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A Healthy Shift | The Shift Work Podcast
It doesn't have to be this way.
Welcome to A Healthy Shift | The Shift Work Podcast, the podcast helping shift workers thrive while changing how organisations think about people working in 24/7 environments.
Hosted by Roger Sutherland, Australia's Night Shift & Sleep Specialist, this is where evidence meets lived experience.
After more than 40 years of working rotating shifts with Victoria Police, followed by years studying nutrition, circadian biology, chrononutrition, sleep, human performance and women's health, Roger is on a mission to challenge the belief that fatigue, poor sleep, burnout and declining health are simply part of working shifts.
Because they don't have to be.
Whether you're a nurse, paramedic, police officer, firefighter, doctor, aged care worker, manufacturing employee, FIFO worker, miner, pilot, flight attendant, truck driver, dispatcher, or anyone working outside the traditional 9-to-5, this podcast will give you practical, evidence-based strategies to help you sleep better, improve your energy, optimise your health and perform at your best.
If you're a leader, manager, People & Culture professional, WHS specialist, or responsible for leading a 24/7 workforce, you'll discover a different way of thinking about shift work—one that focuses on building shift work capability from within through education, leadership and practical systems that create healthier people, stronger teams and higher-performing organisations.
Each episode explores topics including:
• Shift work
• Night shift
• Sleep after night shift
• Circadian rhythm
• Fatigue management
• Shift worker health
• Nutrition for shift workers
• Chrononutrition
• Recovery and resilience
• Women's health and shift work
• Leadership in 24/7 organisations
• Human performance
• Workplace wellbeing
• Fatigue risk management
• Building healthier, safer and higher-performing workplaces
This isn't another podcast offering generic health tips.
It's a podcast about changing the future of shift work.
Because healthier people create stronger teams.
Stronger teams build better organisations.
And it all starts by understanding how to work with biology, not against it.
It doesn't have to be this way.
A Healthy Shift | The Shift Work Podcast
[259] - Your host on Radio 3AW - Australia Overnight - Talk Back Radio 12-06-2025
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Text me what you thought of the show 😊
In this episode of A Healthy Shift, I take you through my journey—from being a 16-year-old Kiss fan camping outside Waverley Park to spending 40 years with Victoria Police. Along the way, I saw just how hard shift work can be on your body, mind, and relationships.
That’s exactly why I created A Healthy Shift—to help shift workers like you take back control of your health, reduce fatigue, and thrive in demanding, unpredictable work environments.
What You'll Hear in This Episode:
✅ How my career in policing shaped my passion for shift worker wellbeing
✅ Why women in shift work need more targeted support—and how I help
✅ The real reason so many organizations fail their shift workers
✅ The origin of “D24” and the early days of police radio comms in Australia
✅ Why crime prevention must focus on people, not just weapons
✅ My take on modern parenting, discipline, and social accountability
✅ What “VKC” means and how police call signs are assigned
I’ve seen firsthand how shift work can impact your health, your family, and your future. This episode is packed with real talk, practical insights, and some behind-the-scenes stories you won’t hear anywhere else.
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Roger Sutherland is Australia's Night Shift & Sleep Specialist and the founder of A Healthy Shift.
After more than 40 years working rotating shifts with Victoria Police, Roger now helps organisations reduce fatigue risk, improve staff wellbeing and build healthier, safer and higher-performing 24/7 workplaces through evidence-based education, circadian biology and the Shift Work Champions™ Framework.
Shift Work Champions™: https://join.ahealthyshift.com/shift-work-capability
Website: https://ahealthyshift.com.au
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-sutherland
Instagram: @a_healthy_shift
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Disclaimer: Roger Sutherland is not a doctor or a medical professional. Always consult a physician before implementing any strategies mentioned in this podcast. Use of this information is strictly at your own risk. Roger Sutherland will not assume any liability for direct or indirect losses or damages that may result from the use of the information contained in this podcast, including but not limited to economic loss, injury, illness, or death.
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Welcome to Australia Overnight
Speaker 1Carolee . Thank you , hello Blake . Do you know what D24 was ?
Speaker 2Good morning everyone . Welcome to Australia Overnight . And now here's my grandpa . Australia's quiet .
Speaker 4The night rolls on . Voices , echo till the break of dawn , echo till the break of dawn . Through the dark there's a guiding light . 3aw keeps us close tonight . Overnight we share the air , stories and laughter everywhere , from city streets to the outback skies .
Speaker 1Australia dreams as the station flies wherever you are throughout Australia , I'm Tony McManus . If you would like to join the program , now would be a really , really good time . You can do that 133693 .
Speaker 4The city wakes . The heart goes numb . Tony's voice , like a friendly hand , brings the country close . Across this land Overnight , we share the air , stories and laughter .
Speaker 1Everywhere . It's a big welcome to everybody . Fire 6PR in Perth , of course . Hello to 5AA in Adelaide . Welcome along to the Ace Radio Network . You can join us . It's all part of Australia Overnight Midnight hours it's our free home .
