get up you can go
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you can get up in the morning and say oh
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I'll drive to Tong or visit somebody or
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it's just the freedom that it that it
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gives you you know um after always being
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dictated to by some
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and why why a book so you got this um
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brand new book out called unmasking
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monsters how the hunt for New Zealand's
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worst criminals change placing forever
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um why a book now at this age and stage
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of life well it was all about timing and
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a way you know we all as police officers
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we often talk ah this got to be we got
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to write it write down write the stuff
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down you know it was funny and all the
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rest of it and serious and all all the
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bits and pieces and but um
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at the end of the day nobody ever has
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because a lot of his graveyard humor and
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you don't write a book about that I mean
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how far does that go so in n in 2019 I I
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had a bit of I had a b of the old um
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prostate cancer which is about as common
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as smashing grabs in Oakland these days
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so so you know we we have a coffee
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morning where um about 20 or so were
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there and one time and half of us we
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called ourselves the prostate Club
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because we that's how common it is you
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know so yeah I was domiciled at home and
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I I thought B with a with a bit of
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encouragement from My Wife and and some
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other people I I started writing it it
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was a different story it was going to be
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at that time and I was I was kind of
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writing for my family and uh and to try
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and get a message out to people what
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it's like to be inside Major inquiries
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and and how it engulfs you and and how
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you deal with it but and and then she a
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bit about
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behavioral of rapists and criminal
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profiling at the end and it's kind of um
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it was a Meandering kind of scrambled
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script for a long time was about 150,000
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words when when I sent it to an editor
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Sue she she said well you're going to
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have to cut this in half mate you know
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so we did and a lot of stuff went out a
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lot of homicides and that so we we
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focused on just the the foundation that
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you have when you start to try and
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compare it with what the people were
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that we kind of dealt with at the end
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and what a different start we have in
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life and and how we go down different
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roads and then it kind of goes into
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operation Park and Behavioral Science
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and and criminal profiling and how that
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all developed yeah these these words
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that you're throwing around like
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operation Park and um Harvey before um
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these two and so many other cases um
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that you've been involved with like
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you've you've rubbed shoulders with like
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the most evil people that have ever like
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walked to New
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Zealand yeah some of the absolute worst
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like absolute bottom of the barrel
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pieces of [ __ ] yeah they you're know
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yeah you're did right I
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mean they're kind of um yeah the bottom
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of the bucket really aren't they yeah so
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this book you dedicated it to a woman
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who you never met Susan bdet why was
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that important to you well I think it if
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you you look at operation Harvey which
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was about a series of offenes by Malcolm
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Raya
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um we we failed to kind of get a
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conviction of of for her murder against
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malcol R and we all knew malcol R was
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responsible for it and it took a long
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long time and uh I I just felt found it
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necessary I I did also um dedicate it to
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the Legion of the um all the ladies that
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were involved and um and their Brave
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dealings in court in the process and but
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I just want to make extra mention of
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Susan bdet because she's not here and um
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her family are so yeah yeah that's one
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thing from um doing some research for
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this podcast that's uh yeah one thing I
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gather about you which comes through
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very strongly just your um the
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relationship that you have um with the
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victims that you've dealt with over the
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years um like Susan bdet who's dead and
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also victims that are living and um yeah
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some of them were even at your book
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launch last night I think that's worth
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acknowledging and mentioning yeah they
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were you know
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it's an interesting thought of
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connection to victims of rape because
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once the court case is over you deal
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with them a lot and and you want to make
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them you got to work with them to kind
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of help them through the the process
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which is you when a court set up for a
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defended isn't it I mean and rightfully
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so they got to make sure that he gets a
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fair trial but we kind of try and push
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the boundaries and and get as much if we
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can and help the victims through that
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process so you do get to know them well
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but at the end of it um
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you've got to kind of let go because
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some a lot of lot of victims of of rape
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want to move on and they don't want any
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more to do with it and whereas others um
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think that they've just been dumped you
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know at the end of the process because
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it's not for us to kind of to keep in
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contact with them but if they want to
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keep in contact with us and I and as you
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say there was four of them at of rers
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victims at the book launch last night
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and um we had a quite a long night and a
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lot of
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laughs well you bounc back all right
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this morning you seem okay well yeah
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yeah no it's fine yeah um a couple of
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other uh slow balls um you don't like
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the word cop no why what's wrong with
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cop well I I know the police department
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are now using it in the recruiting proc
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for goodness s i i kind of align it to
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when you turn up at at buddy at bws and
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scraps and and and and crime scenes is
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here are the filth here are the pigs
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here are the cops so I kind of put them
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all together and so I I don't like being
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and this phrase Top Cop I mean I I sick
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to death of that here and that you
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know um oh like like a lack of respect
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sort of thing I think so yeah do people
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like you remember like um pegs like in
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the 70s and ' 80s it was a massive
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massive slur against the police do
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people still say that I don't know
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police I imagine they've got some new
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names
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now but equ equally well interestingly
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I've got a I've got a t-shirt at home
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with a great big pig on the front of it
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which I I quite often wander around but
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yeah so I kind of laugh now at that but
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I you know the filth and stuff like that
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I mean I just think you know why why
