Police Life podcast

When you're the only police officer in the place you call home, you need a full bag of skills, training and experience. And, like leading senior constables Lisa Lorenz and George Crawford, a fair bit of personality.

View Season 3 - Episode 1: The only cop in town transcript

The Victorian community was shocked and outraged by the brutal rape and murder of real estate agent Lorelle Makin in 2005 at a house she was trying to sell.

A mother of two targeted by a calculated killer simply for how she looked. For the first time, Homicide Squad detectives tell their story of locking up Lorelle’s killer.

View Season 3 - Episode 2: Catching Lorelle's killer transcript

It’s summer 2019 and Bendigo’s Detective Senior Constable Andy Heazlewood is determined to track down the perpetrator behind a series of suspicious grass fires.

Locals fear it’s only a matter of time before flames threaten their farms, but a complex investigation is underway, and police are on the hunt.

View Season 3 - Episode 3: Stopping a fire starter transcript

People and dogs have amazing bonds but for handlers in the Victoria Police Dog Squad, who work and live alongside their canine colleagues, that bond runs even deeper.

Hear from three of our elite handlers who, alongside their four-legged partners, dedicate themselves to catching crooks and sniffing out drugs and firearms.

View Season 3 - Episode 4: Barking up the right tree - transcript

Vision from a violent knife fight on a Dandenong public bus in 2021 shocked even the most seasoned police officers. What made the near-deadly altercation even more confronting? The offenders and victims were all teenagers.

A pair of tenacious detectives share how they navigated the complexities of holding young people to account.

View Season 3 - Episode 5: Underage and under arrest - transcript.

There are few roles more critical to the day-to-day police response than the 251 sergeant.

These sergeants, like Dan Maffei and Dani Muntz, are responsible for the supervision and welfare of troops on patrol in their patch, and for keeping their community safe. It’s a sophisticated juggling act, but this dynamic duo has it all under control.

View Season 3 - Episode 6: Sergeant says - transcript.

A young mother, Ju "Kelly" Zhang, has gone missing and a tenacious detective begins an unrelenting pursuit to uncover whether she was murdered.

The case is complex, but the Missing Persons Squad specialises in investigations where they have no body and no crime scene.

View Season 2 - Episode 1: Missing or murdered transcript

Detectives from the Armed Crime Squad embark on an investigation full of twists and turns as they track down those responsible for one of the biggest gold and cash robberies in Victoria's history.

View Season 2 - Episode 2: Digging into a gold heist transcript.

Australia held its breath for five days in 2015, as a massive search was underway for 11-year-old Luke Shambrook. Luke had gone missing from his family’s campsite in rugged bushland.

In this episode, we take you through the highs and lows of the search, and into the decisions and moments that mattered.

View Season 2 - Episode 3: Looking for Luke transcript.

A Rebels bikie gang member believes he is untouchable. He runs a network of drug and gun trafficking, seeking to strike fear into everyone he comes across.

But he has no idea the Echo Taskforce is secretly following his every criminal move.

View Season 2 - Episode 4: Franchise of fear transcript.

It’s one of the most secretive police units in Australia but, in this episode, two serving Special Operations Group operators speak about what it’s like to work in a tactical police unit tasked with responding to terrorism incidents, hostage situations and arresting Victoria’s most dangerous criminals.

View Season 2 - Episode 5: Inside the Special Operations Group transcript.

A local detective and a forensic accountant team up to bring down a scammer who was behind a Ponzi scheme that fleeced millions of dollars from everyday victims.

View Season 2 - Episode 6: Following the money transcript.

When the Air Wing helicopter gets called in for a car chase, it’s game over for the crooks. A Tactical Flight Officer takes us into the cockpit and real-life radio chatter as police track two stolen cars through Melbourne’s suburbs.

View Season 2 - Episode 7: Following the money transcript.

Carol-Anne was a hostage in her own home for 10 years. She was convinced that her family violence ordeal, at the hands of her husband, would end in her death.

But two Victoria Police officers stepped in to help her escape her tormentor and start a new life.

View Season 2 Episode 8: Taking back control.

Police negotiators are routinely portrayed in movies as only communicating from a distance with a megaphone.

But for the negotiators in Victoria Police’s Critical Incident Response Team, when they’re dealing with sieges, hostage incidents, suicide interventions and more, they always try to operate face-to-face.

View Season 1 - Episode 1: The negotiators transcript.

After a blind man and his guide dog are killed by a car on a country road, the driver claims the victims had walked out in front of him.

But when the Major Collision Investigation Unit casts its meticulous eye over the case, holes begin to appear in his story.

View Season 1 - Episode 2: Collision course transcript.

View Season 1 - Episode 3: How to catch a crook transcript.

View Season 1 - Episode 4: DNA in from the cold transcript.