14 April 2012

Old Belco cop shop torched

| johnboy
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ACT Policing is investigating a suspicious fire which occurred at the old Belconnen Police Station early this morning (Saturday, April 14).

Around 1.50am police were called to a fire at the old Belconnen Police Station in Lathlain Street, Belconnen. ACT Fire and Rescue trucks were already in attendance.

Damage is estimated to be between $10,000 and $15,000.

AFP Forensics is attending the scene and will conduct an examination.

Police are urging anyone who may have witnessed any suspicious activity near the old Belconnen Police Station to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, or via www.act.crimestoppers.com.au. Information can be provided anonymously.

[Courtesy ACT Policing]

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PrinceOfAles said :

About 5-10 years ago someone torched a police car on the street right out the front of the old police station while police were inside. This insadent comes as no surprise.

Knowledge of emergency services….questionable spelling of ‘incident’….could this be our Mitchell fire SMSer?

pink little birdie said :

Is/was Yarramundi reach on fire at about 10:30 this morning? Giant plume of smoke from that area could be seen coming from that area as I was coming south on the Caswell drive bit of the GDE. Anyone got any info?

From the NCA Website: controlled burn (despite what it looked like – I thought the visitor’s centre, or whatever it is now, was burning down)

c_c said :

That’s rather impressive, right across from the bus interchange and the Westfield on a Saturday night. If they could get in a torch that, makes you wonder how safe any of that area is?

Thats rather impressive… you have no idea what you are on about.

c_c said :

Regardless, the point I’m making is this didn’t occur in a dark, remote part of the suburbs. It was central, not that late (heck I know people who don’t start at the pubs till 1am) and close to emergency services. So it points to the growing blatancy of the thugs and their declining fear of being caught. You’re seeing more and more stuff happening where and when it didn’t used to. And you see on RA enough people also highlight how slow and unresponsive police are and how soft the courts are.

Have you ever been in that area at 1.30am? Ever seen how quiet it is? I have, and it’s a ghost town. Actually, I think the ghosts would be more lively.

And just what do people starting at the pubs at 1am have to do with this? If anything, you’re just shooting dodn your own argument – yes, there are busy parts of the city at 1.30am, but obviously this isn’t one of them! In the area where the old cop shop used to be, there are no clubs, no pubs – in fact, nothing at all that would cause another living soul to do anything but drive right on by.

‘Central’ does not mean ’24/7 busy’. If you don’t believe me, head down there at 1.30am next Saturday, and see if you can figure out how it would have been so easy for someone to set fire to the abandoned Police station.

PrinceOfAles10:17 pm 14 Apr 12

About 5-10 years ago someone torched a police car on the street right out the front of the old police station while police were inside. This insadent comes as no surprise.

Central belco, after 1am, is a pretty quiet place. Much more the sort of place to get away with smashing or burning something then some remote part of the suburbs, where there are people in every house at night.

It also hardly seems a coincidence that of all the buildings in the belco CBD, the cop shot got torched. I put it too you all that someone with a grudge against the bacon set out that night with the intent to light up a building they knew to be empty. Short of a break through by those criminal scholars, it probably isn’t the sort of thing that could be stopped.

buzz819 said :

Oh the Firies called the Police? I wonder if that has anything to do with the fire alarm going off, their station being 50 meters down the road, and they attended due to the fire alarm, I wonder if that could have been what happened? What could the Police have done if they turned up first? Shot the flames?

Well that’s a stupid question, stop the fire being lit of course. Though I am making the assumption there was a break and enter prior to the fire being lit and that the fire was internal. If it was just the yard outside, that’s quite a damage bill.

buzz819 said :

I don’t get what your getting at.

What I’m getting at goes to a fundamental issue in legal theory, which is why do people obey, or not obey the law? As you say there can’t be people around all the time, there can’t be omnipresent enforcement. And yet most people still obey the law. Is it because they fear consequences if caught, or it is it out of a respect for society and the law?

Legal scholars argue over which it is, or if it’s a bit of both.

Regardless, the point I’m making is this didn’t occur in a dark, remote part of the suburbs. It was central, not that late (heck I know people who don’t start at the pubs till 1am) and close to emergency services. So it points to the growing blatancy of the thugs and their declining fear of being caught. You’re seeing more and more stuff happening where and when it didn’t used to. And you see on RA enough people also highlight how slow and unresponsive police are and how soft the courts are.