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should we take it on they can use it if
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they want to um but I
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don't I don't go with it yeah yeah and
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you you um you spent your entire career
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in South Oakland yeah I did yeah what's
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the um what are the main like obvious
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differences between now and then well I
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don't know 100% what it's like now
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because I'm not been there but certainly
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they they walk a um I feel for them now
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I mean when we started in in 1970s early
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70s was um I think the public opinion
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and and support was pretty strong and um
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and it wasn't a
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um there is a a a kind of out outcry of
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kind of anti kind of police stuff going
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on in the in the world these days and um
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not just here but uh you know and they
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wouldn't they wouldn't think before the
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spring B to you wouldn't think of a
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crowd turning up throwing bricks at the
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police I mean that was 1981 was a bit of
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a changer wasn't it and uh um yeah so
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but it's also that what the police have
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got to do today they they're still
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underst staffed as we always have been
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you know but they're getting away from
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it you always got to fight for that
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little piece of the pie whatever you're
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doing and a SP pie at that so um but the
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today um they've got all these other
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little duties and it's not was quite
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simple in a way back in the early 7s we
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were there to catch
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criminals um we weren't even Amalgamated
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with the transport at that stay so was
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so Ministry of Transport I'm old enough
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to remember that yeah right 93 or
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something I think um but but uh but yeah
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so it was quite a simplistic thing you
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know you okay you dealt with fatal motor
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accidents and deaths and and things like
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that but um catching criminals was the
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kind of Pinnacle of what we were there
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about I don't think it is anymore I
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don't even know if it's in the in the
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front room anymore there's all these
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other social issues that are going on
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and we've been kind of dragged into
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other duties that perhaps weren't
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initially ours and we've still got we've
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even got a thinner police to and now
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than we had before so I don't know how
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they get on and also of course it's it's
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it's a lot more open and and and
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everybody's got a camera for everything
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that happens and yeah so it's a it's a
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tough tough beat to walk now I think
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than it was when we started yeah yeah I
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probably agree with that sort of a lack
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I don't know lack of respect or a
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certain amount of entitlement for I
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don't know um I've heard you describe
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yourself as an old school copper does
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that sort of like to him with the last
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answer yeah I guess it does and
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I because of what what what I believe
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our duty is duties to to victims and and
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crime um that's what I thought anyway
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and why I stayed in CIB for as long as I
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did yeah and
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um yeah so your your default now from
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where you are now like after spending
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your entire uh life and service with the
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New Zealand place and now you're retired
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is your um default to see the good in
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people or to think the worst of people
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oh know I think um that's one of the
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reasons why state in South Oakland
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because um we always hear the bad side
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of everything and uh if you actually
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stay somewhere long enough and and get
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to um talk to people and communicate
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which is face it the most important part
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of a policeman's um job really is to
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communicate with with everybody all
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different types of people you you
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actually see the good side of things
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when you there's a hell of a lot of good
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people out there and and in South
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Oakland as well like anywhere suppose
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but they're there um and they're trying
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to exist and it's getting harder and out
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for them um and I it kind of because we
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deal with I used to live in in South o
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as well you know there's some police
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officers kind of tend to kind of live
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somewhere else and and come in and you
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you surround yourself with these people
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trying to exist in in a in you know in a
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struggle and especially in plac like
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otar and mangar you see these good
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families with the the the mother with
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two jobs the father with two
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jobs struggling to even make meet and
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right next door there's a gangster
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selling drugs driving around in a Harley
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Davis and and you imagine the two
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families kids growing up next to each
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other yeah where as a young person are
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you going to be drawn you know so it's a
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hard hard C so there's a lot of good
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people out there corers yeah and I and
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you deal with them all too yeah it be
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hard hard to um remain glass half full
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though wouldn't it I guess after a while
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yeah be very easy to become cynical yeah
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well absolutely but I think you also um
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you you kind of feel that you you're
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um it makes you more complete when you
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when you kind of try to to understand
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what's going on see what I what I I
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think I mentioned in the book about the
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old days when we used to I say old days
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70s and 80s um we used to interview
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these these suspects and an interview we
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talked to them for hours have a smoke
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with them I didn't smoke but anyway
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drink and drink of water and bu and just
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yarn and just build that little we
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Bridge just such a little thing just
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just so that we all know that we we're
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not that buy different really we've just
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gone down a different Road and they
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started in a in a shocking environment
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and I didn't um and it's as simple as
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that really and uh we're not that Bloody
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different and I and I think there's a
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little Bridge there it's all gone now
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because it's all clinical Our lives our
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lives are clinical you know we don't
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laugh
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enough all right let's move into another
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chapter um in the mid90s so first of all
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uh I remember this clearly um but a lot
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a lot of people of a certain age won't
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even know the name but who is Joseph
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Thompson yeah well back in was February
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93 he turned up in my patch in
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manua um
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and it was followed by a number of rapes
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stranger and TR rapes in Mana we we
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weren't getting a handle on it at all he
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was he kept offending didn't know where
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he came from um but we knew it was one
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guy and I I I went up and I I had to
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kind of work out where I thought he came
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from because there was no indication
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that he had kind of grown up in Manu and
