6 August 2009

Police Wrap - 6 August

| johnboy
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1. Ugly Mawson shooter sought:

    ACT Policing has released a facefit of a man who they believe played a central role in the brazen daylight shooting and robbery of a security guard outside the Mawson club in May 2004.

    The release of facefit comes after detectives investigating Operation Galvanic received new information indicating the man may have been one of the two main offenders involved in the incident.

    About 3.45pm on 10 May 2004, two security guards were transferring cash bags from the Mawson Club in Heard Street to their armoured vehicle when they were confronted by two men, one armed with a shot-gun. During the incident, one security officer, a 56-year-old man at the time, was shot in the upper body. He was transported to The Canberra Hospital suffering pellet wounds to his face, chest and abdomen. Due to the seriousness of injuries police continue to treat the incident as an attempted murder.

    The two offenders stole an undisclosed sum of money during the armed hold-up and escaped in a silver hatchback which was driven north on Heard Street and then east on Mawson Drive.

    The release of the new facefit comes as ACT Policing continues its investigations into a series of robberies at clubs across Canberra over the past few months. Detectives examining these recent robberies have now expanded the scope of their investigations to include cold cases such as the Mawson shooting and robbery under the new task force dubbed Operation Tondo.

    The male depicted is described as approximately 185cm (6’1”) tall, with a thin build, brown hair, blue eyes and a fair complexion.

    Police are again appealing to the public for anyone who may witnessed the robbery and attempted murder on 10 May, 2004 or know the identity of the male depicted to contact Crime Stoppers.

2. Hoax calls to 000:

    ACT Policing lost approximately 600 work hours in the period between 1 January and 30 June this year due to hoax, nuisance or inappropriate telephone calls made to Police Operations.

    Of the 15,700 calls made to the triple zero emergency service during this period, 60% (9,400) were identified as a hoax or an inappropriate use of the service, and ACT Policing Superintendent Operations Chris Sheehan says this reduces ACT Policing’s capacity to respond to genuine incidents in a timely manner.

    “These calls occupy emergency service lines unnecessarily and have the potential to delay a genuine call for emergency assistance being answered. This can obviously have dire consequences,” Superintendent Sheehan said.

    “Nuisance or hoax phone calls may also lead to emergency responses being activated, such as urgent duty driving, creating an unnecessary risk for police, emergency services members and the general public,” he said.

    “This is something that is taken very seriously by police, and as recently as last night a 16-year-old male was apprehended and subsequently charged with causing public mischief in relation to alleged hoax calls made to triple zero.”

    Supt Sheehan says the triple zero emergency number is there to ensure that emergency service resources are able to respond to urgent requests for assistance as a priority, and should only be used for life threatening or emergency situations.

    “Incorrect or inappropriate use of the triple zero service may delay a police response to a real life and death situation. If members of the public wish to report a crime or a non life threatening incident, they can contact ACT Policing assistance line on 131 444,” Supt Sheehan said.

    “Alternatively, if people have information about illegal activity or suspect offenders, they can contact Crime Stoppers.

3. Drink drivers unmoved:

    The number of drink-drivers apprehended during July has continued at the same rate as the preceding month, despite the highly visible campaigns and efforts by ACT Policing.

    “A total of 117 drivers were apprehended for drink-driving offences during July, the same as in June,” ACT Policing’s Supt Mark Colbran said.

    “This result, coming after such a concerted effort by police and road safety agencies during July to alert the public to the dangers associated with drink-driving, shows that we need ramp up our awareness and enforcement even more.”

    The ACT recorded its highest-ever number of drink-drive apprehensions during the 2008-09 reporting year: 1789.

    This was an increase of 203 over the previous corresponding period (2007-08), and 404 more than in 2006-07.

    Supt Colbran warned the Canberra community to expect a combination of targeted and random breath testing by police in the weeks ahead.

    “The drink-driving problem in the ACT has to be tackled in different ways for different audiences; that’s why we have introduced the ‘Real Decisions, Real Consequences’ program for young drivers in senior schools and colleges,” Supt Colbran said.

    “But as is the case with some recent apprehensions, unfortunately some people in the community ignore the messages. That’s why enforcement is an important component of our anti-drink drive effort.”

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

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jase! said :

spidydog, if you are not talking out your arse I stand corrected except for the last comment. I stand by what I said about the level of disinterest shown by the attending officer

Fair enough Jase.

Special G said :

Morning coffee and donuts are very important Policing business.

That it is, that it is 🙂

All in all, regardless of whether prints could have been taken or not, the fact remains stuff was stolen and an offence (or series of offences) had been committed. As Special G states, it is public perception of forensics that tends to suggest prints could have been taken off what ever was touched or moved. Level of disinterest: one may well defend that by explaining coppers see the results of offences like this every day on the job… but I see the same emails, see the same project plans, see the same executive briefs, etc, every day as part of my job, but I don’t (and can’t afford to) get disinterested, I get paid to be interested.