These thugs clearly have no respect for the law or society, and if they’re learning that the chances of being caught and/or decently punished are so slim these days, that takes away the other possible reasons for compliance with the law, fear of consequences.

Of course the Police and on lookers can’t be everywhere. But the thugs don’t know where people or Police may be, hence there should be an expectation Police may be anywhere, particularly closer in. In this case, they obviously had no such reservation.

As thugs become less fearful, the problem grows.

poetix said :

I smell ghost pork.

Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

c_c said :

buzz819 said :

1. It was 1.30am – no buses, cold night, so not many people would be out AND there’s nothing to hang around at any rate.

2. Rae street is a dark street that has access to the Police Station.

3. Engage brain before offering opinions on how safe some place might be with no further information then one person setting fire to an abandoned building.

Well can I then offer my most sincerest apologies for:

a) Having an expectation that in the centre of a CBD, on one of the three main roads through the CBD across from a well lit and assumedly patrolled (either in person or electronically) public place, that people may have some expectation of safety.

b) That being so centrally located, someone would not have had time to break in and start a fire and for the fire to take hold before Police arrived, oh wait, Police didn’t. It was the Fire Brigade who called Police, wasn’t the place monitored?

Now you have to think again, there is no reason for anyone to really be in the area, besides a petrol station, an ambulance station, a fire station and a car wash. While it is all well and good to say the Police should be doing patrols of the area, they probably had three cars on patrol, if they were lucky, so that is at best, 5 Police officers, they are covering the WHOLE Belconnen area, everything between Dunlop and Lyneham.

They don’t drive around aimlessly during the night, there are domestics to attend, noise complaints, suspicious vehicles etc. They don’t sit at the bus interchange waiting for someone to walk past.

For someone to light something and throw it under the building, or on top of the building etc. does not take a lot of time.

Oh the Firies called the Police? I wonder if that has anything to do with the fire alarm going off, their station being 50 meters down the road, and they attended due to the fire alarm, I wonder if that could have been what happened? What could the Police have done if they turned up first? Shot the flames?

I ask again, why do you think there is a lack of safety because of something that happened at 1.30am? I guarantee if there had of been people at the bus interchange, a couple walking through or kids drinking, or even a security patrol, the same thing would have happened, and still no one would have seen anything.

There were a number of cars torched through out the city last week, no one saw that happen and in the locations where the cars were torched no one was assaulted or mugged, I don’t get what your getting at.

buzz819 said :

1. It was 1.30am – no buses, cold night, so not many people would be out AND there’s nothing to hang around at any rate.

2. Rae street is a dark street that has access to the Police Station.

3. Engage brain before offering opinions on how safe some place might be with no further information then one person setting fire to an abandoned building.

Well can I then offer my most sincerest apologies for:

a) Having an expectation that in the centre of a CBD, on one of the three main roads through the CBD across from a well lit and assumedly patrolled (either in person or electronically) public place, that people may have some expectation of safety.

b) That being so centrally located, someone would not have had time to break in and start a fire and for the fire to take hold before Police arrived, oh wait, Police didn’t. It was the Fire Brigade who called Police, wasn’t the place monitored?

c_c said :

That’s rather impressive, right across from the bus interchange and the Westfield on a Saturday night. If they could get in a torch that, makes you wonder how safe any of that area is?

1. It was 1.30am – no buses, cold night, so not many people would be out AND there’s nothing to hang around at any rate.

2. Rae street is a dark street that has access to the Police Station.

3. Engage brain before offering opinions on how safe some place might be with no further information then one person setting fire to an abandoned building.

pink little birdie11:03 am 14 Apr 12

Is/was Yarramundi reach on fire at about 10:30 this morning? Giant plume of smoke from that area could be seen coming from that area as I was coming south on the Caswell drive bit of the GDE. Anyone got any info?

That’s rather impressive, right across from the bus interchange and the Westfield on a Saturday night. If they could get in a torch that, makes you wonder how safe any of that area is?

I smell ghost pork.

Isn’t it going to be demolished? How do you do $10k damage to something you are knocking down?

neanderthalsis9:53 am 14 Apr 12

Insurance job to help pay off the new one?

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