4 August 2011

Three ring circus camped on Northbourne Avenue

| johnboy
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police roadblock

The death in Braddon this morning has seen more police vehicles than can be counted parked on the Southbound Lanes of Northbourne Avenue.

I swung by this morning and noted no less than a sergeant out on picket duty.

Here’s some more pictures.

The traffic backing up through Turner was impressive:

traffic in turner police at the rex police at the flats police on Northbourne

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legal_chick866:39 pm 07 Aug 11

Watson said :

Ceej1973 said :

Cant imagine a major arterial road of Sydney shutting down for nearly 24hrs under the same circumstances there. Given the time the AFP (ACT Police in disguise) have taken, one would hope they dont stuff up the investigation NSW/VIC style and miss or lose evidence.

They did it because they can. Sydney’s gridlocked even on a normal morning, so the consequences of blocking off a whole road would be a lot worse. That doesn’t mean that the police there don’t think that it would be better to have that much time examining a crime scene. But they are forced to compromise.

Here… Personally I thought it was a bit of a novelty to be stuck on Antil St for 30 mins. The last time I got stuck on a road for that long here was probably at least 2 years ago! So I cranked up the radio and sat back. At least I had a good excuse for being late for work for once.

Love the positivity mate! I thought the exact same thing!

Ceej1973 said :

Cant imagine a major arterial road of Sydney shutting down for nearly 24hrs under the same circumstances there. Given the time the AFP (ACT Police in disguise) have taken, one would hope they dont stuff up the investigation NSW/VIC style and miss or lose evidence.

They did it because they can. Sydney’s gridlocked even on a normal morning, so the consequences of blocking off a whole road would be a lot worse. That doesn’t mean that the police there don’t think that it would be better to have that much time examining a crime scene. But they are forced to compromise.

Here… Personally I thought it was a bit of a novelty to be stuck on Antil St for 30 mins. The last time I got stuck on a road for that long here was probably at least 2 years ago! So I cranked up the radio and sat back. At least I had a good excuse for being late for work for once.

dvaey said :

Tooks said :

Keijidosha said :

Keijidosha said :

The media release says that the body was located “outside a block of flats”. Why does this necessitate closing all southbound lanes of an arterial road during peak hour?

Sorry, I need to emphasise that I wasn’t saying the worst part of somebody’s death was an inconvenience to traffic. I was only questioning how the crime scene was handled by Police.

Maybe you can stroll over and share your vast crime scene management experience with them.

So, because someone questions what the police are doing, you retort with an insult like that? Are the police above being queried in their actions, just because a major crime has occured?

carnardly said :

Superintendent McCann has defended the road closure.

“We have one crack at a crime scene. We don’t come back tomorrow, we don’t come back the next day and try and capture what we missed today. If we don’t get it today, we don’t get it,” he said.

“So it is necessary and that’s unfortunate. But our investigation takes precedents over a little bit of traffic disruption. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the nature of our business.”

This statement is the response that should be given, instead of “well, why dont you come and help us out with your expertise”.

People can question what they want. I can reply in whatever way I like. Deal with it.

Jim Jones said :

Classified said :

Jim Jones said :

ozmaniac said :

chewy14 said :

Classified said :

chewy14 said :

It looked like there was every cop in Canberra there.
Would have been a perfect time to commit crime elsewhere.

Like talking on your mobile phone while driving?

Since when is that a crime?

I thought it was a god given right. Just like speeding.

The Nanny State has decreed no one can do two things at once, like talk on your mobile and drive.
But talking hands-free is apparently well within our capabilities. Go figure.

“Wah wah the government won’t let me drive dangerously wah wah I know better than all the buckets of research out there wah wah nanny state.”

It’s become increasingly clear that the ‘nanny state’ argument is used solely by people who think that they should be allowed to do stupid things that endanger the safety others.

Like taking illegal drugs?

Pfft.

Drugs are awesome. Everyone knows that.

Thanks for clearing that up!

Classified said :

Jim Jones said :

ozmaniac said :

chewy14 said :

Classified said :

chewy14 said :

It looked like there was every cop in Canberra there.
Would have been a perfect time to commit crime elsewhere.

Like talking on your mobile phone while driving?

Since when is that a crime?

I thought it was a god given right. Just like speeding.

The Nanny State has decreed no one can do two things at once, like talk on your mobile and drive.
But talking hands-free is apparently well within our capabilities. Go figure.

“Wah wah the government won’t let me drive dangerously wah wah I know better than all the buckets of research out there wah wah nanny state.”

It’s become increasingly clear that the ‘nanny state’ argument is used solely by people who think that they should be allowed to do stupid things that endanger the safety others.

Like taking illegal drugs?

Pfft.

Drugs are awesome. Everyone knows that.

