Detective Inspector Mick Hughes. Photo: Eddie Jim
The head of the homicide squad, Mick Hughes, has been castigated on social media for suggesting women need to be safety conscious when jogging or walking around town.
It is doubtful Hughes has had the chance to respond on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram because he and his investigators have been busy trying to catch the killer of a 17-year-old girl stabbed to death while walking through a Doncaster park.
Hughes doesn't look like an Internet surfer or an avid blogger. Indeed, having let his sideburns grow alarmingly, he could pass for the lead singer in an Ol'55 tribute band.
So what did he say that caused such uproar?
"I suggest to people, particularly females, they shouldn't be alone in parks; I'm sorry to say that is the case."
"We have to be a little more careful. We need to look after each other."
He then added, "I don't think we should live our lives in fear."
Even the Minister for Women and Prevention of Family Violence Fiona Richardson weighed in with: "The community conversation needs to be about stopping men from committing these terrible crimes in the first place, not just about women needing to protect themselves."
Let's put this all in context. Hughes was well aware of the circumstances of the apparent random attack on schoolgirl Masa Vukotic on Tuesday evening.
The nature of the injuries and the circumstances of the attack would have led police to immediately believe the offender was likely to strike again.
On Thursday, Sean Christian Price was charged with the murder. In a remand hearing, police alleged Price had raped a woman and committed three assaults and two robberies in the hours before he gave himself up.
The strength of the evidence against Price will be examined by courts in the months ahead and cannot be here, but Hughes was not indulging in a broad philosophical debate on women's rights when he made his comments.
He was dealing with a specific threat over a specific crime.
He couldn't say, "Don't go into a park, because we think this whacko will strike again."
Hughes knows exactly how a serial killer works, as he was one of the homicide crew that caught Paul Charles Denyer - the man who murdered three women in Frankston and stalked hundreds more.
In 1993, Denyer stalked and stabbed to death Elizabeth Stevens, 18, Debbie Fream, 22, and Natalie Russell, 17, in separate attacks.
Denyer usually attacked when it was raining, reasoning the water would help wash away clues.
Back then police warned women to take precautions and not walk alone.
On June 30, a rainy afternoon, Natalie thought it would be quicker to walk home from school than wait for a lift from her mother.
She took a short cut through a park where Denyer was waiting. She was the same age as Masa Vukotic.
Women have every right to be angry and frustrated by suggestions they can't go about their daily business without looking over their shoulders.
Hughes' comments have been misconstrued as blaming women who are the victims not the offenders.
In fact, Hughes and people like him act on behalf of victims – male and female.
It is not blokes like Hughes who are the problem. It is the blokes that people like Mick Hughes catches who are.
Sure, we need conversations, conferences, dialogue and summits on women's rights to live in a safer world.
We also need coppers who catch killers.
John Silvester's column Naked City appears in The Saturday Age
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