This series gives viewers a privileged glimpse into the gritty world of the detectives of the CIB – The Criminal Investigation Branch of the NZ Police. Handpicked and highly trained, the detectives target killers, rapists, robbers and crooks and deliver them to justice.

Crime Down Under: The Detectives asks: who are the unheralded investigators responsible for cracking our most baffling and notorious crimes? How do they do it? Above all, what drives their determination to dismantle a crime, piece by painstaking piece, in their dogged quest to unlock the truth?

Former and current detectives shed light on the challenges of dealing with the very worst elements of our society, in interviews that are surprisingly frank and in equal parts amusing and chilling. Dramatisations bring to life what they deal with and paint a picture of the worlds of violent crime.


Episode One: Telling Tales

For the detectives, communication is always key – talking, listening, and asking questions… Telling Tales features cases that showcase the detectives’ communication skills. To be able to converse at every level of society – to strike a rapport with people and have them reveal things that they’ve never told anybody else. Because all too often, seemingly innocuous comments can add up to form a water tight case.

Episode Two: Attention To Detail

A case can hinge on the tiniest shards of evidence and a detective must have a keen eye for detail. Detectives have Attention to Detail (‘ATD’) drummed into them throughout their training. This episode highlights cases in which the sharp eyes of an investigator has spotted a single critical detail – along with those cases in which there’s been many thousands of pieces of evidence painstaking pieced-together to secure a conviction.

Episode Three: Teamwork

No case is cracked alone – the detectives must pull-together as a team to uncover the truth. Teamwork explores the ever-increasingly complexity of the team brought to bear on a big case.  From the core team of detectives – each with a specific assignment – to the specialist teams within the police such as Profilers and Armed Offenders Squads, to the co-opting of the media into the team and ultimately, the public at large.