Speaker 4The city wakes , heart goes numb . Tony's voice , like a friendly hand , brings the country close , across this land Overnight .
Speaker 1We share the air Each and every week , every couple of weeks we go . We haven't seen him for a month or so is the one and only Roger . Now , roger , in his hot little hand , has his tickets lusting from about 1980 for the Kiss Band . Have a listen , have a little tickets . Where are we going to see it ? Which stadium ?
Speaker 4I want my tickets to kiss thanks , Thank you .
Speaker 2That'll be $4.50 for those tickets .
Speaker 1Roger Sutherland . Does that bring back memories ?
Speaker 6Oh yes , 1980 , Waverley Park , the 5th of November , 5th of November . You even remember the date . Oh yes , the 5th of November . Did you buy any merch ? No , I did not . No T-shirts , no , I know one thing I can tell you . Yeah , dennis was talking about queuing . He was Two days I queued to get into Waverley Park . Yep , we camped there . We camped at Waverley Park .
Speaker 1As a 16-year-old , I was so your mum and dad said
Roger's Kiss Concert Memories
Speaker 1oh well , off you go . Go and camp there for a couple of days , See if you can get your tickets . Really , I ran away . You left home .
Speaker 6I left home . Yeah , I was going to see Kiss come hell or high water , that was how it was .
Speaker 1And this is not long before you became a long-serving 40-year member of the police service here in Victoria Four years later , yeah , four years later I was a cop .
Speaker 6Yeah , that's bizarre , isn't it ? That was great training . I didn't realise it was so close now that I put it like that Four years , that's crazy , isn't it , I know .
Speaker 1So you're only 20 , you reckon you hadn't had your 21st .
Speaker 6I was 20 when I started Yep Unbelievable .
Speaker 1Come and join us . Roger's here . For those that don't know , roger is a regular contributor to the program . Looks after a website called A Healthy Shift . We talk about all things to do with being a shift worker . Well , you call this being healthy . Look at me , look at me , look at me , look at me A picture of health .
Speaker 6You're looking well .
Speaker 1Although I've got to say I lost a couple of kilos . But you look well and so I feel pretty good .
Speaker 7Yes .
Speaker 1And you've got to get the right sleep and the right lighting and all that sort of stuff , yep , but feel really good If I could little cough , which Dan's got as well .
Speaker 6Yeah , but I've been warned , I've been given the note . Don't make . Tony laugh on air .
Speaker 1No . Do not make Tony laugh on air tonight , because that's when I start to cough chronically . He'll cough Tears . We'll talk about first responders in just a moment . Do you want to take some of these great ?
Speaker 9calls that we've got .
Speaker 1Plenty of people to talk to . Anything to do , anything to do . Anything on . The program is open line , of course , but come feel the . I'll say that again . Come and jump on board and be part of it . Have you ever been to Israel ? You and I should go to Israel ?
Speaker 6I have not been to Israel .
Speaker 1We should take a whole bunch of people to Israel at some point , we'll do the show from the pyramids . Oh , that's Egypt , that yeah .
Speaker 6Sorry .
Speaker 1Excellent work . I haven't done well , have I , david . Good morning .
Speaker 10Good morning . If you did it from the pyramids , you'd be in Egypt . I wouldn't tell the Egyptians that you're in Israel , but there's plenty of great places you can From here too .
Speaker 1I've made a big mistake . We're going to have some of that Beautiful wine that's been producing , have some of that beautiful wine that's been producing on some of those old vines in Israel for many , many hundreds of years . Gee , they do some cracking wine in that part of the world .
Speaker 10Yeah , good wine here , and if you do it , you can do the show from my living room and I will fire you with good Israeli wine , beer and pavlova .
Speaker 6Sold . It'd be better than that .
Speaker 1Okay , so complimentary accommodation . All we need really is airfares .
Shift Worker Health and Wellbeing
Speaker 1Where's Koshy ?
Speaker 103AW should have man's air .
Speaker 1That's right , we'll get Nathan Kosh to fly us over on the private jet Nathan Kosh can fly us over . It's going beautifully so far .
Speaker 10This has been a really worthwhile gig today it's been a great show we can go now If you buy your own Stephen Beers private jet . I mean , surely you've got one ?
Speaker 1You would think you would have access to one . Yeah , yeah .
Speaker 10Anyway , I'll tell you why I called , because I'm not sure I'm going to be up to get on tomorrow , and it's already the 12th in Australia , even though it's still 1110, . I wanted to wish you a happy early birthday , a Friday , and hope it's a beautiful day and that you are treated very , very nicely by the callers , and by the family and by the friends .
Speaker 1David , that's very very kind of you . You're the first cab to do that , and that's much appreciated . Can you believe it ? This is not my first . This is now my second birthday hosting this program and , as you well know , david , it's gone very bloody quickly . Yeah , really quickly .
Speaker 10Yeah , you've done a good job .
