WEBVTT - Bullets, bombs and falling in love at a siege: Caroline O’Hare Pt.2 0:00:01.960 --> 0:00:04.960 The public has had a long held fascination with detectives. 0:00:05.440 --> 0:00:07.880 Detective see a side of life the average person is 0:00:07.920 --> 0:00:11.160 never exposed to. I spent thirty four years as a cop. 0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:14.080 For twenty five of those years, I was catching killers. 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:16.280 That's what I did for a living. I was a 0:00:16.280 --> 0:00:20.600 homicide detective. I'm no longer just interviewing bad guys. Instead, 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:23.200 I'm taking the public into the world in which I operated. 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:26.480 The guests I talk to each week have amazing stories 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:28.840 from all sides of the law. The interviews are raw 0:00:28.840 --> 0:00:31.520 and honest, just like the people I talk to. Some 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:34.680 of the content and language might be confronting. That's because 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:37.720 no one who comes into contact with crime is left unchanged. 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:40.559 Join me now as I take you into this world. 0:00:46.080 --> 0:00:48.519 Welcome back to part two of my chat. We've recently 0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:53.200 retired Detective Chief Inspector Carolin O. Hair. I've got notes here, Carolyn, 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:54.920 I'm almost going to give up the notes, so I 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:58.120 was going to keep you on track. No, you don't 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:00.800 have to be sorry, that's just so so funny. Some 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:04.520 of the stories and serious, of course, Yeah, but yeah, 0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:07.840 the life and times of a police officer. No wonder 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:09.759 you stayed in there so long. Why would you leave 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:11.800 a job You get to do it like that, You 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:13.319 get to do all this and they pay you for 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:17.040 it exactly. And you found loving in the job too. 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:20.199 Just the fact that you founded a siege. 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:24.440 What can I say? It's novel. 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:25.760 It was a long, cold. 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:27.960 Night, the moon was bright. 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:32.880 Yeah, and there he was standing in his black overalls. Okay, enough, 0:01:32.920 --> 0:01:36.120 I'll get us both in the trouble. Close personal protection, 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:39.720 dignitary protection. People don't know a lot about it because 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:43.960 you see the people in the background. I always Jake 0:01:44.000 --> 0:01:46.080 when I was doing it on the blake that walks 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:48.760 around in the dark suit with the sunglasses. I'm talking 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:52.760 into your sleeve type situation. But it's a very important role, 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:54.960 and it's a very complex role, isn't it. 0:01:54.960 --> 0:01:55.800 It certainly is. 0:01:55.920 --> 0:01:59.240 What was your involvement in that line of pleasing? 0:01:59.600 --> 0:02:01.720 Okay? So when I first went to Special Branch, we 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:06.320 did close personal protection for internationally protected people and also 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:10.760 Australian high office holders, so prime Minister, governor, General, premiers, 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:13.240 all that sort of stuff. I looked after Nick Griner, 0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:18.120 I looked after the Queen, Princess Diana, all of that 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:19.880 sort of stuff. In the eighties, I was there at 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:22.200 the Special Branch during the Bison tanery, so a lot 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:25.919 of international dignitaries came out. So I had that experience, 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:30.320 and then after the Royal Commission, I went back to 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:36.600 counter terrorism policing and ran I was the operations manager 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:40.160 and leading up to the Olympics, so I ran sort 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:46.920 of investigations and intelligence and dignitary protection, but dignitary protection 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:50.079 for the Olympics. Prior to that, ANDREWS. Lattery was in 0:02:50.160 --> 0:02:53.560 charge of DIGPRO. But when I became the operations manager, 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:56.320 and then three weeks before the Olympics, I was thrown 0:02:56.320 --> 0:02:59.639 in as the commander for Dignitary Protection Operations of the 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:02.840 command under Operations, so I had two hundred and forty 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:07.280 police and you know, one hundred and fifty cars, ten 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:10.760 of which were armored. BMW's had forty four of those 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:14.720 police were AFP. We had nowhere to put the cars, 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:17.520 nowhere to put the police. So they gave us a 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:20.520 Regent Street police station, which I think might have been condemned, 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:23.560 can't remember. We didn't even have seats for people to 0:03:23.600 --> 0:03:26.919 sit on. We had no So to work it all out, 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:31.079 I sat down with Andrew's Slattery and just worked out 0:03:31.080 --> 0:03:33.800 a plan of attacks, said to all the cops go 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:36.760 away for two days, don't destroy the cars. 