Out and about: Hitting crime hotspots

Editorial and photography: Jesse Wray-McCann

Caulfield Divisional Response Unit (DRU) officers are in Mentone at 6am on a Tuesday morning, carrying out a raid on an alleged drug trafficker’s home and know they need to get into the bedroom on the top floor as soon as possible.

They want to grab any drugs in the room before any other suspects within might have the opportunity to destroy the evidence.

The bedroom door is locked, so the officers break it down.

There’s no one in the room, allowing the DRU to start a thorough search of the house.

Outside the front door, officers begin setting up an evidence table as a neighbour begins to take his dog for a walk.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” the neighbour says.

He explains to the officers that the occupants of the raided house have been making life hell for everyone else living in their otherwise quiet suburban cul-de-sac.

The suspects’ house has played host to constant fights, screaming, loud parties and shifty-looking visitors at all hours of the night, he says.

“I think they might be drug dealers,” the neighbour says, not knowing that Caulfield DRU has been covertly investigating the suspects for about six weeks.

Police take two people into custody and uncover a quantity of a white crystalline substance, believed to be methamphetamines.

It’s towards the lower end of jobs Caulfield DRU does, but less than three weeks later, they’ve completed 25 more unrelated raids, including Operation Brandish, which involved 14 arrests in 13 simultaneous raids on properties across Melbourne’s inner south-east.

For almost 12 months, Caulfield DRU had been running Operation Brandish as an ongoing investigation into a drug trafficking syndicate.

During the raids on 15 August, police seized a large commercial quantity of what is believed to be methylamphetamine and cocaine, significant quantities of other drugs, chemicals used to manufacture drugs, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and a loaded handgun.

The main Brandish raid on two adjoining penthouses in South Melbourne involved Special Operations Group officers gaining entry through the apartment building’s staircase, with another team swooping in from above on a police helicopter, ready to rappel down onto the penthouse balconies if needed.

A police drug detection dog was called in and was able to detect cocaine stashed away behind two paintings.

Caulfield DRU’s incredible work-rate not only dismantles and disrupts drug trafficking and organised crime networks, but it has a very real impact on reducing street-level crimes such as car jackings, home invasions, robberies and burglaries in Southern Metro Division 2 in Melbourne’s south-east.

Its regular high-profile operations have also gained Caulfield DRU a reputation within Victoria Police as one of the most impressive investigative units within the organisation.

Senior Sergeant Shane Rix has been in charge of the unit since its inception 10 years ago.

He said they use a highly intelligence-based approach, analysing hotspots and trends in common crimes to identify organised crime groups or outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCG) operating in those areas.

“For us, it’s not just about the specific crime that has been reported, it’s about what is contributing to that crime in the first place,” Sen Sgt Rix said.

Often when the unit’s tactical intelligence officers see a spike in crime in a local area, there’s a drug dealer operating nearby.

“When a drug trafficker sets up in a neighbourhood, they attract users who see the valuables in the homes and cars in the area as the way to pay for their next hit,” Sen Sgt Rix said.

“When we see a hotspot in crime, we jump on it quickly and task our uniform patrols to be out there and then rely on intelligence coming in to allow us to investigate it and identify the problem.”

That’s when the human source team embedded in Caulfield DRU comes to the fore, canvassing its carefully-cultivated network of sources for information.

“Using our source team gives us current intelligence that allows us to plan an investigation strategy to gain evidence against individuals or crime groups,” Sen Sgt Rix said.

“This might simply be taking out a search warrant to make an immediate impact on the harm being caused, or it might mean a more structured approach, which involves using investigative techniques and covert services to get the evidence necessary to have a big impact on that criminal activity.

“Our source team is especially important when we’re dealing with more complex, high-end organised crime groups and OMCGs, which have a real presence in our division.”

Gathering as much information and evidence is crucial, especially when it comes down to the moment officers need to knock on a suspect's door, or force entry into their home.

“We cannot cut corners in our planning and preparation because we don’t know who’s behind the door and how they’re going to react,” Sen Sgt Rix said.

“Everyone here understands that we have high standards, and our success comes down to the quality people we’ve been able to get into this unit.”

Superintendent Sharon McKinnon, who sits over Caulfield DRU, said the unit’s successes were not only evident in serious criminals being locked up, but also in crime trends.

“We always see a tangible impact on crime hotspots after Caulfield DRU has completed one of their jobs,” Supt McKinnon said.

“They go after the higher-level criminals who are exploiting people vulnerable to drug addiction and driving our lower-level crime.

“And they do it relentlessly because they’ve got such a passion for community safety and cleaning up crime in their own patch.

“I remember in my first week in this role, they had done this incredible job.

“I rang Shane to congratulate him and his team and said, ‘This result is just fantastic’.

“But I very quickly learnt that it was actually business as usual for Caulfield DRU, because the quality and quantity of the work they do is just consistently outstanding.”