Speaker 1Well , that's still to be decided , david . There's a lot of people saying bring back Simon , but that's fine .
Speaker 10Look , you share it around .
Speaker 1We do share it around and I appreciate you saying that . It's very kind of you . All else is well in the world .
Speaker 10All else is well in the world . Yes , yes , all right .
Speaker 1Hopefully we might talk tomorrow . You look after yourself and thank you for putting up your room for rent Room for rent and we'll come and have a stay and do the broadcast from there .
Speaker 6And opening the bar .
Speaker 1And opening the bar with some of the cracking wine that he's got in stock and enjoys the occasional little whiskey as well . What could possibly go wrong ? Graeme Yokine Morning . Graeme . How are you , tony ? We're well . Thank you , roger's here , roger Sutherland , from a healthy shift .
Speaker 13Good morning , Graeme .
Speaker 1Roger's a policeman , is he ? He's a former cop , 40 years in the service .
Speaker 13Yeah , I did 40 years 40 years , my God , you'd have seen as many things as I've seen .
Speaker 6Whereabouts . What have you seen ? No , don't start . I did a little stink with Ellen Bond in Carnet . Oh , you would have seen plenty . I learned plenty . Don't worry about that , I've got no doubt about that at all .
Speaker 13You know , the good thing about going to jail is you learn that the major problem and I think this was like 24 years ago the major problem was drugs . Like criminals , they don't really want to steal your money for any other reason except to buy drugs .
Speaker 6I agree I could not agree more with you . Everything comes back to that , doesn't it Look ?
Speaker 13it's sad . It's sad really .
Speaker 1It was interesting , it was actually being talked about on 3RW in the last 24 , 36 hours , Graham , where some of those people that would have worked inside you . Oh , okay , you missed it .
Speaker 13I was getting my chemo treatment .
Speaker 5That's what I was going to tell you .
Speaker 13But the WA public system here at Charlie Gardner is brilliant . I was in there for eight days . They gave me all the treatment . They looked after me like a bloody king .
Speaker 9I had all the nurses running around cracking jokes with them and drinking three cups of tea and three furs .
Speaker 13We'll be back at work painting the outside of the house tomorrow , so it'll be good , it'll be good .
Speaker 1And how are you feeling , Greg ?
Speaker 13Great , I feel fantastic . So this is this new trial program where they've got a mixture of chemo with something else you know and they just give you a needle in the stomach . Oh , okay , and only on the fourth day and the eighth day and the rest of the day you take pills , eat the free food and get the free coffee and check out all the good-looking nurses Tell you what life couldn't get better mate ?
Speaker 6They provide you with scenery as well as all that .
Speaker 13Getting back to you , roger , though you're right . When I came out I did a half-hour show with Fred Mafrica . I came out in 2000 , november 2000 . I told him then the biggest problem is going to be drugs in the bloody thing , because you could see it right in the system . There was no . See Carnet never had a fence around up then . That was quite easy for people to just drop bloody stuff up there , they throw them over in tennis balls now , don't they ?
Speaker 13I went out one day . I was out near the Serpentine Road and there was this big silver package right elf oil and I picked it up and it's compressed cannabis and I put it back again . And I went back in and Alan said did you report it ? I said do you know how long I'd last if I reported that , for Christ's sake ? Yeah , it's an interesting observation , graeme .
Speaker 1Thank you for that . We'll leave you there , except to say I heard on 3RW Rog that there was inside the culture of , say , prisons , for example , there was a level of satisfaction with those if certain medications drugs , if you like were available , because then there was no , there was less damage and violence in the prison , I've got no doubt . And so there was this mixed
The Real Problem Behind Crime
Speaker 1emotion about it . Whilst it's wrong , whilst it's illegal , you and I say well , why would you ? The reality is it was a way of keeping a little bit of peace and quiet .
Speaker 6Kept order . Kept order . Kept order .
Speaker 1Yeah , it just keeps a bit of order .
Speaker 1It is when we come back we want to talk about given that you've beautifully kicked it off for us , graeme , in terms of first responders A massive day yesterday . We'll talk about it again this morning . First responders , how important they are right across Australia . Wherever you're tuned in might be 5AA in Adelaide , we're here at 3AW in Melbourne , of course , at the Ace Radio Network and 6PR in Perth . Come join us . 133693 . Perth listeners . 133882 . I'm Tony McManus . Roger Sutherland is here .
Speaker 1It's a healthy shift to all part of Australia overnight . We love being here . I hope you love being part of the program as well . I encourage you to do so . 133693 . Roger Sutherland , a long serving police officer here in Victoria , survived it for 40 years . These days specialises in a range of things . A veteran law enforcement officer , he now coaches people to well , you'd almost say thrive , not just survive , because many of us go through life trying to survive , but it's more about thriving . And he works with shift workers to provide energy to do the things they love . Of us go through life trying to survive , but it's more about thriving , and he works with shift workers to provide energy to do the things they love outside the shift work . It's an interesting program and one that's still got a long way to play out .