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:37.680 I remember that. 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:41.240 Do you remember that I was six months pregnant at 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:44.840 the time, so yeah, it was. It was a tough 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:50.120 gig being so pregnant. And also just you know, a 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:52.120 lot of the police had to do some of the 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:55.200 more boring things, not running around with Chelsea Clinton or 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:56.280 who did you look after it? 0:03:56.560 --> 0:04:01.080 I looked after the Bulgarian president until one of the 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:05.440 Bulgarian athletes tested positive in the drugs or weightlifters. Then 0:04:05.480 --> 0:04:09.360 he left, and then looked after a Turkey group, which 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:10.200 was quite interesting. 0:04:10.440 --> 0:04:10.600 Yeah. 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:13.480 I got to see the opening ceremony, the closing ceremony, 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:17.920 and front row seats in all the sports. I loved it. 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:20.800 But the chaos and I just brought back so many 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:24.920 memories when you said everything was happening, we're fighting over cars, 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:29.880 like the logistics in homicide operations. I've organized big operations. 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:33.719 You had seventy hundred police involved. That was chaos. It 0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:36.680 was chaos and no one knew how it was going 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:38.600 to run, and it ran so smoothly. 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:44.279 Yeah, it did. I remember Princess Anne was what happened 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:47.159 for the opening ceremony that organized buses for the dignitaries 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:49.440 to actually go on the buses together so there wouldn't 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:53.960 be a whole heap of motikaiates. Well, everybody decided, apart 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:57.559 from Princess and God love her, that they would still 0:04:57.560 --> 0:04:59.320 go in their own. Motiicaid, I'm not getting on a 0:04:59.360 --> 0:05:03.400 bus important for that. So Donna Adney was actually looking 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:06.479 after Princess and and she rang and said, she's the 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:10.080 only one on the bus, right okay, I said, get 0:05:10.080 --> 0:05:12.359 her off the bus, put her in the back of 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:15.080 a higher patrol car. We'll get a highway car down 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:18.840 there and we will green light her out to be 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:22.200 open e ceremony. Because she's part of the Olympic Committee, 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:25.440 International Olympic Committee, it can't start without her. She was 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:28.760 probably the most important to be there. So anyway they 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:30.479 did that. Donna got off the bus. They're getting the 0:05:30.560 --> 0:05:34.800 higher patrol car, blue lighter all the way to Homebush. 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:39.159 And she absolutely loved it. She had the time of 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:43.560 her life. She really, you know, so some people were 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:46.240 very high maintenance, but I look at people like her 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:49.080 and she was, you know, really down to earth and 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:53.120 very just no nonsense, get on with it. And quite 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:55.000 happy to get into the back of a police car 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:57.159 and be taken out. And the HIGHA guys, you know, 0:05:57.200 --> 0:05:59.360 they were pretty tough. They thought it was pretty exciting too. 0:06:00.160 --> 0:06:04.919 Like so many experiences I found and generally found that 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:07.720 the heads of state were fine to deal with, but 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:10.159 you had the people around them that would cause the 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:15.120 cause the problems. And I remember with the Bulgarian president, 0:06:15.240 --> 0:06:17.840 He's had of security who was about six foot ten, 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:21.919 and there was me and an AFP guy that I 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:25.200 hadn't met before. So we're working under pressure and we'd 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:27.720 only met the two days. You gave us the car 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:29.720 and we got to know each other. I don't know 0:06:29.760 --> 0:06:32.000 where we went around and we checked sites. That's right, 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:34.680 we go down the Bondai bitch and see what happens 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:38.240 down there. But the head of security has come up 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:42.800 and in the broken English, very serious voice, and who 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:45.760 is looking after my president? And I'll go, I am, 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:50.520 and seriously the disdain on his face. He just looked 0:06:50.520 --> 0:06:53.039 me up and down from hip to tamin. He's a 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:56.200 six foot six foot eight, six foot ten, just this huge, 0:06:56.240 --> 0:07:01.880 bulking human boom. You are, yes, I am, And they 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:05.120 they tested me. They left it because part of the thing, 0:07:05.360 --> 0:07:09.360 and you'd know that it's coordinating. It's about not just 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:14.280 protecting their physical safety, but it said they're dignity. That's 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:17.240 that's the word I was looking for and making it convenience. 