Tooks said :

Keijidosha said :

Keijidosha said :

The media release says that the body was located “outside a block of flats”. Why does this necessitate closing all southbound lanes of an arterial road during peak hour?

Sorry, I need to emphasise that I wasn’t saying the worst part of somebody’s death was an inconvenience to traffic. I was only questioning how the crime scene was handled by Police.

Maybe you can stroll over and share your vast crime scene management experience with them.

So, because someone questions what the police are doing, you retort with an insult like that? Are the police above being queried in their actions, just because a major crime has occured?

carnardly said :

Superintendent McCann has defended the road closure.

“We have one crack at a crime scene. We don’t come back tomorrow, we don’t come back the next day and try and capture what we missed today. If we don’t get it today, we don’t get it,” he said.

“So it is necessary and that’s unfortunate. But our investigation takes precedents over a little bit of traffic disruption. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the nature of our business.”

This statement is the response that should be given, instead of “well, why dont you come and help us out with your expertise”.

Jim Jones said :

“Wah wah the government won’t let me drive dangerously wah wah I know better than all the buckets of research out there wah wah nanny state.”

It’s become increasingly clear that the ‘nanny state’ argument is used solely by people who think that they should be allowed to do stupid things that endanger the safety others.

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Jim Jones said :

ozmaniac said :

chewy14 said :

Classified said :

chewy14 said :

It looked like there was every cop in Canberra there.
Would have been a perfect time to commit crime elsewhere.

Like talking on your mobile phone while driving?

Since when is that a crime?

I thought it was a god given right. Just like speeding.

The Nanny State has decreed no one can do two things at once, like talk on your mobile and drive.
But talking hands-free is apparently well within our capabilities. Go figure.

“Wah wah the government won’t let me drive dangerously wah wah I know better than all the buckets of research out there wah wah nanny state.”

It’s become increasingly clear that the ‘nanny state’ argument is used solely by people who think that they should be allowed to do stupid things that endanger the safety others.

Like taking illegal drugs?

ozmaniac said :

chewy14 said :

Classified said :

chewy14 said :

It looked like there was every cop in Canberra there.
Would have been a perfect time to commit crime elsewhere.

Like talking on your mobile phone while driving?

Since when is that a crime?

I thought it was a god given right. Just like speeding.

The Nanny State has decreed no one can do two things at once, like talk on your mobile and drive.
But talking hands-free is apparently well within our capabilities. Go figure.

“Wah wah the government won’t let me drive dangerously wah wah I know better than all the buckets of research out there wah wah nanny state.”

It’s become increasingly clear that the ‘nanny state’ argument is used solely by people who think that they should be allowed to do stupid things that endanger the safety others.

Mysteryman said :

Tooks said :

Keijidosha said :

Keijidosha said :

The media release says that the body was located “outside a block of flats”. Why does this necessitate closing all southbound lanes of an arterial road during peak hour?

Sorry, I need to emphasise that I wasn’t saying the worst part of somebody’s death was an inconvenience to traffic. I was only questioning how the crime scene was handled by Police.

Maybe you can stroll over and share your vast crime scene management experience with them.

Don’t be knob. She made her point clear.

She did, but unfortunately it was after I wrote that.

Thoroughly Smashed8:39 am 05 Aug 11

ozmaniac said :

The Nanny State has decreed no one can do two things at once, like talk on your mobile and drive.
But talking hands-free is apparently well within our capabilities. Go figure.

Hahaha! I like jokes.

I had the unfortunate need to travel from Dickson to Civic just before 10 – it was a parking lot from Antil street down northbourne and very busy on the back roads in Dickson. If you don’t know your way around that area of Canberra I can imagine it was incredibly frustrating – although this would have been one time that listening to commercial radio was a good thing as there was reguar updates telling people why. Action was warning of a 1/2 hour delay for anyone whose route went that way – hopefully the bosses were understanding as I can imagine a lot of people would have been late to work.

Once you were up to Braddon past Haig Park the road was clear and using the back roads only added about 5 mins to my trip. Sure it was inconvenient but I would prefer the Police have the chance to gather all the evidence they can before it is destroyed by the thousands of cars travelling that road each day.

I think part of the problem with the signage on Gung drive etc is it isn’t set up as dynamic, I think Roads people have to manually update it and can’t do it remotely. I know that they were certainly very active that morning arranging the road blockages and diversions so I wouldn’t say they lacked effort.

Keijidosha said :

The media release says that the body was located “outside a block of flats”. Why does this necessitate closing all southbound lanes of an arterial road during peak hour?

Cant imagine a major arterial road of Sydney shutting down for nearly 24hrs under the same circumstances there. Given the time the AFP (ACT Police in disguise) have taken, one would hope they dont stuff up the investigation NSW/VIC style and miss or lose evidence.