Speaker 1But going well , are you allowed to make that announcement as yet , or you'd rather not ? What's that one Returning to the fold for a little bit .
Speaker 6Yeah , yeah , no , I've actually been invited . This week I'm going back into the fold at Victoria Police , which has taken quite a bit for me to do , but I've been invited to go and speak at the Women in Policing event and I'm just so looking forward to doing this because women do shift work a lot harder , or females do shift work a lot harder than males do , and I focus predominantly on females and helping them with shift work . I'm well read in that area . Once again , I'll never know what it's like , but I study it pretty hard and I'm going to go and help and educate at the women in policing about how females can go about doing shift work a lot better . I'm actually I'm nervous , but I'm really excited about it .
Speaker 1Which is fantastic . Is it about the people themselves , or is it about the leadership group that you've also got to embrace ? And they need to embrace some of those things about which you've been talking now for at least a couple of years .
Speaker 6Yeah , the leadership is something that what I'm trying to do is bring brand awareness , bring my awareness , because managers don't know that I exist if people don't put it up to say you know , we've got a bloke out here that's done 40 years of shift work . That is actually educating on how to go about shift work . Organizations not just VicPol , but I'm talking all organizations , nursing and everything don't educate their staff at all about how to go about shift work , when they should eat , when they should sleep , and then they don't actually consolidate it . Everyone just learns from one thing to the next . So what I'm trying to do is change that .
Speaker 6I want people to be educated on how to go about doing shift work . Because I can tell you , tony , now the seminars , the feedback . I've just been invited back to Port Ferry to go back and do a seminar down there at Sunfarmer . The feedback out of that has been absolutely unbelievable . The unplanned leave has reduced , the morale has improved in the place . People have all said , oh , I had no idea I could do it this way and it would be so much easier and they are all coping so much better in that organisation .
Speaker 1So historically it hasn't been addressed at all , at all , at all , no no , and yet it's such an important part of Australian culture and Australian work life , but it's such an important part of Australian culture and Australian work life .
Speaker 6If I save one shift , if I was to save one shift worker for VicPol , it would save them $100,000 , right , because it's that year salary . They wouldn't have to re-educate , they wouldn't have to retrain do everything else . And yet when I tell them what my seminars were , oh no , it's too expensive .
Speaker 1Too expensive . Are you kidding ? We haven't got the budget for that .
Speaker 6We haven't got the budget for that , and VicPol have closed down health and wellbeing centres . Now as well , which has been public , they're closing their health and wellbeing centres . So are we really caring about our people ? We've got to start well . One of the principles of VicPol is valuing our people . How are we valuing them if we're not supporting them and educating them ?
Speaker 1on how to go about it , From womb to tomb in that sense . Really , David in Mount Waverley , hello .
Speaker 10Good morning gentlemen . That lovely piece that you sent through was very , very funny about the story of Grumpy Tony .
Speaker 1It'll never get in the airplane , but it's very , very clever .
Speaker 10It's very clever . I hope you like it . I consider it a birthday present .
Speaker 15Thank you . Now I ring to say Roger .
Speaker 10I camped out at the showgrounds for three days to get tickets .
Speaker 6I can understand that . Have you still got your ticket , david yes , I do too . I've still got your ticket , david yes .
Speaker 13I do too , and tell my friends .
Speaker 6No , I've still got my ticket . I still have my ticket . Unfortunately , it doesn't have the price on it , which I wish it did . Do you have any idea what that would have been in 1980 ? I think from memory and you can tell me , david , would it have been $19 ? I've got a feeling $20 . 20 . 1990 or something like that , it was 20 bucks , yeah for the ticket .
Speaker 5Yeah , it was 20 bucks for the ticket .
Speaker 6We all camped out for days to get the tickets and then we had to camp out again . We had to camp out again to actually get in because it was general admission . Do you remember how hot it was in the food fight ?
Speaker 13It was horrible .
Speaker 6It was , and they were throwing ice buckets all over the people standing there and the food fight . Once you got inside , it was actually . You can YouTube that . If you YouTube food fight , waverley Park , kiss it comes up . It's unbelievable .
Speaker 15Food fight , a food fight , and then the MC comes out and says you idiots , you need to calm down .
Speaker 6Yeah , otherwise , kiss , aren't coming out , correct ? Yeah Well done .
Speaker 13Otherwise kiss aren't coming out Correct .
Speaker 6Well done , I'm talking to a brother here .
Speaker 1This can go anywhere . Just explain to somebody who was not there around Australia what happens at a food fight .
Speaker 6People were heaving anything . I don't know how it started . The stupid thing was we went to hide behind one of the cops . Dumb , don't do that .
The Mystery of D24 Revealed
Speaker 6Don't ever hide behind the cops , because they're the ones that have been having the food thrown at them .
Speaker 1Such fun .
Speaker 6Oh , so uneducated at 16 .