0:07:17.320 --> 0:07:19.840 So when they come out of their room, the lift 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:22.040 is there waiting for them, the cars out the front 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:25.120 and all these things. You've got all these different heads 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:27.680 of state, so we're all fighting each other to get 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:30.560 things happening. And the one thing I learned on the 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:35.360 course that holds you random. I'll talk talk about that. Yeah, 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:38.320 I owe him big time, and not in a good way. 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:40.960 But the one thing that was drummed into me, don't 0:07:41.080 --> 0:07:44.720 if you're the principal officer looking after the head of state, 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:47.440 stay with them wherever you go, stay with them. I'm 0:07:47.480 --> 0:07:50.640 coordinating the lifts. This is in the early stages, and 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:54.960 I don't know miss the lifts or whatever. He's gone down, 0:07:55.120 --> 0:07:57.800 The president's gone down. He's in the car and they've 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:00.000 just driven off, and I'm standing there in my suit 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:03.120 and thinking the main street of Sydney. I'm thinking. The 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:05.400 one thing that was drummed into me, don't lose sight. 0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:09.200 Don't lose sight of your person. And I thought, okay, 0:08:09.480 --> 0:08:11.960 just put Pride in the back and I sprinted down, 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:15.200 sprinted down the road, chasing after this car, called them 0:08:15.240 --> 0:08:18.400 about a kilometer down the raid, jumped in the car 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:20.320 and they've looked at me and laughed, and it was 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:24.120 almost like a test, going all right, you're okay, you're 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:26.520 okay now. But the course, I've got to say, the 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:29.320 three week course we did out that Holsworthy Army base. 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:31.400 And this is how Halty and I love him but 0:08:31.480 --> 0:08:33.200 hate him in equal parts. 0:08:33.240 --> 0:08:34.079 I think everyone does. 0:08:34.520 --> 0:08:36.680 He set me up big time. And I caught up 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:38.120 with him a couple of years ago and he was 0:08:38.120 --> 0:08:40.800 still laughing about it. A lot of it. We do 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:43.000 a lot of shooting and all the things that you 0:08:43.080 --> 0:08:47.480 do for upskilling, and also a bit of physical stuff. 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:49.120 And there was a bloat there in the army that 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:51.000 was just this. He looked like he'd been carved out 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:53.120 the stone. And he was a boxer, a top boxer, 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:56.040 so he was putting us all through rounds with him. 0:08:56.160 --> 0:08:59.720 You'd step in and I did a bit of boxing 0:08:59.720 --> 0:09:02.280 and I thought I can look after myself, and I'm 0:09:02.320 --> 0:09:04.640 watching how the other people on the course are going 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:07.280 through when they're stepping in stepping with him, and I'm 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:11.360 thinking this is this is easy step in their touch gloves, 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:13.959 and then he proceeded to beat the ship out of it, 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:17.040 and I'm thinking this is getting real. So it's started 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:19.319 started to turn. It turn into a fight, and I'm 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:22.200 fighting as best I can to save myself and getting 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:24.360 a bit cut up and smashed and all that, and 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:28.840 I'm thinking, what the fuck, what's this bloke up? Because 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:31.320 I've watched six flakes going before me and it was 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:34.000 just all friendly, just a bit of play play fighting. 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:37.520 And when I get out, I'm wiping the blood off 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:39.679 my nose or whatever. And Holt he's having a bit 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:42.600 of a snicker and I've gone, what's so funny? Said, 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:44.520 I don't know what set that bloke off. He's got 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:48.280 an idea, And Holdy Holty had told the bloke, this 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:51.360 army bloke, I'd never met, this, this tough dude that 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:53.679 I was seeing there watching and I reckon I could 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:59.000 take him, Thank you, Halty, And yeah, I thought it 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:02.560 was a very very good, very good get. But with 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:05.600 the Olympics and you said you signed the overtime form, 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:07.800 the hours that we were working were chaotic too, but 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:10.680 it was something that was unprecedented, and a lot of 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:12.840 people had to step up, and I was proud of 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:14.760 the way a round sort of stepped up individually. 