I’d never met or spoken with Robin (Rob) Bailey until a few weeks ago. Rob had been a member of Victoria Police for almost 30 years but our paths never crossed. He retired at the rank of Chief Inspector after working in some of the toughest squads, including the Armed Robbers.
You wouldn’t normally associate toughness with Fraud, but today you will learn what it takes to be a top investigator and it doesn’t necessarily involve murders ∧ rapes. Rob was a specialist Forensic Fraud Investigator and did an aggregate of 11 years with the VicPol Fraud Squad at 3 ranks. Today he takes us into a complicated, what he describes as a “basically uninvestigable” messy file he was handed and asked to have a look at, which contained a plethora of fraudulent insurance claims, false personal injury claims, kickbacks & many more twists & turns.
Apart from this ‘basically uninvestigable’ file, for which 17 people were ultimately charged, Rob was involved in many high profile investigations including being a vital (and seriously injured) witness to the Russell Street bombing outside the Police station in March 1986, he was part of an Australian peacekeeping mission for the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus, he’s authored a book “So you Want to be a Policeman Eh" & so much more I frankly don’t have the time to share with you.
Not surprisingly, Rob, like so many other Police, still bears the mental scars of his time as a Policeman and has become a fierce advocate for those who don’t have a voice or can’t find one. He’s not out of the woods, like many of us, but has learned to manage his mental health. Rob believes many deaths of Police veterans may not be as innocuous as initially determined which is why he is so passionate in reaching out to members who’ve retired, often broken, never having admitted it to their families & loved ones, let alone themselves, that ‘the job’ has damaged them.
There’s so many investigations I’d love to chat to Rob about and I’m sure we’ll have Rob back, but today we’re going to talk about that fascinating, intriguing fraud investigation I touched on before.
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