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he was just kind of um moving up the
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ladder To Be A Serial Opus he must have
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come from somewhere else and and I went
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up to odaho and pulled out a whole lot
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of files from otar and Odo in the late
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80s and early 90s and I took them home
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and read them and it was quite clear
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that this was the same guy this is where
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he' come from so he' been going for ages
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for years and uh so yeah so we started
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operation Park to to find find this guy
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and we after about a year and a bit um
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we hadn't found them and these rapes
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kept going on you know we were going
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getting under bit pressure here and um
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and rightfully so um but um then Johnny
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Manning who was now in charge of
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operation Park set by
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about after about 18 months I suppose um
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he decided that we're never going to
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catch this guy the way with conventional
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policing what we're doing so he he had
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read a little bit and had a little bit
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of um insight into criminal profiling so
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um that's the direction he took the
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whole inquiry was a big move for him he
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just stepped out if he'd got it wrong or
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we hadn't caught Malcolm re we probably
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would have
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been put under a rock but um yes
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criminal profiling like anyone that's um
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watched an episode of CSI would have
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heard the phrase before but this was
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like brand new yeah like a brand new
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sort of system or technology in the
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mid90s eh yeah absolutely no what does
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that mean exactly well criminal
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profiling is it comes from
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behavioral analysis of a rape scene
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first and I think if anybody reads books
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like mind Hunter and that from the the
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FBI and America from John Douglas get a
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better idea of it but behavioral
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analysis you analyze the crime scene and
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your your victims and everything and you
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you can you can identify a personal kind
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of um behavior of an offender and from
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that you draw a a picture of the
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offender so then you um you say right
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how can we find this person from that
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description of that that we know for
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sure about this guy or we believe that
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this guy is so um we we struggled with
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that um and then uh we got on board a um
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a computer analyst who was really good
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Frankie vanderswag and he he managed we
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managed to get all the information we
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could off the wo computer because what
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we were looking for was that person in
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the past as opposed to now because now
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we couldn't find him but he can't change
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what he's been and from the lists that
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we gathered from war
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computer from those behaviors and that
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kind of description we had um we were
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able to sift out Joe Thompson yeah
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there's even a book written at the time
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by Jen corett called um caught by his
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past yep absolutely beautiful title yeah
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absolutely perfect um I mean it's hard
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to imagine now like 29 29 years on um
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you not being familiar with things like
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criminal profiling and DNA but this was
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in the very early stages of all that
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wasn't it and DNA as well yeah
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absolutely um I think DNA was used the
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first time in about 85 or something
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other in in the
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UK me and
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um and it had had been used a couple of
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times in New Zealand as well um before
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parked but you know it was fairly early
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days and we had to have a um a large s
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um to get a result back then now don't
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anything like one hair sort of thing
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amazing so um July 15 1995 take us back
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to that Day 1995 when we spoke to Joe
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yeah so the the the really early start
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so the night the night before like do
00:19:18
you do you sleep do you sleep at all or
00:19:21
like Are you full of anxiety and so
00:19:23
you'd known he was the guy for a couple
00:19:25
of weeks and You' had people a month so
00:19:28
been people chasing him just to make
00:19:30
sure there was not going to be another
00:19:31
rape that happened AB once you knew who
00:19:33
the guy was um but yeah you and um John
00:19:36
Manning you the guys have to knock on
00:19:38
the knock on the door and there's like
00:19:39
50 cops all around the area like the the
00:19:42
the night before like this is a
00:19:44
potentially the biggest day of your
00:19:45
career to that point like do you do you
00:19:47
sleep before do you eat what what you
00:19:51
working through your mind the different
00:19:52
scenarios of what's going to happen oh
00:19:54
absolutely you're thinking about it um
00:19:56
but you try and sleep yeah I I don't
00:19:58
think I had too much trouble sleeping
00:20:00
I've never have had um so um yeah so we
00:20:03
it wasn't Johnny man it was Brett
00:20:05
Simpson that I went to the door with and
00:20:07
um because he was OC suspects for Park
00:20:09
so they get the job of interviewing and
00:20:11
I was there because I had done all the
00:20:13
work on behav I knew the scenes and the
00:20:15
victims so yeah so we knock on the door
00:20:17
we we um yeah you think about it the
00:20:20
drive there particularly you're thinking
00:20:22
right what are we going to receive how
00:20:24
how's this going to go down and and you
00:20:25
think of all the different um
00:20:27
potentially how it's going to work and
00:20:29
all the different ways we can we can
00:20:31
work with it and uh yeah it went pretty
00:20:33
well amazingly well really he just
00:20:36
opened the door not just to to us but to
00:20:39
his whole life you know that's what it
00:20:41
was and it went from there we
00:20:43
interviewed him for 20 OD hours I think
00:20:46
and he just clear the clearest chest of
00:20:50
all all that he had done amazing
00:20:51
interview really it was um not not from
00:20:55
as it was just to be there and listen to
00:20:57
it all
00:20:59
yeah so that interview situation like um
00:21:01
you all um most of us have got to go on
00:21:04
is what we see on TV shows is is it is
00:21:06
it a good C good cop bad cop thing
00:21:08
certainly not with J because you know he
00:21:11
made it quite clear he was going
00:21:13
to going to tell us all you know so we
00:21:16
just sat him down and without any
00:21:18
leading questions you just let him go
00:21:20
and just went from scene to scene to
00:21:21
Scene It was no nothing no good cop bad
00:21:24
cop and um um not I'm not saying that
00:21:27
that never happens but certainly wasn't
00:21:29
going to happen on this
00:21:30
occasion so so yeah 20 hours of
00:21:33
interviews you had with this guy like
00:21:35
the the worst rapist imaginable in New
00:21:38
Zealand history um do you sort of you
00:21:41
sort of bond with them oh yeah I I think
00:21:43
you're sitting in a room with them for
00:21:45
that long you do get a kind of a feel
00:21:47
that was a connection um for sure but
00:21:51
let's face when you come out of the
00:21:53
interview room and you and you a few
00:21:55
days later and you and you remember all
00:21:57
the victims and you think yes evil
00:22:00
you're you're really just kind of there
00:22:02
acting the part I think then you realize
00:22:05
that you haven't really got a connection
00:22:06
with this guy at all um it's kind of
00:22:09
yeah acting in a way isn't it I suppose
00:22:10
went him over yeah absolutely so so and
00:22:14
he he he had a history of getting on
00:22:17
with authority you know at the boy homes
00:22:20
they they they called him bonus Thompson
00:22:22
so um he he'd get on with anything in
00:22:26
Authority um he he need needed he wanted
00:22:29
to be um kind of uh have some sort of
00:22:34
control over him CU he couldn't control
00:22:36
himself so yeah he found boys homes and
00:22:40
later on Prison not such a bad place
00:22:43
really yeah so so yeah in those 20 hours
00:22:47
of interviews is is it all um just sort
00:22:50
of structured or is there small talk and
00:22:52
banter and some jokes not on that one
00:22:55
really um because it just it just kept
00:22:58
rolling we couldn't afford to spend too
00:23:00
much time like like we used to with with
00:23:03
some people U it's really um we just
00:23:06
kicked off and uh went from crime to
00:23:08
crime and he had explained what he did
00:23:10
and he had amazing memory of each
00:23:12
offense because of course they they go
00:23:14
over it in their own mind and they they
00:23:17
relive the moment so to speak so he
00:23:20
remembered all these scenes with
00:23:22
Incredible memory that he had for he
00:23:25
knew exactly where the house was what he
00:23:27
did what the victim looked like um and
00:23:30
how he got into the house that kind of
00:23:32
thing so yeah um yeah just went for
00:23:35
because we had a big list of off course
00:23:37
he started admitting to things that we
00:23:39
didn't even know about hadn't even been
00:23:40
reported to us so I had a list of about
00:23:44
40 that I believed he was responsible
00:23:46
for it ended up it was only one of that
00:23:49
that he that he wasn't too sure about in
00:23:50
the end so it was dropped but um he he
00:23:54
admitted a whole lot of others so I
00:23:56
think and he pleaded guilty straight
00:23:58
away
00:23:59
um Jo say it was kind of a bit of
00:24:00
anticlimax in a way but we we there was
00:24:03
some some crimes that we was never
00:24:05
charged with that he admitted to because
00:24:07
we couldn't get couldn't get it together
00:24:09
quick enough for his sentencing you know
00:24:11
so he only got charged I think with 50
00:24:12
attacks but there were
00:24:15
more and um is he eligible for parole
00:24:18
he's still incarcerated isn't he it's 29
00:24:20
years well he's definitely still in
00:24:21
custody he he was eligible for parole
00:24:24
after 25 years which is um gone uh he's
00:24:28
still in there um something to the
00:24:30
patrol board decide whether he's going
00:24:31
to ever get out again but uh what are
00:24:33
your thoughts on that well I think if
00:24:34
you look at the last line of um the
00:24:37
psychologist report on on Joe and it's U
00:24:41
um murder was the uh killing his victims
