A motorcyclist has been detected allegedly travelling almost 200km/hour on the Bruce Highway on day 1 of the Easter Break phase for the Queensland Police Service’s Road Safety Campaign.

The motorcycle was snapped yesterday by a speed camera on the Bruce Highway at Landsborough doing 193km/hour in a 110 zone.

There were more than 3,400 vehicles detected speeding and over 11,000 RBTs (Random Breath Tests) performed with 41 people charged with drink driving.

A 22-year-old Sunset man was charged after allegedly returning a BAC (Blood Alcohol Concentrate) of .273% in the carpark of a fast food outlet at Mount Isa just before midnight.

Police also attended two serious traffic crashes, one at Peak Crossing around 5.50pm where a ute and truck collided on Warrill View Peak Crossing Road.

The 18-year-old male driver of the ute was airlifted in a critical condition to Princess Alexandra Hospital.

A 54-year-old male pedestrian has also received life-threatening head injuries after being struck by a car on Bath Terrace at Victory Heights last night.

During the Easter Break, extra police will be out in force across Queensland targeting high-risk road user behaviour including the Fatal Five: speeding, drink and drug driving, distracted driving, fatigue and failing to wear a seatbelt.

The Easter Break phase of the Road Safety Campaign will continue until Easter Monday, 2017.

Easter Break – Day 1 Statistics

For the 24 hour period to 11.59pm, 13 April 2017.

At the time of his application to join the Queensland Police Force (QPF) on June 19, 1950, Ronald Joseph Redmond was employed as a junior clerk by Qantas Empire Airways, and before that by Queensland Brewery Limited.  Unable to drive a car, ride a motor cycle nor a horse, and consider a poor bushman, Ronald focused on his strength, ‘knowledge of typewriting’, when he applied.  With the appointment approved and training completed, nineteen year old Ron commenced as Constable on February 4, 1952, and quickly joined the Crime Investigation Bureau (CIB) Communications Room.

By 1956, a promotion to the rank of Plain Clothes Constable and move to Brisbane’s CIB Field Staff was achieved, where Mr Redmond’s quiet and methodical approach exposed Queensland’s worst criminals.  For two decades, investigative teams guided by this Detective aided in countless arrests, bringing those criminals to justice and earning Mr Redmond many Favourable Records;

• For outstanding work performed in connection with an enquiry into injuries sustained by certain babies at the Southport Hospital during 1971-72, and which resulted in the arrest and subsequent conviction of a former nurse employed at the hospital,

•  Awarded a Commendation for his dedication to duty and good Police work in connection with the investigation into the tragic Whiskey Au Go Go fire which occurred on 8 March 1973.  The very efficient and concerted actions of Detective Sergeant 2/c R.J. Redmond together with other investigating officer, ultimately led to the arrest and conviction of two offenders on a charge of murder,

•  Awarded a Favourable Record for outstanding ability displayed during the investigation of the murder by an explosive device of a young girl at Maroochydore on 7 August 1974 (see separate blog entry FROM the VAULT / Bomb Outrage Shocks Sunshine Coast Community).

Detective Sergeant Ron Redmond examines blood staining caused during a homicide, 1976.
Image No. PM1754 donated courtesy of The Courier Mail.

A transfer to the Public Relations Unit in 1977 harnessed Mr Redmond’s eloquent nature, after which he became overseer of Commonwealth Games operations in Brisbane, at the rank of Superintendent, in 1982.  This and further promotions to Assistant and then Deputy Commissioner placed the competent and composed police man in an extraordinary position; that of Acting Commissioner during the biggest enquiry in Queensland Police history.  In light of Fitzgerald Enquiry allegations, then Police Commissioner Terence Lewis stepped down from the top job at the order of the Police Minister which was filled by Mr Redmond.

Sergeant 1/c Ray De Bruyn of the Community Relations Branch models a new style broad brimmed hat, introduced for male police officers just in time for World Expo 88. Acting Commissioner Ronald Redmond (right) holds another example and shared the pride of Brisbane and Queensland in hosting this 6 month event.
Image No. PM3646 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

The Telegraph reported sentiments expressed by the newly appointed caretaker Commissioner; “I have taken over in heart-rending circumstances, but with one firm priority – the intention of total service to the public.  We are facing a very busy year in policing – Expo 88 is one example – and I am confining my efforts towards policing, and the police (The Telegraph, 22 September 1987, p. 9).”  Almost 30 years on, the exemplary career topped by sound leadership during more than two years as Acting Commissioner is still cherished by police, civilian staff, and the public; a sound legacy on which the Service moved forward.

