Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush on youth crime, budget cuts and protests

New top cop Mike Bush has opened up on his plans to get more cops on the beat and he’s revealed the two things that have surprised him about Victoria Police.

In his first interview as Victoria Police’s Chief Commissioner, Mike Bush opens up on his plans to get more cops on the beat, take down the organised crime gangs fuelling the tobacco wars, and tackle the youth crime crisis that has terrorised Victorians.

What have you learnt from your visits to workplaces since June 27?

I’ve had the opportunity to go and visit a number of stations because I really need to understand the working environment of our people.

There’s a couple of key things I’ve learnt, but they weren’t new to me. One is, we need to recruit and retain more staff to make sure we’ve got sufficient people to keep our communities safe.

But the other thing is, as an organisation, we’ve put a lot of stuff in the way of our staff where we haven’t enabled them enough through technology.

I think about how much time our frontline staff have to spend back at the station doing things, whether it’s paperwork, whether it’s bureaucratic processes, we need to free them up from a lot of that. That stuff’s important, but we need to free them up and find another way to do that.

So we get them back out on the street, where they want to be. That’s a key thing … technology is a big part of it.

I’ve been through a whole technology transformation before, so I know what very good looks like. And we’ve got a wee way to go in Victoria Police.

So there are two really important things. Get more people into the organisation, because we are funded for more people. But retaining the people we’ve got, because we’ve got a lot of good people that we really want to keep to ensure that … we keep the numbers up.

But we really want our people out of the station, being really visible, out on the street, preventing crime, responding to crime, resolving crime, which is what they joined to do. And they’re all passionate. But I am so heartened by the positivity of our people out there.

Despite that they work in a tough environment, doing tough things, they are extremely positive. So we’re really going to invest in them and invest in the leadership of organisation.

Victorian Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush says Victoria’s rising crime rate must be reversed — and he has a plan to help. Picture: Jason Edwards

Has anything surprised you here, operationally or administratively?

I was surprised by the two things I mentioned – that VicPol is not as advanced in the technology space as many other police forces or services that I know

We’re a little bit over bureaucratic. Too prescriptive in the policy space, should I say. Sounds a little bit management, but it’s not hard at all. But it will take some time.

I met with the New Zealand Police Commissioner this week, Richard Chambers, and we’re entering into a partnership around technology and the bottom line with that is, whatever they have, we’re welcome to use.

We have too many systems that don’t talk to each other. So the first thing is, let’s have a platform, a single platform that we all work from. So we don’t have to duplicate or replicate stuff.

So there’s a lot of bespoke, one-off systems. But what you really need is a platform that talks to each other, and the bottom line is, our people have got to be able to enter things once, not multiple times.

But the other thing they need to have is a device in their hand, and all staff, so that they can do their job in the field. Everything they need should be available and in fact pushed to them on a device that they keep in their hand.

So a lot of our front line have that device … and there’s some good things on it, but there’s much more we can do. Technology is a wonderful enabler and there’s a lot more we can do. Some of it we can do quite quickly, some of it will take a little bit more time.

Mike Bush with new police recruits.

What changes have you identified as being needed in your first month?

There’s got to be more (police) visibility, so that’s why we need to free our staff up.

Visibility is really important in terms of deterrence. But it’s also what we do there. So how we use intelligence, data, and evidence to inform our people where they need to be.

There’s a deployment aspect, and there’s a more strategic one about understanding what the drivers are. You partner with everyone who needs to partner, to intervene on those things early.

We’re going to send a team to New Zealand within the next six weeks. The work, the planning’s already underway, some stuff we can do quite quickly and other stuff could, I don’t want to make rash promises, but, you know, it can take 12 months to build this stuff, but we’ve got to start the journey now. And we know what the journey looks like.

What scope is there for streamlining police responses to family violence?

The feedback I got from staff, and I’m quite happy to share it is that … they can spend four to six hours back at the office processing the incident and the paperwork and we need to find a much more effective way of doing that because family violence is so important that we intervene, we respond to keep people safe, but also we’ve got to fix the back end.