Speaker 1Memories are made of this David .
Speaker 6And someone else has put a text up here as well David Steve from Northcote .
Speaker 5Yeah .
Speaker 6I camped there on the Wednesday .
Speaker 1On the Wednesday .
Speaker 6Now it was on Saturday night the show and I was there from the Friday . He was already there two days before me . Now he would be one of the people that was burning the pine poles to keep warm as well , overnight that went really well , David lots of love , those Trudy pine poles See you .
Speaker 8Arnie morning , mr Miyagi Good morning , mr Miyagi , good morning Tony Roger and Action Jackson . Now you mentioned D24 . Am I allowed to answer ?
Speaker 6that , or do you want it for later on ? The question was going to be how did D24 get its name ?
Speaker 8So go ahead . I don't know how it got its name , but I went out with a few cops . I believe it was D24 , which is a communications line to call the police , and it was a quicker response to VKC .
Speaker 6Yeah , yeah , okay . So D24 is the nickname that's given to the communications centre . I want to challenge anybody out there do you know why it is called D24 ? It's only called D24 here in Victoria , not interstate . So unfortunately we'll rule the South Australians and the West Australians out ?
Speaker 1Would they have their own version ?
Speaker 6They don't have a D24 . I don't know , maybe they do , maybe they do . Vkc is the allocated call sign by the Department of Communication . So they say VKC , this is or VKC to the Malvern van or VKC to whatever , but their nickname is D24 . How did they earn that nickname ? Why did they earn that nickname ? I want to hear from someone .
Speaker 1Anybody who happens to be listening . In South Australia , my great friend Peter Graham was a long-serving commissioner towards the end and I'm sure he worked in comms in South Australia going back to the early part of the 80s as well , and I'm sure he worked in comms in South Australia going back to the early part of the 80s as well , and I'm sure he'd know whether they had nicknames there in that state , Because even here even the junior bunnies that would have no idea , probably , why D24 is called .
Speaker 6D24 would still say get onto the board or get onto D24 .
Speaker 1Former Commissioner , of course , in WA , Carlo Callaghan , who did a lot of work at 6PR in Perth . He might be listening as well . He'd have some background on some of those names in WA Artie . Thank you , Ian Elphington . Hello , Simon .
Speaker 15G'day guys . I'm just looking at what's going on in America with Trump and he's hauling in the Marines and all this sort of stuff .
Speaker 15I hope we never get to that stage here , but I look at the billions of dollars that are being wasted in Victoria . Why don't we just double the wages of the police force and bring in some really top kids to protect the state and stop all the crime and make it worthwhile . Give them a free education if they want , you know , to go to uni . Just offer them some incentives to be a police and crime enforcement officer .
Speaker 6Yep , I couldn't agree more . But , simon , I think we're not addressing it right . Banning machetes makes it a retail problem . This is not a retail problem . Yeah , it's not a retail problem , you and I have talked about this .
Speaker 1Yep , it's not . So why is it being from a government point of view , from a government position of sort of saying the answer to this is let's ban machete ?
Speaker 6Well , we ban guns . It doesn't work , does it ? We ban guns and people still have guns . Yeah , but guns don't kill people and machetes don't kill people .
Speaker 1Now you're sounding like somebody in the middle of America ?
Speaker 6No , but guns don't kill people , it's the person that's holding onto it . Right , Right . And that's what's got to be addressed , in my opinion . We have to address that . We have to address where these issues are coming from . I mean , guns are banned You're not allowed to have a gun but people have guns and they kill because the person pulls the trigger . Machetes are banned now , but machetes are still turning up and they will continue to turn up because we're not addressing the real problem .
Speaker 1Well , on Tom Elliott's program , I took some phone calls , I think , either early this week or late last week . I was listening on the way home from somewhere and lots of people were saying oh yeah , they're readily available , you can go online and buy them .
Speaker 6It's taken Amazon two weeks to decide we won't import them into Australia anymore , but people are still going to have them and they're still going to turn up and you can still buy them for what you want , to buy them for , etc .
Speaker 1Fantastic A lot of calls here Come and join us . We'll get the calls in just a tick 133693 . I'm Tony McManus . The one and only Roger Sutherland is here . We catch up with Roger every couple of weeks or so . All part of Australia Overnight it is 3AW in Melbourne , the Ace Radio Network right throughout Victoria and into southern parts of New South Wales . Where else are we ? 5aa in Adelaide , 6pr in Perth and Katie in Melbourne's on the phone . Morning Katie .
Speaker 9Hi Tony , how are you ? Sorry , I'm not served to ask that , I was just ringing about the D24 .
Speaker 1Now tell us about your history . If anything , how much you can say ? I'm not sure about D24 .
Speaker 9Well , I asked the question oddly last week following on from a conversation about Gerard Kennedy , who is the actor in Gerard Kennedy .
Speaker 1Gerard Kennedy yeah , yeah , division 4 .
