Our team
Victoria Crime News is run by a small editorial team. Each of our reporters has a beat, a contact list, and a name attached to every story. We answer to readers, not to advertisers, and never to police.
You can reach the newsroom through our contact page — news tips, corrections, and legal or take-down requests all come through there; just choose what your message is about. For confidential tips by post, get in touch first and we’ll send a postal address.
Eliza Hartman — chief courts reporter
Beats: Courts, sentencing, IBAC, Big Build governance.
Eliza is the chief courts reporter for Victoria Crime News. She has spent more than a decade covering County Court trials, Supreme Court appeals and coronial inquests across Melbourne. She holds a Master of Journalism and writes about sentencing trends, criminal procedure, and public-interest litigation in Victoria. She authors most of our court-of-appeal coverage and the IBAC operation explainers.
Read all of Eliza’s articles at /author/eliza/.
Jack Renton — police rounds, organised crime, major incidents
Beats: Crime, organised crime, Tobacco Wars, Pub & Club Arson, public order.
Jack covers crime, policing and major incidents for Victoria Crime News. He has reported on organised crime, drug trafficking and major operations across metropolitan Melbourne and the western suburbs. Outside the newsroom he sits on the board of a regional volunteer surf rescue club. Most of our taskforce-explainer coverage and the homicide-rate analysis are his.
Read all of Jack’s articles at /author/jack/.
Mei Calloway — community safety, road safety, family violence
Beats: Family Violence, Road Safety, Community Safety, scams, mental-health policing.
Mei writes our community safety, road safety and family violence coverage. She is a former social worker and brings a community-first lens to every story. Mei is particularly interested in prevention programs, harm reduction and the lived experience of victim-survivors. She wrote the Royal Commission into Family Violence retrospective and most of our affirmative-consent and victim-helpline reporting.
Read all of Mei’s articles at /author/mei/.
Tom Whitford — regional and rural Victoria
Beats: Regional Victoria, Missing Persons, First Nations, bushfire response.
Tom is our regional and rural Victoria reporter. Based out of the Goulburn Valley, he covers everything from country road tolls to the policing challenges facing small towns and Aboriginal communities across the state. He is a third-generation farmer and a volunteer firefighter. Tom writes most of our country-roads coverage and the Yoorrook Justice Commission updates.
Read all of Tom’s articles at /author/tom/.
How we work
We follow the MEAA Journalist Code of Ethics and the published Editorial Standards on this site. We do not run paid editorial. We disclose corrections clearly. We never identify victims of sexual assault, children involved in protected proceedings, or anyone whose identification is suppressed by a Victorian court. We rely on Mindframe’s guidelines for safe reporting when covering suicide, self-harm or family violence, and on Our Watch’s guidelines for family-violence reporting.
Where we discuss a person who has been charged but not convicted, we treat them as innocent until proven guilty. Where we discuss a court matter that is still on foot, we will not editorialise on guilt. Where new information comes to light, we update the story and note the change.
How we’re funded
Victoria Crime News is privately owned. We do not accept government funding. We accept some display advertising and disclose any sponsored content clearly within the article it appears in. We are not part of Victoria Police, the Department of Justice and Community Safety, or any other public agency.
Who we’re not
We are not Victoria Police. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or representing Victoria Police, the Victorian Government, or any law-enforcement agency. The domain vicpolicenews.com.au was acquired by us after the prior site at this URL ceased operating. Our publication is wholly independent.
For official Victoria Police information, visit police.vic.gov.au.
Last updated: May 2026.