So, our people do a lot of stuff at the front end. We also have to fix the back end, so we’re available to intervene, care for victims, care for the children that are present.

But also, we’ve got to have offender interventions too, because we need to change their behaviours. So we need to work with all of the NGOs and our partners on that.

Our crime statistics have been climbing for years. Are you confident those numbers can be reversed?

It has to be reversed. We can’t tell you today, but we will be able to tell you in a few weeks. We will be setting some targets in respect to that, which we will be happy to share. It’ll be very public, but we do have to turn that around.

The state of Victoria is over-represented in crime. It’s understanding what those drivers are and intervening in partnership with others to prevent those things occurring. That’s why we exist. We don’t purely exist to respond to crime.

The third line in the Act about what we are required to do is prevent crimes. So we’ll be reorganising ourselves and doing more of the prevention as well.

It will be across the board, but where we really want to go is reducing serious crime and harm. In fact, I don’t mind if there’s an increase in reported volume crime because that demonstrates that there’s more trust and confidence in the police.

We need to address all crime, but what we will be measuring mostly is the serious crime and harm, but we won’t be neglecting the rest because people need to feel safe in their neighbourhoods.

The state’s raging tobacco wars aren’t immune to Victoria, with New Zealand and parts of France fighting the crime. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Have you been briefed on Victoria’s tobacco wars, which seem to be unique?

It’s not unique to Victoria. It’s very serious in Victoria. But I’ll just tell you an aside, the New Zealand Police Commissioner (Richard Chambers) was here during the week being briefed on that because he wants to get in front of it in New Zealand.

Richard was in Lyon (France) prior to taking up the commission’s job. It’s a serious issue in Europe. Perhaps it’s almost the number one issue, crime-wise. So it’s not unique to Victoria. But it really does impact on us here. And it’s very much part of our organised crime landscape, that we are going to increase our focus on dismantling organised crime groups.

Our most influential criminals are now offshore. What can we do about this?

That’s where global law enforcement partnerships are so important.

And we have those directly and we also have them in conjunction with the Australian Federal Police, who are our partners in law enforcement, and through other policing agencies.

The impact of global law enforcement networking just gets better and better. So we work with multiple agencies across the globe to combat that. I’ve been briefed on a range of people who impact on our crime, our safety, and in this state and they are obviously an area of focus.

And that’s where our international or global law enforcement partnerships are so important and we leverage those to combat those kinds of people.

The … international law enforcement, legislative regime used to be very slow. It is being enhanced at the moment. So there are improvements in the way we can use legislation to target these people. But they can always be more effective.

I will be taking a very close look at whether or not we’re leveraging our current legislation to target the finances of these groups and individuals.

I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again, that the way you dismantle organised crime groups is you take away their liberty and their influence via their financial assets at the same time. If you only do one of those or you don’t do them simultaneously, they still have influence.

But the way to take away their influence is deprive them of their liberty, and their assets at the same time.

Mr Bush said Victoria was ‘overrepresented in the protest environment’. Picture: Tamati Smith.

Is balancing the right to protest but not harm others a priority for you, given the number of demonstrations here?

You (Victoria) are over-represented in the protest environment. It does seem to be the protest capital.

It’s really important that people are allowed to protest peacefully. and we will support that, we’ll keep our communities safe on both sides of that, but we’ve got to ensure that those very small minority that wish to cause harm are prevented from doing so.

We do have the power to intervene, depending on the environment or the context of that. Whether it’s morally the right thing to do is not really a question for police. It’s whether we have the authority to intervene. And we do in certain circumstances and in certain locations.

There’s a real social question here about social cohesion and polarisation. Again, a huge part of our population act lawfully and properly, but there are some on the extremes whose behaviour is unacceptable and we have to be quite surgical about those groups.

There are only a small group of people who want to cause harm at both ends of that spectrum. It’s unacceptable and whether it’s through legislation or police intervention, that needs to be prevented. And that’s really an area of focus for us.

