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Editorial and photography: Jesse Wray-McCann
Sergeant Jane Richer sits in the driver’s seat of her police car at a set of traffic lights as a carload of young women pulls up beside her with music blaring.
It’s about 9pm on a Saturday night on the edge of Melbourne’s CBD and the women are having a great time, singing at the top of their lungs.
Sgt Richer rolls down her window and says, “G’day girls”.
The women freeze up and stop singing.
“You all look like you’re having a great night already,” Sgt Richer says with a beaming smile.
“Um, yeah, it’s her birthday,” one of the women nervously says, pointing to her friend in the front seat.
“Well happy birthday to you! I hope you have a fantastic night,” Sgt Richer says.
The women all begin to relax and then a carload of young men in the next lane starts singing “Happy Birthday” loudly.
Everyone joins in, even Sgt Richer.
The lights go green and both the car of women and car of men continue on their way into the CBD.
It’s the perfect example of what Sgt Richer aims to achieve while policing in the city after the sun has gone down.
"It's all about allowing the general public to enjoy themselves, to come into the city, to experience what our great city has to provide them and ensuring that they can do it safely,” Sgt Richer said.
“That interaction we had was only a small thing, but we ended up with two carloads of young people that have had a positive experience.
By getting our officers out there engaging with people, engaging with licensed venues, especially earlier in the night, it generally means that when witching hour rolls around at about 3am, things aren’t going to be as bad as they could have been.
“I certainly don't want us police to be seen as these big scary killjoys.
“We are, after all, out there to ensure that people are safe and are having a good time.”
Inspector Dale Huntington is the local area commander for the Melbourne East and Southbank police stations, and he is incredibly proud of the work his officers do in the city every day.
“I often say that when a car catches fire out in the suburbs, it’s not big news. But when a car catches fire in Elizabeth Street in the CBD, then the whole state of Victoria wants to know what’s happening,” Insp Huntington said.
“So that's the level of scrutiny our members are under all the time, but they go about their work every day with a smile and with a determination to make sure the city is a safe location.”
Insp Huntington said policing the city at night in 2025 is a drastically different experience to when he used to do it many years ago.
“Back then, there were really only two places of interest — King Street and the top of Bourke Street, and in between was a bare desert of licensed venues.
"But in that area, there's now more than 1500 licensed venues of all shapes and sizes, and you can get liquor until 5am, 7am, even 24 hours.
“If you had told a young Dale Huntington what it’s like now, he would have been stunned and thought that crime would be out of control.
“But it’s the actions and partnerships of police, the council, businesses, liquor licensing forums and industry groups over the years that have created a city that is both enjoyable and safe.”
After 28 years as a police officer — 27 of those spent working on the frontline — Sgt Richer made the very deliberate return to CBD policing last year after years working in other areas.
"I love working in the city and I'm very committed to keeping the community within it safe,” she said.
“We also have a lot of new and junior police officers who start their careers off working at Melbourne East or Melbourne West police stations.
“I feel that, with my experience, if I can impart just a small bit of knowledge to these members that will have some sort of positive impact throughout their career, then I’m playing an important part.
Most times after I work a shift in the city, I come home and I feel like I've achieved something.
In the hours after her interaction with the birthday girl and her friends, Sgt Richer and the two new police officers with her for the night spend their time responding to several jobs and doing foot patrols around the CBD.
Then, just before midnight, the call comes over the radio that someone has been mobbed and robbed just outside the CBD, on the other side of the Yarra River.
The offenders are described as a group of male youths who were last seen walking north on Swanston Street into the city.
Sgt Richer drives immediately down Swanston Street and spots a group of young males matching the description outside Federation Square.
She puts the lights and sirens on and shouts at them to stop, while her two offsiders Senior Constable Zakari Hussain and Constable Dimmi Christou leap out of the car to catch the group.
Fellow CBD officers, nearby transit officers, and protective services officers help out with the arrests and processing of evidence.
The offenders — one of whom is a 14-year-old boy with more than 150 prior charges to his name — are bundled into divisional vans and taken into custody.
It’s yet another example of the aims of CBD night policing.
While Sgt Richer and her colleagues were very happy for two carloads of fun seekers to enter the city earlier in the night, they have no tolerance for troublemakers and successfully stop them from making it into the CBD.
“There are people who just want to enjoy themselves and the city, and there are those who are out to cause trouble and commit crimes,” Sgt Richer said.
“It’s our mission to make sure the two don’t meet.”
As Sgt Richer drives away from the scene of the arrests, she turns to the two new recruits working with her.
“Whatever happens with those young offenders tonight or tomorrow, by stopping them from coming into the city, I know without a doubt that we have stopped another three or four or more robberies or assaults from happening tonight,” she said.
“We’ve made sure that more people haven’t had their night, their weekend, their week or even their lives ruined, and that’s a positive outcome.”
