13 September 2009

Police Wrap - 13 September

| johnboy
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1. Cannabis in Symonston:

    ACT Policing will summons a 41-year-old Symonston man to appear in the ACT Magistrates Court after locating a quantity of cannabis during a search of his home earlier today (September 8).

    General Duties officers from Woden Police Station executed a search warrant at the Symonston premises about 11.35am, locating six cannabis plants and a quantity of cannabis branches and dry leaf, as well as fluorescent lighting allegedly used to cultivate the cannabis.

    The man will be charged with cultivating a controlled substance and possessing a drug of dependence.

2. Tuggers ablaze:

    General Duties officers from Tuggeranong Station responded to five arson and property damage incidents in a number of southern suburbs overnight (September 10-11) which they believe are linked.

    About 8.50pm police were called to a playground on Hocking Place in Bonython after children’s play equipment was set alight.

    Police were then called to Isabella Drive in Chisholm just after 11.00pm after motorists reported people throwing rocks at moving cars. Three vehicles were damaged as a result.

    Police then attended a number of incidents where obstructions had been placed on the roads within Richardson and Gilmore.

    Following this, three vehicle fires were reported in the early hours of this morning, including one in Laker Place, Richardson about 12.15am and one in Pedley Place, Richardson about 1.25am.

    The third vehicle fire, again in Richardson, occurred in Clift Crescent about 1.30am with police establishing the black Ford Laser had been stolen from Pedley Place earlier in the evening. A vehicle matching this description had been seen driving in a suspicious manner around Bonython prior to the incident.

    ACT Fire Brigade attended and extinguished all of the fires, however the three vehicles were completely destroyed. The cause of the fires is yet to be established.

    Superintendent South District Lesa Gale says these incidents are frustrating for police as they tie up significant resources, which could be better served responding to genuine emergencies.

    “The night-shift crews basically spent the majority of their shift cleaning up the mess made by these offenders, which potentially inhibits our ability to respond to calls for urgent assistance in a timely manner,” Supt Gale said.

    “Thankfully last night there were no such calls for assistance, however I would encourage anyone with any information to come forward and assist us with our inquiries as it may be one of their family members that needs our immediate help one day and it would be terrible if this help was in anyway delayed by this sort of pointless offending,” she said.

    Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.

3. Stranger danger or just being helpful?

    ACT Policing is investigating an incident which occurred in McKellar around 5pm yesterday (September 10).

    Two boys aged eight and ten were walking along Dumas Street when a male in a utility stopped and offered the boys a lift. The children immediately ran home and told their parents what had occurred, with the police contacted shortly afterward.

    Police searched McKellar and the surrounding suburbs however could not locate a vehicle matching the description.

    The male was described as Caucasian, with ginger hair and goatee, and spoke with an Australian accent. The vehicle was described as a blue dual-cab utility with fluffy dice hanging from the rear-view mirror.

    Police would urge anyone who may have witnessed this incident, or who may know the identity of the male described to contact Crime Stoppers.

4. A single campaign to change public attitudes?

    ACT Policing will continue an ongoing traffic prevention and enforcement campaign in the coming weeks, to detect motorists speeding on Canberra’s roads.

    The campaign will be conducted with the aim of changing attitudes of Canberra’s road users towards speeding. Speeding is a major contributor to major and fatal collisions all over Australia, including here in Canberra.

    The Officer in Charge of ACTP Traffic Operations, Sergeant Erin Pobar said, this campaign combines both enforcement and prevention strategies by working closely with other agencies, including Roads ACT. Drivers can expect to see an increased police presence on our roads in the coming weeks.

    “The goal of this campaign is to lift the awareness of motorists to the dangers of speeding on our roads, with targeted locations spread across the ACT.

    “The message is simple, don’t speed! Otherwise you may find yourself with heavy fines, loss of your driver’s license or even imprisoned. More importantly help us make our roads safer,” Sgt Pobar said.

If you can help police contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or via the website at www.act.crimestoppers.com.au

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caf said :

The cause of the fires is yet to be established.