Anyway, insurance is covering my arse… note to all Rioters: make sure you are insured!

spidydog, if you are not talking out your arse I stand corrected except for the last comment. I stand by what I said about the level of disinterest shown by the attending officer

j from the block10:04 am 07 Aug 09

AG Canberra said :

babyface – exactly. C

learly what ever thay are doing at the moment isn’t working.Surely somewhere in the world there are effective ways to deal with drink driving….

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignition_interlock_device

Have often, as a bartender demanded keys from regulars who decide to drive, “I’m alright to drive stupid bartender” can easily turn into “what’s the officer, problem”, or much worse.

babyface – exactly. C

learly what ever thay are doing at the moment isn’t working.Surely somewhere in the world there are effective ways to deal with drink driving….

You are so cynical Spidey. I reckon CSI could get a usable print off a woolen jumper. This is what the public perception of forensics is.

Morning coffee and donuts are very important Policing business.

jase! said :

we can start with the original bike they moved in to my parking spot before deciding that stealing my flatmates was a better idea (they were right, it was worth more).

I presume that this bike is ridden in a public area from time to time, left at the shops, etc when not left inside the cage – the prints gained from that bike (if any) could be ANYBODY’s, not just the offenders.

jase! said :

2 golf clubs that were very neatly moved out of the way so the bike could be stolen.

You can’t get prints of rubber handles on golf clubs.

jase! said :

and lets finish with the body of the large padlock that was removed from the cage to gain entry. the body was laying inside the cage so not hard to find.

Prints (if any) on this padlock could belong to ANYBODY. It is a area which could be frequented by MANY people. That padlock could have been touched by any person, for any reason over whatever time period.

jase! said :

like i said, it is easier to drink coffee

Naive and throwing insults. Its not CSI where things are picture perfect and DNA results are available in 5 minutes.

Our car was stolen some years ago. It was soon recovered, having been overdriven on the way down Black Mountain, and coming to an inglorious end against the rock wall.

The Police were very interested in a spot of blood on the driver’s seat. Seems the car was stolen from a Woden carpark where a number of vehicles had been broken into at the same time, and they believed that one of the hoods (the driver) had cut themselves during these thefts.

We were informed sometime down the track that the culprit had been identified via DNA evidence, and was facing court. No further info.

Why are the Police apparently reluctant to advise victims of their success in tracking down these ar*eholes? It would certainly improve their public image, countering any less flattering reports that occur, including the donut fettish commonly attributed.

i wonder how many decades the federal police has been “ramping up awareness and enforcement” on drink driving for while expecting a different result. the only way to solve that problem is to present a viable transportation alternative late at night.

my flatmate was talking to the cops, i was just looking around. he is a rioter and will probably post later

Tooks said :

Even *if* you could get usable prints off those items you mentioned, it would probably not be enough to charge anyone.

Having said that, you should’ve questioned why they didn’t call forensics. I’m sure you would’ve got some kind of explanation. Did you even ask?

But should the onus be on the victim? Of course, it may have been appropriate to ask such questions but the situation was, at the time, frustrating and lots of things going on, in addition to drinking coffee. I guess one of the reasons why it should have been considered was there were multiple breaches of security, multiple thefts and multiple damage. And could this have potential links to the break-ins at turner earlier in the week?

http://the-riotact.com/?p=13142

http://www.act.crimestoppers.com.au/unsolvedcrimes_details.aspx?CrimeId=895

Oh and it was my bike that was stolen so my right of reply is worth more!

Don’t get me wrong, I do thank the coppers for turning up. Just hope my bike does the same… eventually.

Even *if* you could get usable prints off those items you mentioned, it would probably not be enough to charge anyone.

Having said that, you should’ve questioned why they didn’t call forensics. I’m sure you would’ve got some kind of explanation. Did you even ask?

InsaneVehicle7:33 pm 06 Aug 09

Sexy.

we can start with the original bike they moved in to my parking spot before deciding that stealing my flatmates was a better idea (they were right, it was worth more). the 2 golf clubs that were very neatly moved out of the way so the bike could be stolen. and lets finish with the body of the large padlock that was removed from the cage to gain entry. the body was laying inside the cage so not hard to find.

but like i said, it is easier to drink coffee

What did you want them to fingerprint?

the canberra coppers are up to their usual high standard. 2 undercover garages in barton broken in to including the cages for residents within the garages. police called, and the officer was more interested in his cup of coffee rather than the broken padlocks and items that had been moved around.

guess they figure all crims wear gloves these days so not worth printing anything.

if anyone gets offered a cheap white mountain bike forsale with clipless pedals on it then let me know

On an unrelated matter – Jesus the Mawson Club is a abominable place to drink and get jiggy with it.

I would have thought he’d be easy to find. You just don’t see many people these days with shinny foreheads.

1. Ugly Mawson shooter sought:
Is it just me or does this Maswon mutt look like a clean shaven Neanderthal?

Friska said :

The dude is probably long gone by now

By about half a million years.

The dude is probably long gone by now and hopefully he got a haircut.:)

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