00:24:44
was where he was heading according to
00:24:46
the psychologist will rboard hear that
00:24:48
they might have have to think twice
00:24:50
about whether they want to let him out
00:24:51
and going along with the fact that he
00:24:53
couldn't stop himself he admitted that
00:24:54
himself he I could I couldn't stop I
00:24:57
couldn't let anybody get in my way
00:24:58
so um yeah being in prison um for all
00:25:03
those years has that changed him and if
00:25:05
you put him back out in a place where
00:25:07
he's already been already shown what he
00:25:09
what he's capable of I don't know um you
00:25:12
know they say that um a person who is in
00:25:16
a in a position where he can't steal um
00:25:19
do that mean he's not a thief um don't
00:25:25
know and um and what about his wife so
00:25:28
yeah you're not knock on the door and he
00:25:29
says something like I've been I've been
00:25:31
waiting for you guys and then he grabs
00:25:32
his shoes and his jacket and he he goes
00:25:34
with you and his wife she's got she's
00:25:36
got no idea she thinks he's being taken
00:25:37
away for a ched about drugs or something
00:25:41
I can't remember whe whether she was
00:25:42
actually even there I don't remember um
00:25:45
she was certainly interviewed by another
00:25:47
um detective so we were only
00:25:49
concentrating totally I never saw her so
00:25:52
I don't know even know she to this day
00:25:54
whether she was in the house or where
00:25:55
she was well I can't remember anyway but
00:25:59
we were concentrating on Joe really so
00:26:01
yeah I didn't see her um she didn't know
00:26:04
though she I mean which it does seem
00:26:07
alarming though your husband's
00:26:09
disappearing for a few hours in the
00:26:10
middle of the night every few weeks it's
00:26:13
but but but people live in this Twilight
00:26:16
Zone or thousands of of men in this kind
00:26:19
of position because I went on to to
00:26:21
crime watch numerous times to try and um
00:26:25
say well somebody must notice their
00:26:27
husband brother father or whatever
00:26:30
coming back wet through from on the
00:26:33
nights of these particular rapes because
00:26:34
there was quite a few of them um
00:26:37
somebody must know but never never came
00:26:39
up anywhere because there's so many men
00:26:42
who live in kind of in an environment
00:26:45
where they come and go willy-nilly and
00:26:47
it's just kind of the norm sometimes
00:26:49
they don't come home at all and you know
00:26:51
so you unbelievable how many people are
00:26:54
like
00:26:55
that Jes the these sort of things like
00:26:58
from a personal perspective like what
00:27:00
sort of what sort of toll does it take
00:27:01
on on on your mental health and stuff so
00:27:03
you know you you deal with something
00:27:05
like this then you go home at the end of
00:27:06
the day like how are you able to switch
00:27:08
off or
00:27:10
compartmentalize yeah I think well you
00:27:13
have to um I think you it's the other
00:27:15
way around I think you just when you get
00:27:17
up in the morning you put your armor on
00:27:19
and go back um I don't know where you
00:27:22
take your armor off whether it's D when
00:27:23
you're driving home or what but what it
00:27:26
what it does do is it makes one of the
00:27:29
downsides I think is you're dealing with
00:27:32
such shocking things shocking crimes and
00:27:35
that you that when you get home and and
00:27:38
the wife's got a a problem with one of
00:27:39
the kids that seem in comparison
00:27:42
absolutely nothing but to them is
00:27:45
massive you know and and you kind of sit
00:27:47
there oh yeah but uh that that's the one
00:27:50
thing that I used to always kind of I
00:27:52
used to wonder about rather than
00:27:54
anything else you
00:27:57
know yeah it's it's a lot to it's a big
00:27:59
burden isn't it it's a lot to carry
00:28:00
around and I I wonder how you can even
00:28:02
like when you're in the the throws of
00:28:03
this like say when the investigation's
00:28:05
going on and Joseph Thompson's still out
00:28:08
there like how you get home and switch
00:28:10
off how you be present with your kids
00:28:12
and and your wife and what they're going
00:28:14
on like this I don't know I'm prob maybe
00:28:17
I'm just projecting here but if it was
00:28:18
me I think i' would just always be weing
00:28:20
over in the back of my mind well yeah it
00:28:23
is a bit 24/7 um but you I don't know
00:28:27
how how we cap really but I I mean it
00:28:29
was not just me it was a whole team of
00:28:30
people we talking about and um I guess
00:28:33
we all deal with it differently but
00:28:36
um I I used to go on the way home I'd be
00:28:39
thinking about it on the way to work I'd
00:28:41
be thinking about it and as I said I
00:28:42
took files home at time which I'm not
00:28:44
meant to have but I did and um so yeah
00:28:48
really um but I was always there for the
00:28:50
kids and I I don't remember ever um
00:28:54
missing any sporting events or anything
00:28:56
you know I got six children so we we we
00:28:58
didn't have mobile phones in those days
00:28:59
so you had to kind of or organize
00:29:01
yourself in the morning when you leave
00:29:03
so yeah just concentrate on that I it
00:29:06
didn't kind of I don't think it impacted
00:29:08
me much but maybe it did maybe after
00:29:11
need need to ask that question to some
00:29:12
of my
00:29:13
children who now growing up and uh we're
00:29:16
all at the launch last night and uh I
00:29:18
think they're a pretty all well-rounded
00:29:20
wom and MOB to be honest they bloody
00:29:22
great kids yeah you you got a big family
00:29:23
Ace is it six kids yeah and 15 15
00:29:27
grandkids 15 and a half 15 and a half
00:29:29
sorry I forgot the half and two and two
00:29:32
grand great grand great yeah amazing
00:29:35
yeah it's um yeah pretty
00:29:37
big um yeah your um your wife must have
00:29:40
done a lot lot of the heavy lifting
00:29:42
though just just because you even though
00:29:43
you're as present is what you can it's
00:29:45
like such a busy and important job you
00:29:46
had yeah I think one of the things I
00:29:48
done was back then um the wife didn't
00:29:52
work nowadays they have to so I don't
00:29:55
know how it would work today um so she
00:29:58
was concentrating on the children and I
00:30:00
kind of going and coming and I get
00:30:02
called out all hours of the day and
00:30:03
night so um but you couldn't do that
00:30:06
today could you really I I don't think
00:30:09
um so yeah so that was important and she
00:30:13
you know she was a good mother yeah and
00:30:16
um just before we move on from um Joseph
00:30:18
Thompson I just wonder about the um the
00:30:20
like the high-profile offenders that you
00:30:22
um dealt with are you given the
00:30:25
relationship you've got with them and
00:30:27
you the hours spending them in interview
00:30:29
rooms and stuff are you are you able to
00:30:31
have anything other than lothing for
00:30:32
these
00:30:33
people depends on the crime at the end
00:30:36
of the day you can't go in there with
00:30:39
that loathing feeling because you're
00:30:40
you're not going to communicate very
00:30:42
well are you so you go and um try and be
00:30:45
um kind of as impartial as you can and
00:30:48
just kind of communicate that's you know
00:30:52
I think it's one of the things that's
00:30:53
kind of lost in recent years kind of the
00:30:57
ability to communicate with people no
00:30:58
matter where where they are in the scale
00:31:00
of things I I've never really had an
00:31:03
issue talking to anybody um whatever
00:31:07
their background where wherever they
00:31:08
come into it you know whether the the
00:31:12
bottom of the bucket criminal to the to
00:31:14
a to a crown solicitor you know that it
00:31:18
doesn't make any difference to me but uh
00:31:20
you got to be able to communicate to all
00:31:22
of them so I you know I I'm not too sure
00:31:26
about um
00:31:29
how I how I managed them and talk to
00:31:32
them all but I mean there was some
00:31:33
criminals that you uh you can deal with
00:31:37
with a lot of humor back in the day um
00:31:40
particularly burglars and that around
00:31:42
town and when I was a young detective or
00:31:44
uniform police officer we you know we
00:31:48
we' kind of be having a laugh when we
00:31:50
going down the cell block them to
00:31:52
fingerprint them you know to be honest
00:31:54
and um they're quite Charming like
00:31:55
they're saying a likable Rogue yeah and
00:31:57
well there's a chapter in there about
00:31:59
Dan and um Dan Dudson the burglar and I
00:32:01
don't know if you're going to get into
00:32:03
that or not but uh you know a great
00:32:05
character I mean a national criminal I
00:32:08
mean this guy got a heck of a history
00:32:10
and uh heck of a lot of burglaries
00:32:13
behind him they're still digging up his
00:32:15
some of his jewelry and and stuff around
00:32:17
the country
00:32:18
today so um but but a Buri Crump is kind
00:32:22
of humor you know and he used to write
00:32:24
it but and that was one of the reasons
00:32:25
why I wrote the I was going to write the
00:32:27
book with him you know um because he had
00:32:30
this style and uh and I I used to I
00:32:33
don't know if you know Phil Taylor is a
00:32:34
journalist around town here and uh and
00:32:37
Phil and I and and Dan used to sit
00:32:40
around and chat and Phil's a
00:32:42
lefty Dan's a criminal and I come from a
00:32:45
fairly conservative kind of background
00:32:47
we can sit around there and laugh and
00:32:49
and talk and and communicate you know
00:32:51
it's just it was good and and Dan was a
00:32:56
I'd call him a mate really at the end
00:32:57
you know and he and he did he gave you
00:33:00
his word and he'd stick with it he said
00:33:03
all I've got left is my word and he
00:33:06
doesn't matter whether he gave it to me
00:33:08
or to another criminal he was never an
00:33:10
informant never told me about anything
00:33:12
that was going on I knew he knew
00:33:14
about but um but because he had given
00:33:16
his word to them yeah all right so let's
00:33:20
um talk about Malcolm rayin out so mola
00:33:23
his um one of one of his many victims um
00:33:25
Susan um bad is who you um dedicated the
00:33:29
book to even though you never got to to
00:33:31
meet her um who is Malcolm
00:33:35
Raya well yeah how do we run into
00:33:37
Malcolm R well just after the end of
00:33:39
Park and Joe Thompson was dealt with
00:33:42
there was a series of rapes in Oakland
00:33:45
and uh called operation Atlas and they
00:33:49
asked me to go in there and get and have
00:33:51
a look at it and try to work out which
00:33:52
offenses were committed by one person
00:33:54
because I knew some of them must have
00:33:56
been so I did that and at the end of
00:33:59
putting about five or six of them
00:34:01
together I um I asked there was another
00:34:04
operation called operation Harvey that
00:34:07
was started at uh back at manaca where
00:34:09
we just finished operation Park took
00:34:11
over the same building so it was it was
00:34:14
following the same line as operation
00:34:16
Park criminal profiling you know the big
00:34:18
blooding lists like we did with Park and
00:34:23
um I knew something about the operation
00:34:27
park for victims and and their stories
00:34:30
because I was putting operation Park F
00:34:33
bed and it took me a couple of months
00:34:34
because it was a massive thing and I was
00:34:36
in the same building so I knew a little
00:34:38
bit about what's going on and I after
00:34:40
looking at these um connecting these
00:34:43
victims for operation atas I I asked for
00:34:45
permission to go and have a look at the
00:34:46
Harvey on in depth and it was clearly
00:34:49
the same guy so then I had to um I think
00:34:54
I pretty much convinced everybody was
00:34:56
pretty much on board but they they
00:34:58
wanted a forensic link first before they
00:35:00
were going to um connect the two
00:35:02
operations in the meantime I I wanted to
00:35:05
connect them chronologically and and
00:35:08
geographically to the to the one of
00:35:10
there must be other rapes out there you
00:35:11
don't just stop in 93 with the end of
00:35:13
Harvey and then start in um in ' 95 in
00:35:16
Oakland so we I looked at all the rapes
00:35:19
I could and sure enough he was a whole
00:35:21
lot of others that were around scattered
00:35:23
all around Oakland and uh and they they
00:35:26
connected the rapes series T Harvey and
00:35:30
and then we got the link the forensic
00:35:31
link to Atlas and Harvey so we're all on
00:35:34
board and um and then we had a bad rape
00:35:38
in in um New Market really I think they
00:35:41
called it epom UB New Market border
00:35:44
there somewhere and uh it had a
00:35:47
connection to Malcolm rowa and there was
00:35:49
a old file that was left over from Park
00:35:52
that also had a reference to Malcolm
00:35:54
rowa and uh that was the link so we did
00:35:59
a um uh he we couldn't find him um and
00:36:05
he uh we did a uh
00:36:09
did got blood from his family and uh
00:36:13
Familia linked him to to Malcolm
00:36:16
rowa and that was enough so we took him
00:36:20
out and in mangry so this was by this
00:36:23
stage it was mid 96 it was just about a
00:36:26
year after we looked up after Joe
00:36:29
Thompson was locked up so it was about
00:36:31
11 months later we locked up Malcolm
00:36:32
rway it was a a different lock up all
00:36:35
together from Joe Thompson we knew it
00:36:37
was going to be because Malcolm River's
00:36:39
history told us that um he was a uh he
00:36:43
hated hated Authority and the police to
00:36:45
the Bone and
00:36:47
um uh and that's how it turned out right
00:36:50
so not compliant at all no he was taken
00:36:53
out by armed
00:36:54
Defenders and um
00:36:57
he was in a shower I remember KY RS and
00:37:00
CLA who was actually suspects just as
00:37:02
simpo had been for Park and I and myself
00:37:05
were going to arrest him so he he was um
00:37:09
he was in the shower and AOS at the
00:37:11
house and he came out the front door
00:37:13
with a a tail wrapped around him and a
00:37:15
AOS dog very close Pursuit so he ended
00:37:19