Tooks said :

Keijidosha said :

Keijidosha said :

The media release says that the body was located “outside a block of flats”. Why does this necessitate closing all southbound lanes of an arterial road during peak hour?

Sorry, I need to emphasise that I wasn’t saying the worst part of somebody’s death was an inconvenience to traffic. I was only questioning how the crime scene was handled by Police.

Maybe you can stroll over and share your vast crime scene management experience with them.

Don’t be knob. She made her point clear.

chewy14 said :

Classified said :

chewy14 said :

It looked like there was every cop in Canberra there.
Would have been a perfect time to commit crime elsewhere.

Like talking on your mobile phone while driving?

Since when is that a crime?

I thought it was a god given right. Just like speeding.

The Nanny State has decreed no one can do two things at once, like talk on your mobile and drive.
But talking hands-free is apparently well within our capabilities. Go figure.

Jivrashia said :

grundy said :

Saw the cops doing a slow walk-through of Haig Park around midday, about 20-30 of them or more looking for evidence.

Well, stuff my idea about a hit-and-run because that sounds like they’re looking for the murder weapon!

yeah it was actually a bashing, they closed off the whole park outside my loungeroom window n came door knocking on EVERYONE’s door this morning. I actually did hear yelling last night like a fight going on but that is the norm now I have lived here 2 months you get used to it and try not to take notice. Makes me feel really bad though that I wasnt in sticky beak mode because I feel for the family that noone did hear anything and those that did, well were just so used to the meth heads in the area now we purposely try to shut it out =(

gourmetmumma2:37 pm 04 Aug 11

john81 said :

I was pretty mad this morning, having arrived to work late due to the traffic congestion caused by the road block. That is until I found out police were conducting an investigation into a suspicious death.

If you read some of the articles they’ll give you more info on why police are treating this so seriously. I too feel bad for this guys family – they probably don’t even know it’s him yet because police have to wait for forensics to finish before searching the body for ID.

I know people are mad about being stuck in traffic, but have a read of the news and then see if you still feel the same. It’s understandable that police focus on what is important (like determining if there was foul play, in which case they have a murderer to catch) rather than spending too much time on planning traffic (we all got there in the end, right?).

And if it really is a murder, I’ll happily sit through gridlock again if it means police get a better chance of catching the offender.

+1

And also think about this –
The body was found around 6.40am. The police had about an hour to seal off the area and preserve evidence before the peak hour traffic swarms the place. They just didn’t have enough time to map out every single possible route that a commuter might take and then put up signs.
I’m sure that if it was a member of your family, shutting down the whole of Canberra wouldn’t be enough until you had some resolution, right?

grundy said :

Saw the cops doing a slow walk-through of Haig Park around midday, about 20-30 of them or more looking for evidence.

Well, stuff my idea about a hit-and-run because that sounds like they’re looking for the murder weapon!

I was pretty mad this morning, having arrived to work late due to the traffic congestion caused by the road block. That is until I found out police were conducting an investigation into a suspicious death.

If you read some of the articles they’ll give you more info on why police are treating this so seriously. I too feel bad for this guys family – they probably don’t even know it’s him yet because police have to wait for forensics to finish before searching the body for ID.

I know people are mad about being stuck in traffic, but have a read of the news and then see if you still feel the same. It’s understandable that police focus on what is important (like determining if there was foul play, in which case they have a murderer to catch) rather than spending too much time on planning traffic (we all got there in the end, right?).

And if it really is a murder, I’ll happily sit through gridlock again if it means police get a better chance of catching the offender.

justausername1:37 pm 04 Aug 11

This is a terrible situation and I’m more than happy to give Police the space they need to do their job. What I would have appreciated this morning was the giant, obvoiusly expensive signs at the gungahlin end of the GDE reading something along the lines of ‘Northbourne Avenue 2 lanes Closed Use Alternate Route’ instead of the Hang Up and Drive slogan some clever little boffin thought up….

Saw the cops doing a slow walk-through of Haig Park around midday, about 20-30 of them or more looking for evidence.
This was on the Turner side too.

Was wondering what was going on until I saw this news.

Classified said :

chewy14 said :

It looked like there was every cop in Canberra there.
Would have been a perfect time to commit crime elsewhere.

Like talking on your mobile phone while driving?

Since when is that a crime?

I thought it was a god given right. Just like speeding.

*Sigh* I didn’t ever say I was inconvenienced. In fact I didn’t know about the incident until I got to work and heard people complaining.

a quote from the big cheese of the scene to let Keijidosha know why…

The lanes are expected to remain closed until 2:00pm.

Superintendent McCann has defended the road closure.

