Above- Author Justine Ford and the book cover.
How good is Justine Ford’s biography of Ron Iddles, THE GOOD COP?
Very good indeed. Riveting.
Inspired as a boy by the Crawford Productions television series, Homicide, Ron Iddles’ dream was to join the police force and solve murders.
Born in Rochester in country Victoria in 1955, Iddles initially joined the police cadets, a move that did not auger well for a future uttering “take it down to forensics”, but a real dog at a bone persistence prevailed and in February 1974 Iddles graduated as a cop.
Before becoming Australia’s most successful homicide detective, Iddles made a reputation as a thief catcher extraordinaire, the results of hard work and innate understanding of human behaviour.
Rounding up robbers at a robust rate was all well and good, but Iddles hankered for a role in Homicide, and finally in 1980, he succeeded in joining the murder investigation squad.
“My first case at Homicide as the primary investigator was important to me. It was very complex because it involved the underworld, it involved armed robbery, and it involved criminals giving evidence against other criminals. It was also about a young woman’s innocence.”
Many more murders were to come under Ron Iddles’ scrupulous investigation before he succumbed to a seven year itch, left the coppers, bought himself a truck, and became a delivery driver.
But in 1990, Ron was back in his beloved Homicide, handling high profile cases and consolidating his legend as the crème de la crème of killer catchers.
“Every family of a victim has a right to answers. It is not about closure but about giving them answers which might explain why. Failure should never be considered an option.”
Central to his success as an investigator is Ron’s accurate empathy, an innate ability to show humility, to accept another human being for what they are, and to provide a space for that person to feel safe regardless of the circumstances. One of Ron’s catch cries is perpetrators are not bad persons per se, but people who had made a bad choice.
THE GOOD COP is a true crime police procedural par excellence with a subject that is the personification of legend. With legends come myths and to a cynical populace, the very idea of a good cop comes with a pinch of salt, a mythical creature. Police corruption exists, but to tar the whole force or every individual officer is just as extreme and false as saying everyone on the planet is inherently evil.
Ron Iddles is an extraordinary subject, an incredible detective and community leader who is both an inspiration and someone to aspire to and Justine Ford’s compulsively readable book is a terrific testament to a life and career without peer.
THE GOOD COP by Justine Ford is published by Macmillan.