Speaker 9Yeah , so I ended up asking the question at work and the answer was that it was named after the room , Correct ?
Speaker 6Correct .
Speaker 9Yes .
Speaker 6Can you elaborate ?
Speaker 9It was where those people worked , the first responders to the emergency calls the very , very Victoria .
Speaker 6We'll give you the prize , cody . There's no prize there is no prize .
Speaker 1If we had some debauchery wine , you would have won it , Katie . If we had a prize , we'd give you the prize , Cody . There's no prize . There is no prize . If we had some debauchery wine , you would have won it , Cody . If we had a prize ?
Speaker 6we'd give you a prize , but can I just say though , victoria Police were the first police agency in Australia that had wireless communication , had radio communication , and it was out of Room 24 , corridor D at Russell Street . Isn't that a great piece of history , and that's why it's known as D24 , and still today , even though it's no longer there , it's still known as D24 .
Speaker 1Isn't it a great piece of history , Pete ? Did you have a similar story along those lines in Mildalbert ?
Speaker 5Yes , I did . She beat me to it . Did you serve Pete ? No , no , not at all . No , I think I saw it on probably a documentary on TV , some show I remember just my mind might be playing tricks , but I think they showed just a picture of the door and D24 written on it . But I knew from that . Correct I believed it that it was the room in the old Russell Street Police headquarters . I don't know what floor it was .
Speaker 6It was on a mezzanine floor and it faced when the Russell Street bomb went off . Of course all the windows were blown out of D24 as well and it was the bomb-proof curtains that stopped the glass from coming through . They were still operating during the straight after the bomb . There that was operating , but above the door was literally D24 , because it was in Corridor D and of course the room next to it was D23 and the room next to it was D22 , and so on and so forth . But yeah , it's great history .
Speaker 1It is a lovely piece of history , peter , well done . Thank you . Still in Montelbert , big Montelbert In . Montelbert yeah . Hello Lenny .
Speaker 12Oh , Lenny , yes , Len , Lenny , yes , Lenny , go ahead . Yeah , D24, . No , that lady was absolutely correct , but I thought it was mainly detectives in that area there . I know there was also a place in Dawson Street with the CIB that used to operate all the white patrol cars and all that . Now I still think that behind there actually is where they saw the booze buses and that these days
Community Policing Challenges
Speaker 12that's right .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , good on you . Len Some great memories around that . So what's the acronym for ? Just remind me about CIB , criminal Investigation Bureau Branch .
Speaker 6Branch or Bureau . Well , it was , bureau went Branch . Then it went to CIU , which is Criminal Investigation Unit . I think that's what it is now CIU , not CIB . No , it's not CIB anymore . It was such an iconic term though Absolutely CIB .
Speaker 1Let's be in touch with the CIB .
Speaker 6It's like the internal investigations , has changed names as well . It was B11 when I started and then it went to D11 . Then it went to PSC and then ESD . What it's changed ? Well , someone gets a promotion and gets a medal for it along the way . An award Design a phone book , get a medal .
Speaker 1Here's West Footscray , jimmy Morning .
Speaker 11Good morning Tony Roger Jackson . We're all here . What's happening in your world ? Not much , mostly just appointments after appointments all the time , which I'm sick of .
Speaker 1Good on you , Jim . Well , you've got to go through that process .
Speaker 11Yeah , I do . Anyway , good to speak to you again , Roger , and good luck with your speaking event .
Speaker 6Thank you very much .
Speaker 11I haven't rang up about D24 . In all your years of a policeman , of 40 years , were you based in one or several police stations and being a policeman for 40 years , I suppose you'd still know a lot of policewomen and policemen still working these days . But the question I have that I mainly rang up for a while back I heard on Jackie Felgate's show that an e-bike had blown up and held the train for a couple of hours . I think it was on the Glen Waverley line when I used to ride my pushbike all over the place . When I used to go far distances I used to put my bike on and the high-vis guys were there . They were guys trying to get their motorbikes on and bikes with petrol motors and the guys used to say why aren't we allowed to run ? They said because of danger , because of explosion . So now an e-bike battery is blown up . E-bikes are going to soon be banned off trains and e-scooters .
Speaker 1It's a very good question .
Speaker 6It's a great point , because there is a problem . Did you see the vision of that ship that was carrying all the electric cars ?
Speaker 1caught fire . Oh , and they lost all those cars , about 3,000 cars , yeah , yeah .
Speaker 6And they just had to leave it burn out . They just had to leave it burn out there because of the yeah , they couldn't do anything . This is a problem with the electric cars and obviously with the e-bikes . It's quite apart from the fact that they're just a death trap with the way they're ridden around . I a death trap with the way they're ridden around .
Speaker 1I nearly got cleaned up by one . Well , it goes back to your idea . As you said , it's not the guns , it's not the machetes . In this case , it's not the e-bikes no , it's not , it's the dickheads , the dicks that actually ride them .