up on the front lawn and that was the
00:37:20
beginning of uh our dealings with Mr Mr
00:37:24
Raya yeah that must be that must be
00:37:26
quite satisfying see someone like that
00:37:28
feeling so vulnerable with a tow around
00:37:30
being bitten by a dog yeah we were
00:37:32
hoping that it that low point in his
00:37:34
life he might just tell us something but
00:37:36
he didn't um yeah it was yeah it was it
00:37:40
was a good result that yeah and um yeah
00:37:44
Malcolm Raya um there there's another
00:37:46
name that comes that is often associated
00:37:47
with that Tanana pora a young man who
00:37:49
ended up um wrongly incarcerated for
00:37:51
what 20 years yeah 20 years for being
00:37:54
associated and um you yeah you credit to
00:37:58
you you you you had a feeling that this
00:38:00
was like a wrong or an unsafe conviction
00:38:03
yeah I based it all on um on Malcolm
00:38:06
rowa his
00:38:08
behavior back back in the early 80s he
00:38:12
had been picked up of some burglaries in
00:38:14
relation to I think it was an undercover
00:38:16
operation or something but it was quite
00:38:19
clear to me that from that point on he
00:38:22
never committed any crime that was not
00:38:25
uh with anybody else for obvious reason
00:38:27
reasons you know and I mentioned in the
00:38:28
book all these there's no way he's going
00:38:31
to um take I thought there's no way he's
00:38:33
going to take some 18year old plab mouth
00:38:36
little car thief um uh from a different
00:38:41
gang along to a rape um which he had you
00:38:45
know he targeted his victims so it
00:38:47
didn't make any sense and then I and
00:38:50
there was no poor um DNA connection
00:38:53
there it was only Malcolm robis um so
00:38:56
how did that fit
00:38:57
um it simply didn't and um and when
00:39:02
taner Porter was interviewed um he um to
00:39:06
try and explain away not being his DNA
00:39:10
he if he was there because he had made a
00:39:13
confession that he was that he was
00:39:14
present when the rape took place to the
00:39:16
murder so um to kind of confirm that and
00:39:21
hopefully pick up a bit of a reward I
00:39:23
believe um he he had to had to nominate
00:39:26
who it was was there and whose SE it
00:39:29
would have been so he nominated some
00:39:31
senior mongr mob members from um mie
00:39:35
dangerous men in in his environment
00:39:37
because he lived there and he was kind
00:39:39
of mildly associated with the mob and
00:39:44
uh and they were blooded and it wasn't
00:39:47
them I mean why would you nominate
00:39:49
somebody who's got is so dangerous to
00:39:52
him potentially um to emury and bring
00:39:56
heat down on the m so yeah it just
00:39:59
didn't make any sense at all and um of
00:40:02
course Malcolm Ray were denied it and
00:40:04
Court as we know so there was a lot of
00:40:07
reasons why it didn't make any sense and
00:40:11
behaviorally the Malcolm rer covered his
00:40:15
victim's um faces with a with varying
00:40:20
things blankets usually and he didn't um
00:40:25
and that wasn't only to stop them
00:40:26
identifying him that was to stop them
00:40:29
seeing his fantasy being carried out
00:40:32
because his behavior and his signature
00:40:35
was being carried out and he didn't want
00:40:37
them to see that he why would he want to
00:40:39
take an 18yearold kid along to see it
00:40:41
just I was quite convinced yeah and you
00:40:45
you were quite um and I'm gu this would
00:40:47
have been a hard thing to do but you you
00:40:49
were you were reasonably vocal about
00:40:50
this right over the years like U about
00:40:54
tanapa and um that that he wasn't
00:40:56
involved why why did you why did you
00:40:58
decide to do that when the easiest thing
00:40:59
would just be to keep your you know tow
00:41:01
the line bite your tongue well it came
00:41:04
to a came to a
00:41:05
head after a while um because I tanur
00:41:11
was in prison still and it was 20 years
00:41:13
on well it wasn't quite 20 years on when
00:41:15
I when I spoke out but um he was still
00:41:18
in prison and B I knew that we would
00:41:21
never get a conviction against Malcolm
00:41:23
rowa for that murder of Susan berett
00:41:26
when everyone even in even the people
00:41:27
who believed tan por was there everyone
00:41:30
knew that it was Malcolm row had
00:41:32
murdered Susan so we weren't going to
00:41:34
get a conviction um and then the third
00:41:37
reason was because if the when when Tim
00:41:41
mckin and um Krebs and them started to
00:41:44
kind of develop this kind
00:41:46
of the defense for por and get him get
00:41:49
him out that the only way the police
00:41:52
could uh they would have had to fight
00:41:54
fight my behavioral um expertise which
00:41:58
which would put rower in prison in the
00:41:59
first place for most of those rapes and
00:42:02
many other offenders since then when I
00:42:04
was in the criminal profiling unit so I
00:42:06
wasn't going to let that happen um
00:42:08
because it was all these people are
00:42:09
sitting in prison and they could see see
00:42:12
something possibly going to give them a
00:42:14
chance to get out and um and the
00:42:17
criminal profiling you going forward you
00:42:19
know it put a lot of work into that and
00:42:21
um and it's still going to this day
00:42:23
under a different name but you know it
00:42:25
was um I wasn't going to let that get
00:42:28
sacrificed because we made a because a
00:42:31
mistake was made many years earlier so
00:42:33
then um Phil Taylor rang me and uh yeah
00:42:37
I said what I said um I thought well
00:42:39
we've been going long enough you know
00:42:41
yeah was this in uh 2012 when you got
00:42:43
you got you got disciplined you got sort
00:42:45
of red over the calls a little bit for
00:42:47
yeah I did and I knew pissed off you
00:42:49
when you look back on that now like um
00:42:51
obviously you've been Vindicated but did
00:42:53
did it [ __ ] you off at the time well
00:42:55
what did piss me off was um to be honest
00:42:58
was the um the fact that they wouldn't
00:43:01
wouldn't do a review of it if I felt
00:43:04
that if they because there was so many
00:43:06
senior CIB members who who were
00:43:09
supportive as far as poor poor of being
00:43:11
innocent you know from different
00:43:12
directions you know they they'd been on
00:43:14
the early investigation he'd been
00:43:15
interviewed earlier on a year before he
00:43:18
got arrested and he was kicked out of
00:43:20
the police station just a uh someone who
00:43:22
was talking rubbish and um and a lot of
00:43:25
people were I didn't even know now
00:43:27
existed until later on um from different
00:43:30
angles and yeah so uh I was brushed off
00:43:34
then more so than back in the day when
00:43:36
we took r at court because there were
00:43:39
some of the people involved there um
00:43:42
genuinely believed that still genuinely
00:43:44
believed that pora was there so that
00:43:46
wasn't a problem it was later on when
00:43:48
all this started coming out it was quite
00:43:50
obvious what we needed to do was just
00:43:53
have an internal review of it and get a
00:43:56
get some detective inspector from Inver
00:43:59
Caro or somewhere come up and have a
00:44:01
look at it the evidence that was there
00:44:03
and speak to all these people
00:44:05
because police are not going to go and
00:44:08
talk to some private investigator um
00:44:11
willy-nilly they're going to close shop
00:44:14
but it's an internal review they would
00:44:16
have and that could have saved a lot of
00:44:19
embarrassment and and when I was taken
00:44:22
to the um professional standard little
00:44:25
meeting they had to be on the hand and
00:44:28
um and growl at me I um I I said then
00:44:32
that it was um I knew where it was going
00:44:34
to end up and it did exactly where it
00:44:36
ended up yeah that must have that must
00:44:39
have must have hurt though cuz here you
00:44:40
are you you know um devoted your whole
00:44:43
life to this um to this career you
00:44:45
decorated for the work you've done and
00:44:47
then you know suddenly you've been
00:44:49
almost dismissed really for what ended
00:44:51
up being being factual well my um I got
00:44:56
the police associ involved in it because
00:44:58
I've been summoned to court to produce
00:44:59
stuff that the police wouldn't give me
00:45:01
and I and I so so I got a solicitor bar
00:45:05
to work for me through the association
00:45:08
Police Association and uh and I had the
00:45:10
Police Association involved as well and
00:45:13
and what it was annoying was the fact
00:45:16
that they um that hung me out to drive
00:45:18
and the the Barrister said that he said
00:45:21
you've been hung out to
00:45:23
DW so yeah that was annoying and there
00:45:27
was um yeah there was a a police report
00:45:28
that was buried for 17 years that came
00:45:30
out um last year um even though I mean
00:45:34
it's it's long gone it's in your past
00:45:35
now but um that must have been
00:45:37
satisfying yeah look I felt Vindicated I
00:45:40
I I didn't even remember making that
00:45:42
report but would have been um I think
00:45:44
before would have been late in n in in
00:45:47
2006 just before I retired from as a
00:45:51
sword member and I think I put it
00:45:54
in because I wanted a record to be there
00:45:57
that this was the reason why I felt like
00:45:58
this you know and um and felt as I did
00:46:01
and and I didn't remember writing that
00:46:04
report until Eugene Bingham I think it
00:46:06
was contacted me and and and had it
00:46:08
reported in the paper so and I thought
00:46:11
oh wow yeah I did write that obviously I
00:46:14
did um but what was good part about it
00:46:17
wasn't it it show that way back in 2006
00:46:21
was my view where some people might have
00:46:23
thought oh you just dream this up later
00:46:24
on you know but that was always
00:46:27
the way I saw things yeah it's
00:46:29
timestamped in history yeah um and
00:46:32
inspector Steve reliford the the guy
00:46:33
that caught tan pora has he offered any
00:46:35
sort of an olive branch or anything he
00:46:38
was he at the book launch last night
00:46:40
well no ST steeve wasn't here but um
00:46:43
look Steve's kind of gone his way and um
00:46:46
you I haven't spoken to Steve for a long
00:46:48
time we're pretty close back a while
00:46:49
back but um yeah I I haven't heard from
00:46:53
him yeah um yeah and like in hindsight
00:46:56
how did the police get there so horribly
00:46:58
wrong was it just the Des desperation to
00:47:01
get a conviction for a high-profile
00:47:02
crime or I think they believe that I
00:47:05
mean t Laura put his name in the Hat it
00:47:07
wasn't as if they dragged him off the
00:47:08
street and beat ANM Mission out of him
00:47:11
he he put his hand up and and it's it's
00:47:14
hard to kind of you know you got a
00:47:16
homicide that's a year old or whatever
00:47:18
it was at the time and somebody's saying
00:47:20
I was there and I can tell you who else
00:47:23
was there well you're not going to walk
00:47:25
away from that are you and
00:47:27
so I can understand fully that um it was
00:47:30
just later I
00:47:32
mean it was later when I looked at um
00:47:35
Raya that really pushed me in that
00:47:37
direction I I I've never met tanor I
00:47:41
never had anything to do with him at any
00:47:43
stage
00:47:46
um well that was that was going to be
00:47:48
the next thing I I was going to ask I
00:47:49
was going to so he ended up um for
00:47:51
anyone that doesn't know the taner por
00:47:52
story end up getting released and
00:47:53
getting 3.5 million in compensation so
00:47:56
you haven't you haven't hav seen him
00:47:57
since um I've never seen no yeah spoken
00:47:59
on the phone no right never never had
00:48:02
any contact with him
00:48:04
whatsoever
00:48:06
um yeah crazy crazy chapter to like a
00:48:09
remarkable career yeah did it put a bit
00:48:12
of a dampner on on things in a way like
00:48:14
sour taste in your mouth oh I think so I
00:48:17
think so yeah um you know they talk
00:48:21
about loyalty and um loyalty is a
00:48:24
two-way street isn't it and uh I think
00:48:27
yeah I mean the problem problem of the
00:48:30
police
00:48:31
is at the top of the Heap it becomes
00:48:35
political you know it's why I stayed as
00:48:36
a detective Sergeant I I didn't even
00:48:38
want to get involved in any of that
00:48:39
stuff so you know I understand I know
00:48:42
some good people who've gone up in the
00:48:44
ranks and um and I think you know it
00:48:48
does become political up there you've
00:48:50
got to kind of agree with policy and
00:48:52
stuff and and my personality I don't
00:48:57
I I've struggled to do that so yeah this
00:49:00
goes back to what we were talking about
00:49:01
at the beginning about you being like an
00:49:03
old school copper yeah just no um yeah
00:49:07
not much not much time for the for the
00:49:08
BS yeah it's uh and there's plenty of it
00:49:13
but no I but look there's so many of the
00:49:19
ncos and and inspectors are on the front
00:49:21
line they're the people that run the
00:49:23
police and um in my opinion you know
00:49:26
they're the people that catch the
00:49:28
criminals um and whatever comes from up
00:49:31
up top I think a lot of people that get
00:49:33
up to the top hierarchy it's just my
00:49:35
kind of view is they they feel like
00:49:37
they've got to come up with some great
00:49:39
idea but what they don't realize is that
00:49:41
great idea is just the same idea dressed
00:49:43
up differently that somebody else
00:49:44
brought up 10 years ago and didn't fail
00:49:46
then yeah yeah yeah yeah um with the
00:49:50
criminal profiling stuff that you were
00:49:52
um you sort of
00:49:54
spearheaded what other um yeah from us
00:49:57
new zealanders um were you sort of
00:49:59
involved with or associated with well
00:50:02
yeah I I gave a lot of evidence over the
00:50:05
in the years of the criminal profiling
00:50:07
unit against a lot of Serial offenders
00:50:10
and um some of them are are quite well
00:50:12
known and
00:50:13
um yeah it was good to be a part of um
00:50:17
helping it wasn't I didn't I didn't
00:50:20
arrest them or anything like that I just
00:50:22
gave some evidence that tried to help
00:50:24
