BEHIND THE BADGE
STEVEN WILLER Rank: Detective Acting Sergeant Graduated: April 2011 Unit: Arson and Explosives Squad
How do you uncover the truth about what really happened at a scene when all that remains is charred, damaged, or completely destroyed? Has a crime even occurred?
was always in the back of my mind. It was something that interested me in terms of the challenges of policing and the types of crime investigations that occur.
An Arson and Explosives Squad detective tells Police Life you need a well-trained eye and analytical mind to separate fact from fiction, because things aren’t always as they appear.
What attracted you to the Arson and Explosives Squad?
Why did you join Victoria Police? When I left school, I went to university and ended up becoming a high school teacher but joining Victoria Police, more so as a detective,
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POLICE LIFE | SPRING 2020
Being a detective meant I would still be working in a field where you can give back to people and help people, which is what I wanted in a career. So, after teaching for 10 years, I joined Victoria Police.
The variety and the diversity of work the squad covers. We investigate bushfires, fires involving fatalities, or arson-related fires suspected of involving criminal offences. Jobs could also be related to explosives, so someone actually building a complex explosive or someone who is found playing with explosives or fireworks.
You get to learn a lot of different skills and be involved with many different organisations like the Victorian fire services and State Emergency Service, and Victoria Police units like the Major Crime Scene Unit, Bomb Response Unit (BRU), and the forensic chemists. We’re a squad that covers the whole of Victoria, so you get to travel across the state for work which I also enjoy. Tell us about your role. My role is to investigate anything that falls into our squad criteria and also to assist divisional Crime Investigation Units and divisional policing units with their investigations of lower-level fires and explosives incidents.