At what point do you think children under 16 should be incarcerated?

No one wants to see young people in jail, but there are some, especially repeat and recidivist, serious offenders … they, for the sake of the community, unfortunately, that’s the only place for them.

Back in New Zealand two years ago, I was asked to review our prison system for young people, which I did, and then I was asked to actually run that. So I spoke to most of those young people inside those institutions. And you feel for those young people. But the behaviour of most of them means that they are a danger to the community.

So, we’ve got to find a way to intervene early on those young people to change the course of their life but when they are a threat to the public, unfortunately, until they change their ways, there must be a consequence of their behaviour. Because community safety is the priority.

We are always in dialogue with members of the Department of Justice. We don’t have conversations with the judiciary because they’re very independent. And as they should be, our conversation is through the Department of Justice, senior officials there, the Attorney-General, and those conversations are always going on.

We’ve been having conversations with them this week on various matters, we’re always keen to put our point of view across. They always give us the opportunity to do that. We’re very practical and pragmatic about what we recommend, and our focus is always community safety, preventing community harm. But we’re aware of the fact that we are one, very important voice, but we are one voice.

I support the fact that there’s got to be a consequence of behaviours that put other people’s lives and their lives at risk. And I mentioned that I’ve spoken to a lot of these young people in the past and they don’t necessarily get that there’s a consequence that might affect them or others. So they need to learn that.

The best place for some young criminals is jail, according to Mr Bush.

Have you been briefed on the force’s recruitment and retention issues?

We’ve got to make sure that as leaders in this organisation, we create an environment and an organisation that is really positive to work in.

I mentioned right at the front that we’ve got to take some of the blockages out of the system that really frustrate our people. That’s one piece but everyone I’ve spoken to so far is really proud to be part of VicPol and we’ve got to make sure everyone feels that way.

Policing is such a brilliant vocation. But it’s also tough, so we’ve got to look after, support our people, make sure we keep them safe and well, value them, respect them. All those things. To make sure that they want to stay with us.

But there’s also some systems and processes; things we can do.

On police dealing with mental health cases

Mental health incidents that we get called to, we must go.

The frustration for our people is, if they’re dealing with someone who’s unwell, we have to care for them until someone else can take care of them. We need to speed that up so that we can pass them to the right authorities.

We’re not the right people to look after them once we’ve dealt with the incident. We need to get back out on the street. We need to make sure that the right people are caring for them before they can go wherever they need to go and we need to find the right people to do that. It’s not us. It is a frustration, but we must care for those people.

There are people that are more appropriately trained and experienced, and in fact, it’s their job to do it. We need our police officers back out on the street. Those discussions have been going for some time and they will continue to go until we get a solution.

On the mental health of police officers

It all starts at home, it all starts with leaders. So leaders have got to create that environment where people are safe, cared for, looked after, supported, valued.

But then, inevitably, the work that they do, the things that they see, the things they’re asked to do, will impact on them.

So we’ve got to have leaders and colleagues that are really vigilant around those things, and they can pick up on it and make sure that we’ve got support and we’ve got interventions for them.

Mr Bush visiting Dandenong Police station — one of the many stations he has visited since June 23.

What are your expectations of the people who work for you?

My expectation of everyone is that they act pursuant to our values and understand exactly what we want to achieve.

And that is keeping communities safe, ensure that they feel safe, and that we act professionally with respect, with courage, with compassion.

Will you remain independent of government and be willing to criticise it when necessary?

The police must be operationally independent of government. It’s an ongoing conversation with our minister, senior ministers, the Premier, putting our point forward in terms of what we think are practical solutions.

How will you empower leaders and make them better?

We need to enable them. We need to reset our strategic framework, which we’re doing at the moment, understanding how we need to lead.

But it’s the responsibility of myself and the executive team to enable them to do that. So give them the right framework, give them the right tools and techniques to be good people leaders.

Did what happened to Shane Patton, Rick Nugent and Neil Paterson make you think twice about running for the job?