the them get them convicted you know we
00:50:26
did profiling but we also gave evidence
00:50:29
behaviorally to at what they call Joiner
00:50:32
hearings to kind of so you've got three
00:50:35
or four rapes that believe to be
00:50:37
connected I give evidence that connects
00:50:40
them at a join hearing I don't
00:50:42
necessarily give evidence of their trial
00:50:43
even but the fact that you get four
00:50:45
victims together saying the same thing
00:50:48
is pretty powerful um evidence so yeah
00:50:51
get a lot of satisfaction that and a lot
00:50:53
of them are wellknown offenders they're
00:50:55
all still in prison yeah or
00:50:59
dead um best and worst days on the job
00:51:02
worst best and worst yeah I I think the
00:51:06
only way I can look at that is um the
00:51:09
worst days is way back and I used to go
00:51:12
to fatal motor accidents on the motorway
00:51:14
and bodies all over the place as like a
00:51:16
young fellow and um yeah it was um I
00:51:20
still have memories of that you know wet
00:51:22
horrible days up up by Tip Top corner it
00:51:25
was in the day you know and you'd see
00:51:27
these bloody mutilated bodies all over
00:51:29
the bloody place and and I um yeah
00:51:32
that's they're the worst things and and
00:51:34
children deaths they're always hard to
00:51:36
cope with and I think you ask any police
00:51:38
officer that you know they're the
00:51:39
hardest to deal with and um especially
00:51:42
when you got kidon they're the worst um
00:51:45
the best um looking up Jay Thompson
00:51:49
sitting in court with malcol r got delt
00:51:51
to by Justice Anderson and um yeah
00:51:56
they're good days and and getting in the
00:51:59
criminal profiling unit the one of the
00:52:01
last ones we ever did criminal profile
00:52:04
we profile them as number one on the
00:52:06
suspect list they're all good
00:52:08
days yeah is that something you
00:52:10
following now I can't remember what it
00:52:12
was about but Malcolm rayell was in the
00:52:14
news a couple of years ago and uh you
00:52:15
know he appeared in court and it's the
00:52:17
first time the public had seen him I
00:52:19
guess in 20 odd years um and he's
00:52:21
looking particularly grim and unhealthy
00:52:24
um is that satisfying for you to see
00:52:25
that he's uh were you just indifferent
00:52:28
well yeah I I did um I I did notice that
00:52:32
he was physically I went along to his
00:52:34
sing so
00:52:37
um yeah he was physically um he didn't
00:52:40
look great he because he was so very
00:52:44
um U big on his physicality you know and
00:52:48
um his strength and he depended on it
00:52:50
didn't he and uh U was part of his
00:52:54
Persona really um so he obviously looked
00:52:57
I don't know if that's what what you
00:52:58
look like after 22 years of sitting in
00:53:00
prison I don't know but I remember
00:53:02
thinking at the time I thought you know
00:53:04
you you're looking pretty crook mate but
00:53:06
I I I could see his eyes were still the
00:53:09
same you know he looked out and um it
00:53:13
was It was kind of I'll take his all on
00:53:16
you know that was that was Malcolm R
00:53:18
where he his hatred and his uh uh never
00:53:23
give up kind of attitude towards
00:53:28
um Society really and uh and and then a
00:53:31
month later I got cancer so I thought I
00:53:34
hope hope I outlive that buet that was
00:53:37
the only feeling I had you know thought
00:53:39
I thought God he's not going to outlive
00:53:41
me is he but um that was the only real
00:53:44
thing I didn't really give it toss what
00:53:46
he looked like yeah um yeah that was
00:53:48
your prostate cancer diagnosis in 2019
00:53:50
so you retire in 2017 17 and then a c
00:53:55
yeah a couple of years lat it's funny
00:53:56
how that happens it's almost like you
00:53:58
you know you have this hectic insanely
00:54:00
busy career for decades and then you
00:54:02
finally sort of relax and your body it's
00:54:06
it's it's interesting that when I
00:54:09
joined the compulsory Asia retirement
00:54:12
was
00:54:13
60 so that's what we always thought we
00:54:15
were going to do and uh you know that
00:54:18
they reckon that the average life
00:54:20
expectancy after 60 at that time was 2
00:54:23
years for a police officer and goes back
00:54:26
to just what you were saying do you live
00:54:28
that kind of life and then stop and you
00:54:31
die if they'd kept going would they have
00:54:32
lived longer I don't know that
00:54:34
incredible thing two years you think
00:54:37
that some of them live until their 90s
00:54:38
makes you wonder how many of them die
00:54:41
within months of
00:54:43
leaving it was just a little statistic
00:54:46
that always kind of stuck in my mind I
00:54:48
wondered
00:54:49
why yeah yeah how are you now like do
00:54:52
you have any like PTSD or have you have
00:54:55
you had any um therapy or anything to un
00:54:57
unpack some of the stuff that you've
00:54:58
seen over the years or I I don't I don't
00:55:01
think so I think some people are lucky
00:55:04
you know there's some very strong people
00:55:06
out there that just can't deal with
00:55:09
death and and especially if it's
00:55:12
somebody they know and they crumble and
00:55:15
and sometimes it's how many times they
00:55:17
go out to scenes like that and then
00:55:20
they'll seen they hit the walls like
00:55:21
Marathon running you hit the wall some
00:55:24
point you kind of done Steve Rood used
00:55:26
to always put it you've gone to one
00:55:27
battle too many um and and people fall
00:55:31
over and but it didn't happen to me
00:55:33
doesn't mean that I'm stronger than
00:55:34
anyone else it just means that somewhere
00:55:36
in my in my psyche I can kind of deal
00:55:38
with something that they can't and it
00:55:40
mean nothing else than that really yeah
00:55:42
so there's no obvious um things that you
00:55:45
can pinpoint about how you you dealt
00:55:46
with it like did you did you run through
00:55:47
your years in the force or were you
00:55:49
partial to a couple of drinks in the
00:55:50
evening to wind down I think we all were
00:55:53
to some extent um yeah there was a few
00:55:56
few few babies along the way for sure um
00:56:00
but um yeah I think I think the grard
00:56:04
humor helped us police bars you know
00:56:06
that they rubbish you know we we laughed
00:56:09
and and cried in those
00:56:12
places yeah I had a um a guy on the
00:56:14
podcast last year I I don't expect you
00:56:16
to be familiar with the name but it's um
00:56:17
Billy Evans and he was the police
00:56:19
commissioner in um Boston during the uh
00:56:22
uh during the mar the Marathon bombing
00:56:24
got 2012 I think it was he said the same
00:56:27
sort of thing um he he said you know
00:56:29
just black humor is how they they dealt
00:56:31
with it and he goes quite often you know
00:56:33
um there'd be like a horrific crime that
00:56:35
had taken place and people would see
00:56:36
like a roped off area and a bunch of
00:56:38
cops standing around laughing and he's
00:56:39
like it would often look bad like out of
00:56:41
context but um it was just like a coping
00:56:43
mechanism yeah it is you well if you've
00:56:47
read womo and the choir boys and some of
00:56:50
those kind of books I don't know if you
00:56:51
have or not but he talks about that kind
00:56:53
of thing and and he and it some of the
00:56:56
humor is is very very dark and um he
00:57:01
talked about a fatal motor action on the
00:57:03
motorway on one incident in the choir
00:57:05
boys I think it was the choir boys and
00:57:06
he and there was all these all these
00:57:09
people kind of looking over traffic
00:57:11
coming the other way looking over
00:57:13
Constable are they all right and this
00:57:16
this police officer picks up the head of
00:57:17
one of the victims and says I don't know
00:57:19
but he doesn't look too good this kind
00:57:21
of thing know that really kind of rough
00:57:24
stuff um but uh Jesus he's obviously
00:57:27
reached the point where for God's sake
00:57:29
just keep moving and piss off yeah you
00:57:31
know that um yeah so dark humor here
00:57:35
graveyard humor it's what it is and it's
00:57:37
not only the police I mean the military
00:57:39
must have it and I'm sure A&E at the
00:57:42
hospitals must have it a farm and that
00:57:44
go and you know all these different
00:57:46
people I'm sure they've got the same
00:57:48
thing goodby yeah yeah actually I had
00:57:51
had a go around last week um for the
00:57:53
podcast called um Dr inti Who's um an a
00:57:57
an A&E doctor here in Oakland and um
00:57:59
yeah he said the same sort of same sort
00:58:00
of thing but he said it's um seems like
00:58:02
it's a very Bleak place these days like
00:58:04
the amount of shootings that they deal
00:58:06
with every single weekend that you just
00:58:07
never even read about in the news
00:58:09
anymore no it's a it's the thing about
00:58:11
shooting is um I think as long as you
00:58:14
get a breather between each one you can
00:58:16
kind of cope but I remember in in I
00:58:19
think it was
00:58:20
93 we had 13 shotgun shootings in six
00:58:24
months and including the Scher Slaughter
00:58:27
and pukao and and um they were all kind
00:58:30
of different um but it was one after the
00:58:33
other bang bang bang bang bang and uh
00:58:35
and you know we we were worried about
00:58:37
some of the younger staff then because
00:58:39
God there's only so much especially
00:58:42
shotguns and they they make a bit of a
00:58:45
mess hey I put on um Instagram that you
00:58:48
were coming today and asked if there was
00:58:49
any questions and there was tons so
00:58:51
these are these are a bit sort of
00:58:53
scatter gun all over the place but um
00:58:55
you want to answer some of these
00:58:55
questions
00:58:56
okay um youth crime why is it so bad and
00:58:59
what do you think needs to be
00:59:01
done gosh what a great question that is
00:59:04
I wish I knew the answer um I've never
00:59:07
never been a youth aid but um you know
00:59:10
it's the old story of give me a give me
00:59:12
a boy from until he's seven I'll give
00:59:14
you the man and how do we how do we do
00:59:16
that people I think everybody accepts it
00:59:19
we need to kind of somehow get in there
00:59:22
um to these families you know the Joe
00:59:24
Thompsons and ravers and all the rest
00:59:26
and that get abused and all the rest of
00:59:27
neglected abandoned at an early age it's
00:59:31
it's all all to know that but what do
00:59:32
you do about it I got no answer um we
00:59:36
can't just go and SNF them um at the age
00:59:39
of four I me you go to a you go to a um
00:59:42
a criminal's address and some
00:59:43
four-year-old comes out and kicks you in
00:59:45
the shin and tells you to [ __ ] off um
00:59:48
you know where you're going to be seeing
00:59:50
that kid next 10 years time but what do
00:59:52
we do I don't know I got no answer
00:59:56
sad for those kids it's like they never
00:59:59
yeah they start on the back foot and
01:00:00
they' never given a chance I I was um um
01:00:03
the guardian of a a a Child part of a
01:00:06
family adoption thing a number of years
01:00:07
ago and as a result of that um because
01:00:09
he was too young to have therapy myself
01:00:11
and my partner at the time we had lots
01:00:13
of the therapy on his behalf and and we
01:00:15
learned so much like 80% of a brain
01:00:17
development's done in the first thousand
01:00:18
days so thousand everything everything
01:00:21
you say you give me a boy for seven
01:00:22
years and I'll give I'll give you the
01:00:23
man but it's like yeah life has sort of
01:00:26
won and lost in the first three years
01:00:28
believe it or not I one of one of the
01:00:30
chapter one of the guys I talked about
01:00:32
in the profiling the profiling that I
01:00:35
profiled um was was exactly that I don't
01:00:39
know if you remember but it was a when
01:00:40
he was doted out I think it's three and
01:00:43
he said you're going to be my parent now
01:00:45
I mean wow it tells you heaps doesn't it
01:00:47
you know yeah it sure does unsolved
01:00:50
cases do they occupy much space in your
01:00:52
mind
01:00:58
well you think of them um there's not
01:01:00
that many to be honest um some of them
01:01:04
might appear to be unsolved to some
01:01:06
people but as long as you kind of know
01:01:09
um you can take it take a file for as
01:01:12
far as you can and sometimes you know
01:01:15
you're never going to get the answer
01:01:17
here you know it's like having a jigsaw
01:01:19
puzzle in this three or four pieces
01:01:20
missing you know I I don't I
01:01:23
don't you can only do what you can do
01:01:26
and you know I can live with that must
01:01:29
be frustrating when you when you know
01:01:31
who the person is but you just don't
01:01:33
have the the correct evidence or the
01:01:35
right amount of evidence or that must be
01:01:37
infuriating yeah I mean it happens and
01:01:40
and I think the red fox T was a good
01:01:42
example of that you know we knew who the
01:01:44
people were responsible for it were but
01:01:46
we didn't quite have enough until and
01:01:48
then interestingly enough one of the
01:01:50
guys who is's now dealing with that um
01:01:53
who who locked up the offenders
01:01:56
um Mike hawood he he was in the Under 12
01:01:59
rugby team with my son um which we
01:02:02
coached and at the time that the red fox
01:02:04
went down and here we are he was locking
01:02:07
him up 30 years later you know or 25
01:02:09
years or whatever it was yeah what's the
01:02:11
red fox for anyone that um can't recall
01:02:13
that story there was a a murder at the
01:02:14
red fox Tavern of a man Mr Bush and um
01:02:20
and they went there was two guys went in
01:02:22
and shot him down doing an armed robbery
01:02:25
and
01:02:26
uh we kind of it went on for a long
01:02:30
time what are some things that you can
01:02:32
just not unsee even with
01:02:35
time I don't have any trouble with that
01:02:38
um but smells I do um some smells come
01:02:41
back every now and then um I think it
01:02:44
smells the strongest sense to be
01:02:46
honest what's it what do you mean what
01:02:49
death okay yeah and motor accidents and
01:02:51
you know I
01:02:53
still going to those fatal motor