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:18.240 Oh they really did. And even like in the command 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:21.240 center that we had set up at Regent Street, so 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:24.280 I had roster guys who were working basically twenty four 0:10:24.320 --> 0:10:27.880 to seven. God love them radio operators. None of them 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:30.360 wanted to be in there, and I rotated some of 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:32.360 them through so that they got a chance to actually 0:10:32.440 --> 0:10:35.880 get out of there and experience what was going on. 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:38.400 But I think I had a budget overtime of one 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:40.920 and a half mil. And after about six days in 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:43.480 I said to the roster guys, you know, it was 0:10:43.520 --> 0:10:46.440 like eleven PM or something, and I thought, I wonder 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:49.840 how much I've signed. I said, look, mate, can you 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:52.440 do a quick calculation for it? They said yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:56.000 they were working twenty four to seven, and they said 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:58.520 we'll have it for you tomorrow morning. So I went 0:10:58.559 --> 0:11:00.319 in the next morning at six am or whatever, and 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:02.840 they said, you're only up to like seven fifty or 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:04.240 eight hundred whatever it was. 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:08.720 And I must admit, I've probably saved you a bit 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:11.000 of money because I was having so much fun sometimes 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:13.080 I didn't even put in the other plaform. So I 0:11:13.160 --> 0:11:15.760 remember the cars. I remember sleeping in the car at 0:11:15.800 --> 0:11:18.600 one stage, because you're at the whim of where this 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:20.760 person wanted to go. And if that person felt like 0:11:20.800 --> 0:11:22.920 I'm going to hang out all night, you're out all 0:11:23.000 --> 0:11:24.560 night and there was nothing you could do about it, 0:11:24.600 --> 0:11:26.840 and you're back there the next morning. But yeah, it 0:11:26.880 --> 0:11:28.400 was a fascinating experience. 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:30.960 And there were seventy one people that we looked after, 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:35.600 internationally protected people, Henry Kissinger, Chelsea Clinton, you know, a 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:40.760 prince from Saudi, like the breadth of people, kings, queens, whatever, 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:45.080 heads of state. It was just really unbelievable. And for 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:48.160 our people to actually look after those people and meet 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:51.080 those people, have those opportunities was really great. 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:55.280 It was fantastic. And you're meeting people that you've heard 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:58.240 about their reputation and you're meeting them, and most of 0:11:58.280 --> 0:12:00.800 them they treat you quite well. It wasn't so that 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:02.840 you weren't to just get out of my way. I 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:06.079 remember sitting in a restaurant having dinner with a princess 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:09.480 from a particular country, and it was like she was 0:12:09.520 --> 0:12:11.400 on a Friday night out. She just wanted to go 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:14.439 out and party. Absolutely, but you've got to do it 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:16.400 and you've got to keep your wits about you and 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:20.240 make sure. But everyone that worked on it had just 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:22.560 fond memories of it that were such such an experience, 0:12:22.600 --> 0:12:25.360 and there was a real positive vibe about the whole thing, 0:12:25.440 --> 0:12:29.120 wasn't it. The weather was great. It just was great 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:29.720 to be part of. 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:32.880 Yeah. And I think if people were out and about 0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:34.760 it was to do with the Olympics. 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:35.120 You know. 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:39.679 I had one constable who I worked with a lot, 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:41.839 and last year he came up to me and apologized 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:45.040 about the Olympics because he was working at the airport 0:12:45.080 --> 0:12:47.120 and he knows who he is and he didn't want 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:50.240 to be working there. He wanted to be That was yeah. 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:53.520 But at the airport, you facilitated all of them coming in, 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:55.880 so you got to meet everybody. And he said, oh, 0:12:55.920 --> 0:12:58.680 do you want to be working at the airport? I said, well, look, 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:00.880 I'll tell you what. How would you like to work 0:13:00.920 --> 0:13:02.880 in the car park at home Bush because I can 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:06.600 organize that. I'm six months pregnant, mate, I'm not in 0:13:06.640 --> 0:13:09.480 the mood, so I like it or lump it. You 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:12.600 can be out there or anyway. So and he came 0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:14.920 up to me last year just before I retired. He said, 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:17.480 I'm really sorry. I said, sorry for what he said, 0:13:17.520 --> 0:13:18.520 you know, being. 