Meteorite strikes? Ball lightning? Spontaneous combustion?

Just a hunch, but I reckon arson could be a good bet.

Yes, it’s always good to assume these things. Assumptions are usually right.

dvaey: another person who consistently misses the point. I can certainly think of more pressing calls than a burning vehicle, like a woman getting bashed by her husband, robberies, assaults, car prangs etc.

Yes dvaey, police often turn up at accidents to arrest people. You clearly know what you’re talking about. You carry a very large chip on your shoulder when it comes to police, which you’ve shown many times on this site.

Police generally get to these jobs before or about the same time as the firies. Firies put out the fire then leave. Do you think they arrange for the wreck to be removed, the owner to be called, door knocks for witnesses? Do you think the firies go looking for the suspects?

I once had some teens throw something at my car on Isabella drive. They are lucky I didn’t catch them (it wouldn’t have involved the cops).

LlamaFrog said :

“The night-shift crews basically spent the majority of their shift cleaning up the mess made by these offenders, which potentially inhibits our ability to respond to calls for urgent assistance in a timely manner,”

Correct me if Im wrong, but dont the fireys clean up the mess after an accident? Every accident scene Ive been at, the fireys are the ones who ‘clean up the mess’, the police usually roll up sometime later to see who they can arrest or issue with an on-the-spot fine.

Also, while Im sure she can think of more pressing calls than a member of the publics vehicle burning in the street, I presume the cars owners thought their situation deserved police response and Im sure they considered it fairly ‘urgent’ even if those who responded wanted to attend to more urgent things.

The cause of the fires is yet to be established.

Meteorite strikes? Ball lightning? Spontaneous combustion?

Just a hunch, but I reckon arson could be a good bet.

LlamaFrog said :

because I don’t have an edit button.

“The night-shift crews basically spent the majority of their shift cleaning up the mess made by these offenders, which potentially inhibits our ability to respond to calls for urgent assistance in a timely manner,”

I like it how he makes it sound like this isn’t important for police and someone else should deal with it. having to police the ACT is so below him. he joined the Federal Police to go after international art thieves.

I think this comment well and truly deserve the responses given.

Epic fail. In no way was she trivialising the offences committed, just saying that with the resources tied up with senseless acts like this, could have prevented urgent response to a “life threatening” incident. No brainer really.

Talk about missing the point, LlamaFrog. Stupid comment really.

LlamaFrog said :

because I don’t have an edit button.

“The night-shift crews basically spent the majority of their shift cleaning up the mess made by these offenders, which potentially inhibits our ability to respond to calls for urgent assistance in a timely manner,”

I like it how he makes it sound like this isn’t important for police and someone else should deal with it. having to police the ACT is so below him. he joined the Federal Police to go after international art thieves.

Epic fail. Some gender stereotypes coming out there, eh? The person quoted is a senior Police officer, ergo they are male? A male called Lesa? pffft. And your art thief comment shows how out of touch you are with the work the AFP does.

LlamaFrog said :

I like it how he makes it sound like this isn’t important for police and someone else should deal with it. having to police the ACT is so below him. he joined the Federal Police to go after international art thieves.

Firstly, ‘he’ is actually a ‘she’.

Secondly, I don’t think that’s her point at all. Our local police stations are lucky if they have a team of 10 officers on at night. That’s not many to have to respond to their local region. So it makes sense that she would be concerned that events like this could limit their capacity to respond to other situations, where people could be at risk of serious harm.

Thirdly, the two arms of the AFP are quite separate – there are those in ‘National’ (the ones who are involved in national investigations) and those in ACT Policing. So no – she probably did not join the AFP to go after international art thieves.

because I don’t have an edit button.

“The night-shift crews basically spent the majority of their shift cleaning up the mess made by these offenders, which potentially inhibits our ability to respond to calls for urgent assistance in a timely manner,”

I like it how he makes it sound like this isn’t important for police and someone else should deal with it. having to police the ACT is so below him. he joined the Federal Police to go after international art thieves.

thats one busy night out.

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