01:02:55
accidents this before we used in a place
01:02:58
we used to deal with non used non injury
01:03:02
accidents any injury accidents the
01:03:04
police dealt with and strictly fatals
01:03:06
and the transport dealt with um the non-
01:03:09
injury so we went to all these fatal
01:03:11
matter actions and the the smell of
01:03:13
three smells always came out was
01:03:17
petrol um booze alcohol
01:03:21
and
01:03:23
the theer body parts that that b come
01:03:27
out it's smell all of its own those
01:03:29
three always live with you you know they
01:03:33
um just something that wom me you know I
01:03:37
remember going to a a little kid who
01:03:39
sniffed petrol under his house for a
01:03:41
long time and and died under there and
01:03:43
he'd been under there in the summer and
01:03:44
he he um he was almost flu me pull him
01:03:48
out the smell um I didn't mind looking
01:03:52
at it I couldn't didn't have a problem
01:03:54
with that but they brought out a
01:03:55
photograph two weeks later and the smell
01:03:57
comes straight back bang you know um
01:04:01
thing about smelling was it wasn't until
01:04:03
later into my career that I found out
01:04:05
wish that taught me at training College
01:04:07
um that when you when you go into a a
01:04:10
particularly bad death where somebody's
01:04:12
been dead for a while and the smells
01:04:14
enormous your first first instinct is to
01:04:17
go in and go back out again to take a
01:04:19
breath of fresh air but you don't um and
01:04:23
it was taught to me by Kevy Richard who
01:04:25
went over to the um did a lot of the
01:04:29
stuff over in um Thailand when the tital
01:04:32
wave went through over and they did at
01:04:34
work over there and they in the with the
01:04:36
smells all the time so um he said what
01:04:39
you do is you go in and you stay there
01:04:42
until your brain gets rid of it as far
01:04:44
as being like it adapts it adapts the
01:04:47
brain great thing it figures it out and
01:04:50
and you just stay in there and what the
01:04:52
hell they didn't tell me that a training
01:04:54
cols could saved your a lot of
01:04:58
grief yeah I don't know if I'm um I'm
01:05:01
normal or not but I'm I'm I was just
01:05:03
thinking about this while you gave that
01:05:04
answer I'm 51 years old I've I've seen a
01:05:07
couple of dead bodies in my life but
01:05:08
only in like open casket situations and
01:05:11
and funerals you know I've never seen so
01:05:13
the sort of stuff that you you're seeing
01:05:15
on um probably like a week toe basis or
01:05:17
whatever like it's really
01:05:19
abnormal well yeah I suppose you get
01:05:22
used to it I I don't know if you get
01:05:24
totally used to it or not but when I
01:05:26
started I I remember I used to think
01:05:29
about the people you know and and um
01:05:33
especially if they're young people in
01:05:35
fatal motor accidents and and the likes
01:05:38
you know especially in the young days
01:05:39
and I think these poor buggers you know
01:05:42
especially in the mot down Tip Top
01:05:44
quarter I always keep going back to that
01:05:46
but I remember a few of them there and
01:05:48
you think a few a few hours ago these
01:05:50
people were were dancing and having a
01:05:53
good time their life was full ahead of
01:05:54
them the gone and I yeah that was that
01:05:59
was hard and I but I thought about it
01:06:02
then a lot but as as you go along you
01:06:04
kind of it just become I hate to say it
01:06:07
but it becomes routine really like sick
01:06:09
nature yeah yeah um but I'm surely like
01:06:14
knocking on someone's door to tell them
01:06:15
that uh like a family member's gone that
01:06:17
that never got easier yeah no it never
01:06:21
good and it depends a little bit you we
01:06:23
struck some of them where that tell to
01:06:25
bug her off before You' cuz some of the
01:06:27
people that you were going to inform
01:06:29
come from families that didn't like us
01:06:31
very much so you I remember one in
01:06:33
particular and they and I said well
01:06:35
there's no easy way to say this but he's
01:06:38
um you if you got a brother called so
01:06:41
and so when he's down at the Mory you
01:06:43
know you're going to come with me and
01:06:44
identify him you know that you got to be
01:06:46
abrupt at some point other they'll kick
01:06:48
you off the doorstep so it all kind of
01:06:50
yeah kind of learn to kind of run with
01:06:52
them I suppose like that's the the worst
01:06:55
news imaginable to to give to another
01:06:57
human being did it help other areas of
01:07:00
your life and that you know having
01:07:02
difficult conversations that most of us
01:07:03
would probably procrastinate over you
01:07:05
became very good at them because you
01:07:07
realize it's this difficult conversation
01:07:08
is actually not a matter of life and
01:07:10
death well some people who are lot
01:07:11
better at it than others you know I
01:07:13
don't think it' ever come easy for me
01:07:15
that's for sure and I don't think it'
01:07:16
come easy for many people but um perhaps
01:07:19
some kind of dealt with it better than
01:07:20
others you know if you got a um if
01:07:23
you're an EXC car salesman or something
01:07:24
perhaps
01:07:26
do you follow high-profile trials now
01:07:28
just out of curiosity or you sort
01:07:31
disengaged with the news yeah yeah not
01:07:33
really I I I don't watch the news much
01:07:35
to be
01:07:36
honest um yeah know it's all too sad
01:07:40
really a lot of
01:07:42
it you just yeah happy with your rose
01:07:44
gardens and yeah look I mean and happy
01:07:46
with I like to surround myself with
01:07:48
happy people and people that I want to
01:07:50
be with that's the other good thing
01:07:51
about retirement you don't have to kind
01:07:52
of be in the in the company of people
01:07:55
you don't want to be you know you just
01:07:57
choose yeah um some more questions from
01:07:59
Instagram did you ever come across any
01:08:01
dirty
01:08:02
cops I don't how dirty but some of them
01:08:05
were um a bit naughty um in some of
01:08:09
their behavior but you know in all my
01:08:12
time in South Oakland you know they talk
01:08:14
about planting evidence and that kind of
01:08:16
stuff I never saw it now I can honestly
01:08:19
hand on heart say that you know I never
01:08:21
saw evidence getting planted or anything
01:08:23
like that and then and I know a lot of
01:08:26
people probably won't believe me but
01:08:28
that's a fact you know I I I'm hoping
01:08:32
that you know we had a reputation in the
01:08:35
police department as one of the least
01:08:37
corrupt least corrupt country for
01:08:39
starters and then of course him
01:08:41
naturally goes from that as to go the
01:08:42
least corrupt Police Department I hope
01:08:44
it stays like
01:08:46
that um can he recall a time that he
01:08:48
feared for his
01:08:50
life I feared for my life um there fear
01:08:55
but I I don't think I ever feared for my
01:08:57
life um certainly fear that I was going
01:08:59
to get um dealt to for sure but um no I
01:09:05
think it's probably more so nowadays
01:09:06
with all these firearms that are around
01:09:08
poor guys out there and girls out there
01:09:10
now um I think it's a bit more dangerous
01:09:13
now as far as thinking you might be
01:09:15
going to die today yeah by the way we
01:09:18
just um while you giving that answer
01:09:19
weird like a couple hundred meters up
01:09:21
the road from Oakland Central police
01:09:22
station and there was just a siren going
01:09:23
past you didn't even flinch or anything
01:09:26
did it take a while after retirement for
01:09:27
you to better switch off to those noises
01:09:29
or no it was a for a long time it would
01:09:33
be my wife or or or somebody else that I
01:09:36
might be in the car with oh I want to
01:09:37
wear that g i I hadn't even thought
01:09:39
about it you know I just and they said
01:09:42
oh it must be something serious going on
01:09:43
there I said it could be a motor
01:09:46
accident it could be anything could be a
01:09:48
burglary a domestic vus I just don't
01:09:50
think about it I and I'm not interested
01:09:53
but when I was in the CB um I think it's
01:09:58
common because I've discussed this with
01:10:00
some of the guys they
01:10:02
say you you look at suspicious vehicles
01:10:05
or or something going on you think
01:10:07
what's that car doing there and and it
01:10:10
was be the wives that would pick you up
01:10:12
on say what are you looking at you're
01:10:13
not at work now that but it it does be
01:10:17
you do get like that I mean but
01:10:20
afterwards I mean I I couldn't give a
01:10:22
toss you you know police guy comes along
01:10:25
okay right so the notes section of your
01:10:27
phone there's not like a whole lot of
01:10:28
number plates of vehicles of potential
01:10:31
interest that you've seen and I'll get
01:10:33
on you
01:10:35
um can chuk remember the first time he
01:10:38
saw a dead
01:10:39
body well the first time I saw um
01:10:43
anything at all was a like that you know
01:10:45
I was we didn't even go to funerals when
01:10:47
I was a kid you know we were really
01:10:50
protected kind of environment I was
01:10:51
naive as hell but when we got to
01:10:53
training College they took us to the
01:10:54
morch and they cut up a brain a couple
01:10:57
of the guys fell over and fainted I
01:11:00
didn't but but you know this is the
01:11:02
first time I've seen anything at all and
01:11:03
then of course after that it was yeah I
01:11:06
don't know about the first time but it
01:11:07
probably would have been at a fatal
01:11:08
motor accident or something or a or a
01:11:11
sudden death I mean sudden death were
01:11:14
common as one thing you know you suicide
01:11:18
well not only suicides anyone that would
01:11:21
that you didn't have a doctor
01:11:22
certificate for you was kind of you had
01:11:24
the police had to attend you know and um
01:11:27
and then put a coroners report in and
01:11:29
and a lot of them some of them were kind
01:11:30
of people who had been you know old
01:11:33
people who might have been dead for a
01:11:34
week in the middle of summer or or or as
01:11:38
you say suicides hanging blowing their
01:11:40
heads off um um yeah um I honestly can't
01:11:45
remember the first one I think it would
01:11:46
have been a fatal motor accent
01:11:49
probably um what would he say is the
01:11:51
most rewarding moment of his police
01:11:53
career
01:11:55
I think sitting with victims in the
01:11:58
court when rayel got convicted and
01:12:01
sentenced I think that was the biggest
01:12:04
the best best moment of
01:12:06
particularly um and and Justice Anderson
01:12:11
giving his little standup
01:12:14
Raya and uh it was it was really good
01:12:17
and some of the stuff he he he said in
01:12:20
his sentencing um would um bring tears
01:12:24
to your eyes really I mean it was so
01:12:27
just toor stps off them really stuff
01:12:30
real good stuff and I it's in the book
01:12:32
but I yeah that was good um someone
01:12:36
wants to know should police be armed oh
01:12:39
y when I was in the police I always said
01:12:42
no um but now it's not for me to say I'm
01:12:47
not out there um things have changed and
01:12:51
um I think they should ask the people on
01:12:53
the front line what they think and I
01:12:55
can't answer it any better than you can
01:12:57
probably don't really um cop shows on TV
01:13:01
does he have any favorites and is there
01:13:03
any resemblance to real life
01:13:07
well I've asked been asked this this
01:13:10
many years ago and I and um when I first
01:13:13
joined um there was a program on
01:13:15
television called Hill Street Blues and
01:13:19
I I used to watch that because it was
01:13:21
humorous and I I used to laugh at that
01:13:24
but but lot of cup shows now I don't
01:13:26
watch it all probably the one that I
01:13:29
liked was foil I don't if you've ever
01:13:33
seen foil it was a a British program and
01:13:37
during Second World War and it was about
01:13:39
a detective superintendent who um was
01:13:43
soling crimes and things it was all
01:13:45
these connections with the war and um
01:13:48
MI5 and MI6 were coming in and getting
01:13:51
in the way of his investigation and that
01:13:54
and what I like about foil was he never
01:13:57
took his eye off the ball all he hunted
01:13:59
for was the truth regardless of all the
01:14:02
political interference that came along
01:14:04
and he he just keep going straight ahead
01:14:06
and never lost track of what he was
01:14:08
after and um yeah I thought I enjoyed
01:14:12
him um someone sent me a message on
01:14:14
Instagram my daughter is 21 and wants to
01:14:16
join the place it's been her dream since
01:14:18
she was 16 what advice or words of
01:14:20
wisdom SL encouragement would you give
01:14:23
her about the profession
01:14:26
yeah i' what I'd say would
01:14:29
be go through with your dream you've got
01:14:32
to do that but um it's just those just
01:14:36
kind of keep your head about you for
01:14:39
those first six months in the job and
01:14:42
and hope that you get a good NCO that'll
01:14:45
look after you um and follow them and if
01:14:49
he's good if he's he or she is good um
01:14:53
you'll be right but if not um you might
01:14:57
have difficulty but uh um I I really
01:14:59
think you're got to follow a dream and
01:15:02
and it it's not going to be like it was
01:15:04
for me um because the life goes on the
01:15:06
world's turned a few times since then um
01:15:09
but you know you'll still get a lot of
01:15:11
enjoyment and you'll get some
01:15:12
camaraderie that you'll get in sell very
01:15:16
few other places I think yeah is it an
01:15:19
occupation where a lot of people get
01:15:20
chewed up and sped out yeah I think so
01:15:23
yeah what did you ever feel like in the
01:15:25
tail no no never no I never did um Until
01:15:29
the End um but um no I didn't um because
01:15:35
you're surrounded by some great people
01:15:38
really if Chu could give parents one tip
01:15:41
to help uh their kids stay safe what
01:15:43
would it
01:15:48
be um Know Your Home Zone um a lot of
01:15:53
people get into trouble when they they
01:15:55
they go you know they may come from
01:15:57