I have asked the question, how did that come to be?

Knowing those people, really piqued my interest and how it happened, but it didn’t dissuade me from applying for the job.

And I’ve met Shane, catch up with Graham Ashton very shortly … I know Ken Lay, I’ve caught up with Rick.

I know these people and I respect them all, but it didn’t dissuade me from applying for the job. We, the senior police officers serve at the pleasure of government … And there are certain expectations on us that we must equip.

Have you had talks about plans for an organisational review of the force?

We do have to reorganise ourselves.

We have to make sure that we’ve got the right people in the right place with the right tools and training to do the right thing and I’m not convinced we are properly organised.

That’s why we’re refreshing our operating model, and that will inform the organisational review. It won’t be informed solely on fiscal criteria. It will be informed functionally.

Fiscal’s a consideration and important one, obviously. But it’s more about function (that) will inform the organisational review and how we police.

Victoria Police hasn’t been asked to cut its budget by Premier Jacinta Allan, but instead was told to ‘live within your budget’. Picture: Jason Edwards

Are budget cuts coming for Victoria Police?

I’ve asked the Premier directly, “What’s the situation?” and the Premier and the minister are being very clear: “Live within your budget.”

So we haven’t been asked to take a cut, so we need to be pretty clear on that. We need to live within the budget. The current budget that the government give us.

So one of the things that I’m going to do very shortly is look at exactly where we’re spending our money, and there might be some reprioritisation. I’m happy to give an example that we’ve rolled out devices to our frontline uniform offices, but we didn’t roll them out to detectives.

I’m very keen to make sure that we find the funding within ourselves to ensure that our detective branch also have devices because there’s real economies in that. (It) makes them more effective, keeps them safer, and actually, in terms of how they relate to victims, will improve that, too.

We’ll look first at our own budget. We will look first to see where else we’re spending money. Are there areas where we’re spending money we don’t need to and we can divert funding very, very quickly?

I’m also looking at the reason we want to partner with the New Zealand Police is because I … led the establishment of our technology, so I know the environment, I know the systems. I know what we’ve got. I know how it works.

And the fact that we’ve got a partnership and now the New Zealand Police Commissioner is happy to share for no cost everything that’s been developed in New Zealand.

It was a very long journey, but we started off with a vision for our technology. So you start with a vision for your technology and the vision was that all of our staff had everything they needed to do their job, to stay safe, to do their job, as I say, in the palm of their hand, where they needed to be.

Because, to bore you, police officers were always coming back to the station or their vehicle to do checks, to do things, to make queries, to do their paperwork, to write infringements, to get information about where they were going – all that should be in the palm of your hand. It’s a device like a mobile phone.

There were some murmurings about visibility in your first month. Why did you choose to quietly check things out?

Because you need to understand your environment.

While I understand policing, and I know Melbourne, slightly, I really needed to understand the organisation, understand the culture, understand their (police’s) needs, understand the barriers, meet the people, understand how the organisation’s currently working.

So that’s been a real focus. Yep. You don’t just rush in and make arbitrary change, even though there’s a few things you can change quite quickly. You really need to understand the business, the context that people operate in first, and that’s been a real focus for me, and us.

Why did you make a low-key visit to the East Melbourne Synagogue after it was attacked last month?

I just wanted to understand the environment, the extent of the damage, the environment to which it occurred. I’d been briefed on the matter, obviously, and so I went for a walk.

I also went to Hardware Lane (after protesters invaded the Miznon Israeli restaurant), just to remind me where that occurred because my wife and I dined there the night before, almost at the exact same location.

But then I visited again, just to familiarise myself. It’s really important that you know the landscape. The media were there when … I went to both locations.

They were in Hardware Lane filming. I think they were waiting for the Home Affairs Minister and they were outside the mosque.

And I didn’t shy away from them. I walked straight in front of them all and they didn’t recognise me. But, you know, I just thought it was important to understand what it occurred, where it occurred.

Originally published as Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush on youth crime, budget cuts and protests