Speaker 6Well , if you put an e-bike right there right now , I guarantee it won't hurt you . If you just put an e-bike right there just sitting there , it doesn't hurt you . It's whoever gets on it and controls it . That's the problem . That's what needs addressing . It's like the guns it's not the gun , because a gun can sit there . It'll never , ever hurt you ever . But if someone picks it up and they squeeze the trigger , then that's what needs addressing . You can take guns out of society . You can take machetes out of society . People are still going to get hold of them . The problem's got to be addressed at who's holding it .
Speaker 1Yeah , of course , who's holding it , except that in America it's out of control . So what's the difference between the standard they take in America ? Most states in the United States , even under their constitution , yep , and so that allows for that . And yet in Australia we gave back all our guns . We're not a gun culture . For the most part , we have nowhere near the level of deaths associated with firearms .
Speaker 6And the other thing as well is too . Tony , I've always wondered when was the last time you heard that there was an active shooter at a shopping centre , but some civilian pulled their own gun out and took them out In Australia , no , in the US . How often do you hear that ? Never , Never .
Speaker 6They all say that they have got the right to bear arms . But when was the last time that you heard that there was an active shooter at a shopping centre or in a car park or there was an issue going on , but Tony McManus , the civilian , pulled his own firearm out and resolved this issue ?
Speaker 1But it would be the same with somebody who comes into your home and you've got a gun licence and your gun's in storage . Somebody comes into your home and you go hang on , hold the foot , just stay there . Yeah , I've got to go down to my safe . There's a great comedian who did a great sketch on this .
Speaker 1Yep , yep , whose name just escapes , and come back to me in just a tick . Stay there , I'm going to go get my gun . Don't move . You race down to the other end of the house . You open your safe Once you remember the code 24 to the right 36 to the left . I'll be there shortly .
Speaker 6And remember , you can't store your ammunition with your firearm either .
Speaker 1That's in a separate part of the house .
Speaker 6That's in another one , but hang on with your gun .
Speaker 1I'll get to you shortly .
Speaker 6Yep , I'll be with you . It's bizarre , it is bizarre , it is totally bizarre . That's here in Australia , but then we talk about in the US , where I've spoken to people that they're just literally wearing firearms on their hips , like handguns on their hips , but they're never , ever the ones that are resolving these issues . They're always standing back waiting for the cops to come in , and they're the ones that are having to take control of these situations . Why ?
Speaker 1don't we do this , we'll come back . We've got a Rob in Richmond and it as well . Adrian's here . Maureen , come and join us . 1-double-3-6-9-3 . We love acronyms on the program Acronyms . We could have a whole lot of fun with just acronyms one morning . 133693 . It is Australia Overnight Morning . Hey , rob in Richmond , thank you for being part of Australia Overnight . I'm Tony McManus , rob and Roger Sutherland from A Healthy Shift is here . Hello to you .
Speaker 14Yes , good morning Tony and good morning Roger . Good morning to you , rob . Firstly , roger , thanks for your multiple decades of service to the community and respecting that you've been part of the force . I wanted to run a couple of ideas past you Sure go . Do you remember the game ? As a child you used to play Spotto .
Speaker 6Yes .
Speaker 14Yeah Well , why can't the community get involved , like the police can publish a list of the stolen cars and what the number plates are , and if we see an Audi in front of us and it's a black Audi and the number plate doesn't match the VicRoads website , then we can give you a call and if that turns into tracking down a stolen car , then you know the person get a $100 reward or something like that . Get the community involved , because you hear often on the news oh , that car was stolen in Beaumont back in January and it's been driving around January and it's now dry .
Speaker 6Yeah , it's been driving around . Yeah , one of the biggest problems that we have is the database of stolen cars . There's so many cars stolen .
Speaker 6So , many , so many people drive around . But you know what ? Tony McManus hears that black BMW and he remembers something about the Rego and I hear about the white Audi . So I remember something about the Rego . Do you know what I mean ? So you could have a lot of people out there . I can tell you where the problem lies . Who are you going to call when you actually see it ? You're going to ring triple zero and then it becomes a logistical nightmare to try and get and I know because I did this for 12 years . It's a logistical nightmare to get a police unit , which we have hardly any of on the road to get to you , to where you are with that car driving around . And don't get me wrong , I can certainly see people ring , I see things and I think there's no point in ringing . No one's going to be able to get to me anyway now , and this is the problem , because we're absolutely scared .
Speaker 1Has that always been the problem ? No , I don't know that that's a new problem . It's always been an issue in terms of how we communicate . How do we effectively get that instant reaction that we all look for when you see something ? And I have to talk to you . Over many , many times we saw a car race down . Well , you know where we live race down there very , very quickly . Yep , no number plates on the car on top of the was a late model Mercedes Benz .
Speaker 1So I rang and at least reported . Now I have no idea where that went , but I'm not sure anybody would have investigated it .