South Orland or wherever and they go
01:15:59
into somewhere else and and it's foreign
01:16:02
to them
01:16:05
um I think you just got to be
01:16:06
particularly careful there um um because
01:16:10
you don't know what you're dealing with
01:16:14
um um how do you keep them safe but the
01:16:18
most important thing in in your life is
01:16:21
um being pointed in the right direction
01:16:22
by a good person and you know if if for
01:16:25
example Joe Thompson had run into
01:16:28
somebody in his life who was good and
01:16:32
had decent morals and could could kind
01:16:35
of focus him he might have turned out
01:16:38
right just just be good and and um give
01:16:42
them a good foundation that and they'll
01:16:45
be
01:16:46
okay
01:16:48
um who's Neil grimste do you know Neil
01:16:51
grimste well spoke to him last night oh
01:16:54
he he sent me an email saying um ask
01:16:56
Chuck about his finest profiling
01:16:59
success that's cuz grimbo was involved
01:17:02
in it yeah no um there was a there was a
01:17:05
bad rape in um a shocking rape in poo
01:17:09
just near the end of I think it might
01:17:11
have been 2006 it was nearing the end of
01:17:13
my time in profiling unit and um we we
01:17:17
had put together lists would been very
01:17:19
successful but we'd never had we' never
01:17:21
had a number one and so grim grimbo got
01:17:25
a hold of me and he he said can you CH
01:17:28
can you can you give me a
01:17:31
um a list of suspects so I did I think
01:17:34
it was hundred and something he says uh
01:17:36
he came back to me he said CH I haven't
01:17:38
got enough staff to deal with 120
01:17:41
suspect can you can you break it down a
01:17:44
bit so I gave him 20 um and and then he
01:17:49
said can you prioritize it I said yeah
01:17:51
okay I prioritized it and then grimo so
01:17:56
proudly kind of points out and um it was
01:17:59
a great great result he gets a ring from
01:18:01
the ESR one day and uh one night and he
01:18:06
given him the name of the
01:18:07
offender and uh because they've been out
01:18:09
and blooded the the suspects you see the
01:18:11
top 20 and uh and he said I'd never
01:18:15
heard of the guy so he goes down to the
01:18:17
station and and and looks at the folder
01:18:20
and there was number one on the list was
01:18:22
this guy the locals in Pugo didn't even
01:18:25
know he was there um and he was caught
01:18:27
by his past just like Jay Thompson was
01:18:30
and that was the Pinnacle for us and see
01:18:32
in the profiling again it we had we
01:18:34
created a criminal suspect list with the
01:18:37
offender at number one um yeah not long
01:18:40
after that I
01:18:43
finished what do you hope your legacy
01:18:45
will be both within the force and in the
01:18:47
broader
01:18:50
Community I'm hoping that I've helped
01:18:54
rap Victor s deal with um the procedures
01:18:58
and and processes that they have to go
01:19:00
through and helped help them get through
01:19:03
court but also help catch catch the bad
01:19:06
buggers
01:19:07
really well there's no doubt you've done
01:19:09
that right some of the worst some of the
01:19:12
baddest some of the worst um yeah
01:19:15
um but they'll keep coming they'll keep
01:19:18
coming and the society we got today
01:19:21
yeah this has been a great chat hook
01:19:24
it's been really
01:19:26
enjoyable right well
01:19:30
yeah real real easy to be honest though
01:19:33
well no it's funny but I wonder how how
01:19:35
much it is from from your perspective
01:19:36
because I've had all sort of people on
01:19:37
the podcast but you know you have um say
01:19:40
s gram Henry here you know recalling
01:19:42
some of the highs and lows of his life
01:19:44
but even the lows of his life they're
01:19:45
very different to you know like what
01:19:47
you've been through and even the highs
01:19:49
in your life they they're still you know
01:19:51
quite Grim memories in a way aren't they
01:19:53
they are but I I don't think that
01:19:55
unusual for for detective if you were I
01:19:58
I could bring you in quite a few
01:19:59
detective sergeants and detectives that
01:20:02
could give you a similar kind of story
01:20:04
really um to some extent you know the
01:20:06
ups and downs anyway you know and how
01:20:08
they survive um you know that girl that
01:20:12
wants to join the police force Police
01:20:13
Department I should say um is um you
01:20:17
know if she hangs in there um she'll
01:20:21
have experiences you know good and bad
01:20:25
but don't dwell on the bad dwell on the
01:20:28
good and dwell on the the people that
01:20:30
you work with you know they're they're
01:20:33
great well that's great hey just before
01:20:35
we end um this show is sponsor sponsored
01:20:38
by the generate kiwi sa scheme love um
01:20:40
challenged me to give $20,000 to charity
01:20:43
by spreading the word about the
01:20:44
importance of kiwi saer advice and
01:20:46
planning for your future so if you
01:20:47
answer these five questions uh generate
01:20:50
will donate 500 bucks to a charity of
01:20:52
your choice what would it be what you
01:20:54
want to name the charity now or do it at
01:20:56
the end you can have a moment to think
01:20:58
about it if you want I
01:21:01
probably um Rape Crisis okay perfect
01:21:06
okay are you a spender or a
01:21:08
saver
01:21:10
spender what's been your biggest money
01:21:16
mistake um getting a
01:21:20
divorce don't even cheap are they
01:21:24
the one though that's probably not bad
01:21:26
for a life lifelong cop yeah one uh who
01:21:30
do you who do you talk to when you have
01:21:32
questions about
01:21:37
money probably my
01:21:40
son that's interesting cuz most people
01:21:42
had on the podcast they uh yeah they
01:21:44
generally say it's a parent they talk to
01:21:46
the whole the whole thing changes right
01:21:49
yeah I mean get so much so much
01:21:52
happening and it's changing in this
01:21:53
world 's no point in going going to the
01:21:56
elders you go to the youngers you know
01:21:58
it's like like getting some grandson in
01:22:00
to kind of check your
01:22:02
computer yeah is this a scam or is this
01:22:04
not a scam
01:22:06
absolutely uh um uh you're already here
01:22:10
but the next question is what's
01:22:11
something fun you can see yourself doing
01:22:12
in
01:22:14
retirement oh just just going down and
01:22:17
have a coffee getting involved with a
01:22:19
community and and you know I want to get
01:22:22
on a rotary and own a band and join the
01:22:26
local Bowling Club just get to know
01:22:28
people a lot of good people out there to
01:22:30
communicate with that's what I want to
01:22:32
do it really seems like you're genuinely
01:22:34
happy like you're really enjoying your
01:22:36
life well Absolut well really what else
01:22:40
is there I mean that point it's kind of
01:22:43
dwelling in the bad in the Dark Places
01:22:46
um I think you got to enjoy life you
01:22:48
never know what's around the corner my
01:22:50
wife my wife my second wife this is um
01:22:52
and I the last the last one too
01:22:55
the last one no more yeah no more um we
01:22:58
made a we made a pack years ago that we
01:23:01
were going to talk about spending money
01:23:03
is to just travel and enjoy ourselves
01:23:06
because you never know what's around the
01:23:07
corner and um then of course um and we
01:23:11
did we've spent 20 years wasting a hell
01:23:14
lot of money just traveling around
01:23:16
Europe and places and and having a good
01:23:18
time and sure enough health problems
01:23:21
come to poal Carolyn and um and now we
01:23:24
can't do anymore so yeah if you could
01:23:27
pick anywhere in New Zealand to retire
01:23:29
where would it be and why Cambridge you
01:23:32
there already what's so good about
01:23:33
Cambridge like it's it it's flat not
01:23:37
like Oakland here where I had to walk
01:23:38
down the hill in Parell and had to climb
01:23:40
a mountain coming up the other side to
01:23:42
get to the the um book launch last night
01:23:46
and um it's flat and it's a beautiful
01:23:48
town a lot of lot of grhe heads like me
01:23:51
and um lovely cafes people will smile at
01:23:55
you walking down the street which I'm
01:23:56
not used to um it's just a great place
01:24:00
yeah and what do you love most about
01:24:01
being a
01:24:02
Ki I'm a fourth generation kiwi what
01:24:05
else would I be you know I I think we're
01:24:08
pretty layback and um and we are we're
01:24:13
no we simple is not the right word but
01:24:15
we're simplistic in our approach to life
01:24:17
you know we don't get too tied up in
01:24:20
crazy kind of ideas and and things I I
01:24:24
think we're pretty pretty lay back
01:24:26
really that's what I like and most
01:24:28
people are good right absolutely yeah
01:24:30
yeah you forget about it because you
01:24:33
this is why I said that said before here
01:24:36
D that I I lived in in the community
01:24:39
that I worked in because if you
01:24:41
didn't all you'd ever deal with is the
01:24:44
bad people and that's that's the view
01:24:45
you'd have was you live there you see
01:24:49
that that's bad people only take up 5%
01:24:51
of the population the rest what about
01:24:52
all the rest of them they're all pretty
01:24:54
good
01:24:54
H hey thanks so much for your your time
01:24:57
today and and also for your service over
01:24:59
the last four decades or whatever it's
01:25:00
been um what a career what a life oh
01:25:03
what are you what are your grandkids and
01:25:04
and great grandkids call you is it POA
01:25:06
Granddad what a yeah papa CH Papa Chu
01:25:09
that's me I love it oh we didn't I
01:25:11
didn't even ask why why the is is is the
01:25:13
name Chuck to do with um hen yeah yeah
01:25:16
right right I got it a trenum right a
01:25:19
that's followed you around for life no
01:25:21
one no one calls you Dave hey no there
01:25:23
was one of the guys at was at the launch
01:25:25
last night who I work with a lot um at
01:25:28
my retirement when they said my name was
01:25:30
David he said I never knew your first
01:25:32
name been working with him for
01:25:36
years well that's great hey
01:25:37
congratulations on the book and masking
01:25:39
monsters and thank you so much for
01:25:41
coming on the podcast today I really
01:25:42
appreciate it okay D pleasure

Podspun Insights

In this riveting episode, retired detective sergeant Dave "Chuck" Henwood shares gripping tales from his 47-year career in the New Zealand Police, including his encounters with some of the country’s most notorious criminals. Chuck's journey is not just about crime-solving; it’s a deep dive into the emotional toll of policing, the importance of victim advocacy, and the evolution of criminal profiling. He discusses his new book, "Unmasking Monsters," which reflects on the harrowing realities of his work and the lives affected by crime. Listeners are taken through the highs and lows of Chuck's career, from the satisfaction of bringing justice to victims to the haunting memories of unsolved cases. With a blend of humor and heart, Chuck opens up about the challenges of retirement, the joys of gardening, and the importance of community, leaving audiences with a profound understanding of the complexities of law enforcement and the human experience.

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This episode stands out for the following:

  • 90
    Most emotional
  • 90
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  • 90
    Most timeless
  • 88
    Most heartbreaking

Episode Highlights

  • Unmasking Monsters
    Henwood discusses his new book about hunting New Zealand's worst criminals.
    “It was all about timing and a way to share our stories.”
    @ 02m 35s
    August 14, 2024
  • The Importance of Victims
    Henwood emphasizes the connection he maintains with victims of crime.
    “There’s a hell of a lot of good people out there.”
    @ 12m 27s
    August 14, 2024
  • 20 Hours of Interviews
    An intense 20-hour interview with a notorious criminal revealed shocking details.
    “It went from there... it went amazingly well, really.”
    @ 20m 33s
    August 14, 2024
  • The Burden of Crime Investigation
    Investigators discuss the emotional toll of dealing with shocking crimes daily.
    “You have to put your armor on and go back.”
    @ 27m 13s
    August 14, 2024
  • Questioning a Wrongful Conviction
    Doubts arise over a wrongful conviction linked to Malcolm Rowa's behavior.
    “It simply didn't make any sense.”
    @ 38m 57s
    August 14, 2024
  • The Fight for Justice
    After years of silence, speaking out against wrongful convictions became a necessity.
    “I wasn’t going to let that happen.”
    @ 42m 08s
    August 14, 2024
  • Reflections on Loyalty
    Exploring the complexities of loyalty within the police force.
    “Loyalty is a two-way street, isn’t it?”
    @ 48m 24s
    August 14, 2024
  • Malcolm Rowe's Transformation
    Witnessing the physical decline of a notorious criminal after years in prison.
    “You’re looking pretty crook, mate.”
    @ 53m 04s
    August 14, 2024
  • The Weight of Unsolved Cases
    Unsolved cases linger in the mind like incomplete jigsaw puzzles, leaving a sense of frustration.
    “It's like having a jigsaw puzzle with three or four pieces missing.”
    @ 01h 01m 12s
    August 14, 2024
  • Choosing Happiness in Retirement
    In retirement, one can choose to surround themselves with positive influences and happy people.
    “You just choose to surround yourself with happy people.”
    @ 01h 07m 51s
    August 14, 2024
  • Plans for Retirement
    "I want to get on a rotary and own a band." A vision for a fulfilling retirement.
    “That's what I want to do.”
    @ 01h 22m 17s
    August 14, 2024
  • Enjoying Life
    "You got to enjoy life; you never know what's around the corner." A reminder to cherish every moment.
    “You never know what's around the corner.”
    @ 01h 22m 48s
    August 14, 2024

Episode Quotes

Key Moments

  • Retirement Reflections01:31
  • Writing a Book02:35
  • Wrongful Conviction37:54
  • Speaking Out42:08
  • Loyalty Issues48:24
  • Frustration of Unsolved Cases1:01:12
  • Good People1:24:54
  • Grandkids Names1:25:04

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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