“We have one crack at a crime scene. We don’t come back tomorrow, we don’t come back the next day and try and capture what we missed today. If we don’t get it today, we don’t get it,” he said.

“So it is necessary and that’s unfortunate. But our investigation takes precedents over a little bit of traffic disruption. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the nature of our business.”

colourful sydney racing identity11:40 am 04 Aug 11

Tooks said :

Keijidosha said :

The media release says that the body was located “outside a block of flats”. Why does this necessitate closing all southbound lanes of an arterial road during peak hour?

Your minor inconvenience is so much more important than gathering evidence in relation to a death.

+1

Keijidosha said :

Keijidosha said :

The media release says that the body was located “outside a block of flats”. Why does this necessitate closing all southbound lanes of an arterial road during peak hour?

Sorry, I need to emphasise that I wasn’t saying the worst part of somebody’s death was an inconvenience to traffic. I was only questioning how the crime scene was handled by Police.

Maybe you can stroll over and share your vast crime scene management experience with them.

Keijidosha said :

The media release says that the body was located “outside a block of flats”. Why does this necessitate closing all southbound lanes of an arterial road during peak hour?

Your minor inconvenience is so much more important than gathering evidence in relation to a death.

quote: “Why does this necessitate closing all southbound lanes of an arterial road during peak hour?”

Well, outside the flats might mean near or immediately next to the road. I personally feel more for the family of this person than any of the poor folk stuck in traffic. Maybe they police wanted to do everything they can to determine whether there was any foul play involved.

If a pedestrian got run over then the exact same blockage would probably occur.

what a horrible comment.

Keijidosha said :

The media release says that the body was located “outside a block of flats”. Why does this necessitate closing all southbound lanes of an arterial road during peak hour?

Sorry, I need to emphasise that I wasn’t saying the worst part of somebody’s death was an inconvenience to traffic. I was only questioning how the crime scene was handled by Police.

chewy14 said :

It looked like there was every cop in Canberra there.
Would have been a perfect time to commit crime elsewhere.

Like talking on your mobile phone while driving?

Keijidosha said :

Why does this necessitate closing all southbound lanes of an arterial road during peak hour?

Do you remember the stabbing of a man by a girlfriend on N.bourne Ave some time ago (opposite to the Information Centre). Although it occurred on the footpath it necessitated one of the northbound lanes to be close in order to collect evidence.

I have a feeling that this deceased man was hit by a car, which means that the evidence is all over the southbound road (blood, clothes, bits from car, etc).

It looked like there was every cop in Canberra there.
Would have been a perfect time to commit crime elsewhere.

johnboy said :

I was particularly impressed by the young woman in the maroon Peugeot who rubbernecked slowly past 20 police while talking on her mobile phone.

I wanted to type that this was hilarious but I suppose it’s bitter sweet (’cause obviously someone died). Can I suggest the following amendment to the media release in the other thread “For the months of August and September, ACT Policing will be targeting the use of mobile telephones while driving as part of its road safety campaign….. so long as there isn’t a death in the area.

Turner (and O’connor) completely gridlocked, but I couldnt see any traffic control. Was there any attempt to make things go a bit faster?

Keijidosha said :

The media release says that the body was located “outside a block of flats”. Why does this necessitate closing all southbound lanes of an arterial road during peak hour?

I guess it depends on whether it is “just” a death or a suspicious death. If there’s anything suspicious and theres evidence on the road that needs to be collected, photographed, measured etc, the road needs to be free of traffic for them to do it. There is no mention in the article whether it is suspicious or not. Hit and run? Stabbing? Drug OD? Jump from a balcony? Who knows.

troll-sniffer10:15 am 04 Aug 11

Wouldn’t have happened if he was wearing a helmet.

johnboy said :

I was particularly impressed by the young woman in the maroon Peugeot who rubbernecked slowly past 20 police while talking on her mobile phone.

Haha! Some people just don’t care, do they.!? Unbelievable.

johnboy said :

I was particularly impressed by the young woman in the maroon Peugeot who rubbernecked slowly past 20 police while talking on her mobile phone.

So Canberra.

anotherpublicserv10:05 am 04 Aug 11

johnboy said :

I was particularly impressed by the young woman in the maroon Peugeot who rubbernecked slowly past 20 police while talking on her mobile phone.

Haha love it.

This morning’s situation was positive for us Southsiders, I found it very easy to get parking at work.

I was particularly impressed by the young woman in the maroon Peugeot who rubbernecked slowly past 20 police while talking on her mobile phone.

No one likes to hear news of people being found dead but the traffic congestion was like nothing I’ve seen in this fair city! It took me an hour to get from Watson to the ANU this morning.

The media release says that the body was located “outside a block of flats”. Why does this necessitate closing all southbound lanes of an arterial road during peak hour?

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