It was a rainy evening in northern suburbs of Melbourne when a man, settled in for a quiet night in his bungalow had his peace disturbed by the distinctive sound of glass breaking outside.

He was an older man who was disconnected from society, whose life had been interrupted by a group of teenagers in the street who were intent on having their own street party, drunkenly smashing their empty bottles and talking loudly. The man, upset that he had been disturbed by these rowdy teens who had no regard for those living in the quiet suburban street, decided to take matters into his own hands and confront them. Opening the door to his quaint home, he strode outside to where the youths were. Politely he asked them to keep it quiet, which in turn only angered the inebriated teens. In an instant, they produced a knife, jumped on him and brutally stabbed the man to death in his own street, a quiet street that would now be forever tainted in blood, long after the crime had taken place.

The rain was not homicide Detective Dale McQualter’s or Victoria Police’s best friend that night, hindering their investigation by washing away much of their evidence and making it difficult to identify the offenders (the first 72 hours are the most crucial times after a murder has taken place). Still they refused to give up and after much hard work and persistence, they managed to arrest the offender who was charged and convicted with murder.

Although the victim did not have many material possessions, he did have something far more valuable – his family. His distressed mother and brother (who he was estranged from at the time of his death) attended every single day of the three-week murder trial.

Dale says it was a shocking case for him.

“Because it was quite horrific circumstances to do something that one of us might do any night of the week, walk out the front of your door and say hey shut up. And then you’re dead in the middle of the road.”

For him, the lesser known murders were the most satisfying ones to solve as it is not all about finding the perpetrators, it becomes more personal and about helping the victims grieving family.

“If someone has a profile, the media are all over it and it becomes front page news. But often there’s homicides every second day of the week and it’s those other ones that don’t get any media attention that are probably the most satisfying in the end,” he said, with a gentle smile which gives warmth to his intense brown eyes, framed by dark framed glasses and a full beard and mustache. He is of a slim build with short brown hair and dressed impeccably, in a navy suit.

Born in Bendigo in 1974, Dale is the eldest of six children. After attending Catholic Primary School and Catholic College in Bendigo, he spent the next three years travelling and doing odd jobs while trying to work out what he wanted to do with his life.

At the age of 21, he spotted an advertisement for Victoria Police and decided to apply, despite many people telling him that it was too hard to get into. He proved them wrong, and was successful in his first attempt. He spent the next five months doing the required training at the Glen Waverley police academy, which included legal, physical and weapons training. After graduating, he spent time at the Flinders Street, Fitzroy, Richmond and Collingwood police stations where he did general police duties and some low level undercover work, mainly involving drug related issues.

After three and a half years working as a police officer, which included doing some detective work in the Crime Investigation Unit, he decided that he wanted to become a homicide detective. After attending a formal interview, he was successful and was fortunate to be recruited to the Purana taskforce, an arm of the homicide unit responsible for investigating the Melbourne gangland murders.

His involvement in the taskforce included investigating the murder of Mario Condello, who was murdered in front of his Brighton home in 2004 and whose death still remains unsolved. He had the honour of interviewing Carl Williams (who was a prime suspect due to Condello’s plot to murder him) who he described as “charismatic” and someone who thrived on media attention.

“My view is that they live in a little bit of a TV sort of scenario so they follow Tony Soprano and the way he lives his life,” he says, laughing.

When Tony Mokbel fled to Greece in 2006, Dale was involved in assisting with locating and apprehending him. Although he said he didn’t meet or interview Mokbel, he says the operation was handled quietly and delicately to ensure that he wasn’t tipped off. One of the detectives even kept a packed suitcase in the office, ready to dash to the airport and jump on the next plane to Greece if necessary.

The bloodiest crime scene Dale said he walked into was one evening when he was called to a house where two friends had a verbal altercation over dinner, which quickly turned deadly, ending with a body lying on the floor in the dining room. The scene was not a pretty sight, as the victim had been stabbed so many times that it “was as though all of the blood had been drained out of him.” 

After seven years as a homicide detective, involving long hours and missing many family events due to being called in to work, he decided to change career and to study law at Monash University. He married his wife Emily in 2008 and they now have a one year old son, Alfie. 

Despite his assertion that she was fine with his job as she did not know anything different, Emily says she is “pretty relieved” that he is now a lawyer and she no longer “has to worry about his safety”. Emily recalls a particular time when Dale was called out to find an offender who had committed a violent crime and was torn between wanting the criminal to be apprehended for public safety and feeling very uncomfortable and concerned that her husband might be the one who finds him and may be in immediate danger.

Emily describes him as “fiercely loyal” and a “wonderful father” and says that beneath the serious, poker-face exterior perfected from his many years questioning some of Victoria’s most dangerous criminals, belies a more playful and “goofy” personality, which is especially prevalent now he is a father.

Despite his career change, Dale says his time on the police force has given him some valuable skills that serve him well, most importantly his people skills, observing that many of his younger colleagues have struggled with dealing with aggressive or difficult clients. He has also kept up with his fitness, and rides his bike to work everyday.

Victoria Police’s motto is “Uphold the Right”, so perhaps in Dale’s case his new motto should be “Uphold the Change.”