Speaker 6I don't know , it'd be potluck if there's someone in the area . The other thing is , at least you've rung and reported it . I think that's important because if that car was to go around the corner and take out some child on the road , that's exactly right . Tony McManus has seen this car doing warp nine down that particular road at that time , so it adds more evidence and gravity to the incident instead of just oh , this is an unfortunate event .
Speaker 1Particularly , as no plates is usually a giveaway .
Speaker 6It's a good giveaway , Good giveaway . It's been taken off for a giveaway . It's a good giveaway . It's been taken off for a reason . It's a great point . It's a good idea .
Speaker 1Rob . Yeah , thank you , hello , annette Morning .
Speaker 2Hello mate , how are you guys ?
Speaker 1We're well .
Speaker 2That's good . Well , jack , can I ask you a question , mate ? Of course I lived with a policeman when I was a young girl . I was fostered and had a foster father who did a good job as a policeman . People thought he was Paul Cronin because he looked like him . Anyway , that's not the point . No , it's you , it's my foster father who looked like him ?
Speaker 1Medlock yeah , because you used to ride a motorbike as well . Dave Sullivan .
Speaker 2Yeah , that's him . The sad part is I feel sorry for you police , because every time a criminal goes to court , what's the good of having jail cells ? You guys are going to be out of work soon because they're going to say bail , bail , bail . What's the good of having jail cells ? We'll burn them all down . We won't need them because everybody's out on bail . I know what the jail cells will be for .
Speaker 6I know what we'll use the jail cells for . We'll all be in them , because we'll feel safer in the jail cells than out in the public .
Speaker 1Don't suggest that , annette . Thank you , no , I know what you mean yeah good on you . In Adelaide . Hello Adrian , good morning . Yes , adrian , we'll come back to you shortly .
Speaker 6Maureen's in Mullaloo , do you know where Mullaloo is ? No , tell me where Mullaloo is .
Speaker 1Well , Mullaloo's a beautiful suburb . It's north of Perth and Mullaloo's very , very coastal , so you've got some beautiful homes right there overlooking the Indian Ocean . The Mullaloo Hotel's been there , I reckon probably was renovated maybe 10 or 12 years ago , overlooks some beautiful gardens and , right across the ocean , one of the most spectacular views in Australia . Maureen , how am I doing ?
Speaker 7Not too bad , Tony , not too bad .
Speaker 1Good on you .
Speaker 7Nice to hear your voice . My opinion of all of this goes back to parenting . I just see such a difference in the parents of today to how we were and I'm in my 90s and my kids and my grandkids to my great-grandchildren .
Speaker 6The parents today try and be friends with their children instead of being parents . No consequences there , Maureen .
Speaker 7No , they're just allowed . They're little kings and queens and gods and all the rest of it and I mean they grow up with nobody can tell me what to do , nobody can touch me , and they just do what they really like . And parents are trying to be friends with them instead of being parents and disciplining them . Oh , I totally agree . And we stopped all that , and we stopped it in the schools , and the only way you can help a child is to discipline them , and discipline them hard sometimes .
Speaker 6Spare the rod , spoil the child . That's how I was raised , Maureen . I couldn't agree more with you . I do honestly think that to solve the problems in society today , there's got to be a consequence for the action , because
Parenting and Consequences
Speaker 6once there's a consequence now that's good or bad , but there's got to be a consequence one way or another to positively or negatively reinforce the behaviour .
Speaker 1Adrian Maureen , always good to talk to you . Thank you , look after yourself and keep in touch . Don't be a stranger , adrian , in Adelaide Hello .
Speaker 3Sorry guys , I got caught napping . That's okay , gotcha . I was just ringing up in relation to you talking about D24 and all that A while ago . What did VKC stand for ? Because I knew it might have had something to do with Victoria .
Speaker 6No , no , it doesn't . It's got nothing to do , it's just a call sign that's allocated by the Department of Communications . Vkc yeah , it's original and it's stuck In Queensland . It's VKR or G , I can't remember now , and New South Wales is either VKR or VKG . So here in Victoria our radio operators and our units on the road speaking to D24 will say VKC , and the reason why we used to say VKC2 and VKC talking to is because we used to be on a VHF radio and it used to take a little bit of time to click and open .
Speaker 6So you'd say VKC , this is Malvern 311 . And by the time the radio had opened , you would hear Malvern 311 . And that's why you used to say VKC , this is , or it was , vkc2 .
Speaker 1We're back the other side of this . Roger Sutherland goes to quick from a healthy shift . People can have a look at the website , which is called .
Speaker 6Ahealthyshiftcom . One word .
Speaker 1Ahealthyshiftcom . One word On the Insta for the cool kids .
Speaker 6At A underscore , healthy , underscore shift , and I've also got the podcast for shift workers , which is A Healthy Shift .
Speaker 1A Healthy Shift where you get your podcasts .
Speaker 6Always good to see you in a couple of weeks . You absolutely will Thank you for having me .
Speaker 1You're a good man , the wonderful Roger Sutherland leaving the program . We've got the music quiz that's coming up next on Australia Overnight .