Victoria Police process around seven thousand young people every year. If you were an officer, you’d meet them every day – from the kids pinching chocolate from the shops and skateboarding without their helmets, to the less common and more serious behaviour, like breaking into cars. How many warnings and lectures could you give before you started wondering if anyone was really listening?

Dean McGowan recently finished up after thirty-three years with Victoria Police. He’s investigated some of the most complex and distressing crimes you can imagine – but he’s not quite ready to lock up young people who offend and throw away the key.

Dean’s had first-hand experience of needing help from teachers and family to keep his life on track. Experience that has shaped the person he is and the way he does his work.

On today’s episode, he talks about how police can move young people away from the justice system, while still holding them responsible for their actions, about the consequences of impulsivity and bad decisions, and tells his own story, of a wayward youth turned around.