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:23.719 I do understand it, like I was fortunate because I 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:27.319 went out every day, didn't have a day in and 0:13:27.760 --> 0:13:30.800 got to see front row seats watching all the sport, 0:13:30.880 --> 0:13:33.120 and I just couldn't believe it and think this is 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:34.920 I'm glad that I joined the police. 0:13:35.040 --> 0:13:37.840 Absolutely. I don't know if you had one of the 0:13:37.880 --> 0:13:41.120 cars that had the number plates special number plates though 0:13:41.200 --> 0:13:44.840 were Olie. They were all Olympic number plates. So my 0:13:44.920 --> 0:13:47.240 police car that I had, you know, I come in 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:49.719 the morning and that afternoon when I or that night 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:51.720 when I was going home, the plates are be gone. 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:53.880 So I came in every day and there was a 0:13:53.920 --> 0:13:56.920 constable and I said, look, the plates have been knocked off. 0:13:56.920 --> 0:14:00.640 Can you report them stolen? Happened about seven times anyway, 0:14:00.840 --> 0:14:04.160 On the last day I came in and I said, oh, 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:07.640 the plates have been stolen. He said, oh, look about that. 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:12.079 Just want to let you know that, you know, I 0:14:12.120 --> 0:14:17.800 reported the plate, Stolin, I accidentally reported the car. Stolin said, 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:21.920 so I've been driving a stolen car? Is that? Is 0:14:21.960 --> 0:14:24.640 that what you're telling me? And he said, well yeah, 0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:26.080 but he said, but who's going to pull you over? 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:30.520 Maybeck Rick might have pulled you over high risk of defender. 0:14:30.760 --> 0:14:32.880 Oh no, And we actually had one car missing. At 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:34.120 the end of it all, we had all the one 0:14:34.200 --> 0:14:36.840 hundred and fifty cars and like two weeks after the Ompic. 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:39.560 Carol and I deny that allegation. I bought the car back. 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:42.920 It was an AFP guy row you up, said mate, 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:46.680 where's the car? Oh you want the car? Yes, doesn't 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:47.720 actually belong to you. 0:14:48.400 --> 0:14:51.120 Bring it. It's worth worth a try. 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:53.200 I know. I was about to report it Stolin. I said, 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:54.360 if we don't get it back to that because we 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:56.440 couldn't figure out where it was, like one hundred and 0:14:56.480 --> 0:14:59.920 fifty cars or whatever. Yeah, so he reluctantly. 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:03.720 I had so much fun. I signed up for the 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:07.680 Para Olympics, but then homicide squad worked out I wasn't 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:11.360 wasn't there, and they run They pulled me away from that. 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:13.560 I didn't want to leave. I was enjoying myself. But 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:17.680 all the different nationalities they had different and this was 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:20.320 the exciting thing about it. Depending on who you were 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:23.480 working for or looking after, there was different ways you 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:27.280 had to approach it, and the Bulgarians could not understand, 0:15:27.280 --> 0:15:30.280 for the life of life of them, you're a policeman. 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:32.920 Why we have to stop because you know we're doing 0:15:32.920 --> 0:15:35.160 the bomb checks and all that. But can't you just 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:37.520 say you're a policeman and they let you through. They 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:41.320 couldn't comprehend that. And I looked after some Saudi princes 0:15:41.360 --> 0:15:45.600 on a night. That was an interesting experie. Yeah, yeah, 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:50.680 you can imagine and everything you're imagining, Yeah, was going down. 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:53.840 But full credit to you, Like all jokes aside, like 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:56.720 for an operation that was major, did they give you 0:15:56.840 --> 0:15:59.200 much preparation before then? Like I know it was a 0:15:59.200 --> 0:15:59.960 long time in the place. 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:03.200 Yeah, not for that particular role. I thought I would 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:07.200 be involved in investigations and intelligence for the Olympics, but 0:16:07.920 --> 0:16:10.080 my commanders at the time said, no, you're going to 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:14.440 be running the You'll be the operations commander for dignitary Protection. 0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:18.640 And I was very pregnant. And it's funny because at 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:23.040 that time Rick actually was successful in getting a deployment 0:16:23.080 --> 0:16:27.400 to East Tmoor. Yeah, so he was leaving in two 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:31.680 months and I was command posted and I was talking 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:35.479 to the team about it. Gary Merriweather was there Mick Watkins, 0:16:35.520 --> 0:16:38.000 and I said, I don't know what I'm going to 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:39.640 What am I to do with Rick's away when I 0:16:39.640 --> 0:16:41.760 have the baby? You know, I was so stupid. I 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:43.880 was such an idiot. I had no idea what happens 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:47.120 when you have a baby. And Gary me Merriweather said 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:49.560 to me, you know what case you said, I'll go 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:52.120 with you. I said, what he said, Well, my wife's 0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:54.520 had three kids, it's no big drama. I'll go with you. 0:16:54.600 --> 0:17:00.440 I said, all due respect, you know, but seriously so. 