1920s Melbourne: Harry Rand and the CIB

Glimpse back to the 1920s and into the world of Melbourne’s detectives of the Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) of the Victoria Police. In this photograph, Constable Harry Rand and three plain clothes detectives stand imposingly in front of the unit’s Hotchkiss car, circa 1922.

Victoria Police was reorganised in 1883 following recommendations from the 1881 Royal Commission’s inquiries into its alleged inadequate response to the capture of the Kelly Gang. As a result, the newly formed CIB assumed the role of its perceived dysfunctional predecessor, the Detective Force. The CIB initially operated from the then Victoria Police Headquarters situated on Russell Street in Melbourne. Consisting of plain clothes detectives, the CIB was considered to be a more effective criminal detective force whose role was to investigate major crimes throughout Victoria. During the early twentieth century the CIB investigated crimes concerning assault, defraud, robbery, theft, murder, and, of particular interest, the criminal activities of Melbourne’s underworld figure, Squizzy Taylor.

Constable Harry Rand of Hawthorn, pictured second from the right, was a driver for Melbourne detectives within the CIB during the 1920s. He had enlisted in the Australian Imperial Forces in early 1916, but was medically discharged later that same year having been diagnosed with chronic rhinitis. Rand subsequently joined Victoria Police and became a well-liked constable within the force. In April 1923, aged just 28, Rand unexpectedly died from an illness. The media speculated that injuries he sustained from a vehicle accident several months prior while on duty were the cause of his sudden illness and premature death. Rand left behind a wife and three children.

Matthew Michieletto
RHSV Volunteer