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:07.560 But nice of him, but the gesture was nice. But yeah, okay, well, 0:17:08.040 --> 0:17:11.320 congratulations on that, because that was from what I saw 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:13.120 in my police career. It was one of the largest 0:17:13.119 --> 0:17:15.800 operations I've seen police do, and I was proud of 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:18.440 the way it came off. Everyone had a good time. 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:21.080 We didn't lose anyone. I almost lost a police car. 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:24.240 If that's the worst that happens. Hey, we're doing. 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:29.879 Okay, okay, let's stop us reminiscing about the times at 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:34.320 the Sydney Olympics prosecuting police prosecuting. I just throw this 0:17:34.440 --> 0:17:39.159 up as a conversation starter that I feel sorry for police, 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:42.280 current police that they don't get the court experience we 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:44.600 used to get when we first went in and a 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:46.680 week wouldn't go by when I was a young detective, 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:48.800 when I wasn't in the witness box being beat up, 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:52.200 and it gives you the confidence. I never feel comfortable 0:17:52.200 --> 0:17:55.159 when I'm about to give evidence. It's always a nervous 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:58.440 and you should feel nervous because the stakes are pretty high. 0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:01.719 But you got tall and you got to cut your 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:04.679 teeth in the local court and all that. What's your 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:07.720 your take on the way police give evidence in the 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:10.560 witness box? You see some very good plaice give evidence 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:12.800 and you see others that they're out of their depth. 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:15.199 Yeah, and you know what, I think, it's really interesting. 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:17.679 When I joined in nineteen eighty one, there was still 0:18:17.880 --> 0:18:20.960 the situation where you where the probationary constable who locked 0:18:21.040 --> 0:18:24.400 up somebody for whatever it was, read the facts, would 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:27.239 give the facts from the witness box. Okay, yeah, so 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:29.560 you would go and they'd say right this. It was 0:18:29.680 --> 0:18:32.120 kind of like, you know, your first kind of blooding 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:34.760 is to go in and give the So you got 0:18:34.840 --> 0:18:37.119 used to actually sitting in the witness box and just 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:40.800 even if you're reading the facts, it's just sitting in 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:45.119 that environment where everybody's looking at you, you know, expecting something. 0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:47.680 And I think that that would be a really great 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:50.639 thing for just young police now to be able to 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:53.920 just go and get exposure, to get exposure and all 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:57.119 that sort of stuff and just without any pressure, just 0:18:57.960 --> 0:19:01.600 you know, because the young when they start, like I was, 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:05.600 you know, just nineteen and gosh, I'd never been a 0:19:05.640 --> 0:19:06.639 court before in my life. 0:19:06.720 --> 0:19:08.359 It was terrifying the first time. 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:12.160 Absolutely, not just the first time like most times talking. Yeah, 0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:16.600 it was terrifying. And I think if we did that, 0:19:17.400 --> 0:19:20.440 you know, I know, look, it's not easy, and time 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:23.000 is poor and all that sort of stuff, But I 0:19:23.160 --> 0:19:26.240 just think preparation. And you know, as a prosecutor, you'd 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:28.920 have people coming in at ten o'clock as you're standing 0:19:28.960 --> 0:19:31.320 at the bar table giving you this statement and that's 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:33.479 the first you've ever seen of it. You're calling your 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:36.919 first witness and you haven't seen the brief, so that 0:19:37.000 --> 0:19:39.160 sort of stuff. But look, I understand it is hard, 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:41.600 you know, the time poor and all the rest of it, 0:19:41.680 --> 0:19:44.359 but you know, you've got to be prepared if you 0:19:44.400 --> 0:19:48.760 want to be professional, do your homework and preparation. 0:19:50.280 --> 0:19:52.959 You've just said that the preparation was the key. If 0:19:53.160 --> 0:19:55.920 you didn't prepare, And that's why I think being nervous 0:19:56.000 --> 0:19:58.280 or petrified or whatever we want to call it before 0:19:58.320 --> 0:19:59.760 you get in there, you've got to have that. You've 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:02.320 got to have that adrenaline going through, so you do 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:06.200 the work beforehand. And on the very rare occasions where 0:20:06.200 --> 0:20:09.119 I haven't been prepared, I've been shown up to be 0:20:09.200 --> 0:20:12.919 lacking in the witness box. And preparing is understanding the brief, 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:15.520 getting it in your head so under pressure you can 0:20:15.600 --> 0:20:16.560 answer the questions. 0:20:16.600 --> 0:20:20.280 And yeah, well the other thing is too that in 0:20:20.320 --> 0:20:23.000 the old days we actually had to remember our evidence, 0:20:23.680 --> 0:20:26.800 so especially at district court or Supreme court, and you 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:29.879