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This article was written by Museum Assistant Georgia Grier from the best resources available within the Queensland Police Museum.  The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“FROM the VAULT- CoP Ronald Joseph Redmond” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode

A Crash Course in Forensic Mechanics

30 April 2017
11:00am – 12:30pm

 Police Headquarters
200 Roma Street
Brisbane  QLD  4000

FREE ENTRY

Have you ever wondered how police rule out or take into consideration, vehicle faults or mechanical failure when investigating serious and fatal crashes?

Garry Ryan and Simon Major from the Queensland Police Vehicle Inspection Unit will present ‘A Crash Course in Forensic Mechanics’. They will outline the Unit’s responsibility for the mechanical examination of all types of motor vehicles and associated components potentially involved in serious injury or fatal incidents.

This one and a half hour presentation will start at 11am on Sunday, April 30 and will be both informative and educational, and is suitable for any audience.

The Museum opens its doors to the public on the last Sunday of each month from 10am to 3pm from February to November in addition to the standard Monday to Thursday 9am to 4pm opening hours. Monthly Sunday openings feature guest speakers from across the historical and crime-solving spectrums.

PLEASE NOTE: The Police Museum will open Sunday, April 30
from 10am to 3pm, and is located on the ground floor of
Police Headquarters, 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.

The notice read; ‘SNAKE BITES. The Police generally are directed to report all instances of snake-bite coming within their knowledge, together with the treatment adopted and the result thereof.  The principal reason assigned for obtaining this information is to arrive at right conclusions as to the efficacy of the use of strychnine by hypodermic injection in cases of snake-bite, which, it is asserted authoritatively, has been to the present almost unfailing in apparently desperate cases, and it is considered that a full record of all instances of bites by snakes will be of great public utility. W.E. PARRY-OKEDEN, Acting Commissioner of Police, Police Department, Commissioner’s Office, Brisbane, 5^th February 1892.’

Report of snake bite by Constable 1/c Miller, to Chief Inspector Urquhart, 16 November 1910.
Scanned document courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

Constable 1/c John Emeric Vidal Miller didn’t forget the directive, for in 1910, whilst stationed at Seymour River, he encountered a 13 year old black snake bite victim and provided the following report to his superior in Townsville:

            Sir, I beg to report that about 11:30am on the 10^th November my attention was called by hearing the sound of crying towards the scrub, about the Seymour River Police Station.  I went in the direction and discovered a young lad named James Jackson, who stated he had been bitten by a black snake whilst trying to catch a horse in the scrub.  I at once tied my handkerchief round his leg, above the bite.  I afterwards mixed three drops of liquid Ammonia, in a teacupful of water, and dosed the boy with it, a teaspoonful at a time about every minute and in the meantime, a buggy was procured and I conveyed the boy to Ingham Hospital, nine miles from here to the nearest Doctor.  I continued the Ammonia treatment all the way and the boy did not become sleepy till treated at the Hospital, from whence he was discharged cured on the 12^th November.

Chief Inspector Urquhart (later, Police Commissioner) from Townsville forwarded the correspondence onto the Police Commissioner, suggesting “the treatment adopted in this case might be of interest to the Health Department.”

Boating on the Seymour River, near Ingham, c1890-1900. Believed to be friends and family of Harriett and Donald Brims, enjoying a steam boat ride on the ‘Emilie’.
Image Number 132613 courtesy of the John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.

The one man Seymour River Police Station opened on 14 May 1905, in the “E” District, Townsville Sub-district.  Constables Michael Guckian (1/c), Sidney Luck, John French, John Miller (1/c) and William Cook each spent approximately 2 years policing the station before its closure on 17 December 1914.

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This article was compiled by Museum Assistant Georgia Grier from the best resources available within the Queensland Police Museum.  The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“FROM the VAULT – All part of the Police Service in 1910” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode

Acting Senior Constable Beau McNamara and I recently visited a movie set on the Gold Coast and met up with some characters on set.

The movie being made is called “In Like Flynn” and is about famous Hollywood actor Errol Flynn who was born in Tasmania.

Actors portraying police officers of that era contrasted against police officers of the current day and definitely more pockets and accoutrements were noticeable.

It was also noted that there were less places for accoutrements, front pockets for perhaps a notebook, side pant pockets for handcuffs and a baton pocket in the rear right side of the trousers.

Thanks to the Queensland Police Museum that helped with the dress of those days.

It is tempting to picture early colonial Brisbane as a lawless place inhabited by convicts and ticket-of-leavers, convicts on parole, and the military. In the first five years, Brisbane population increased by more than twenty-fold, from approximately 50 in 1824, the year of settlement, to 1108 in 1829, including 18 female convicts the very first women to arrive into the settlement. (4) The latter flamed much local enthusiasm. The building then known as ‘the gaol’ was erected for their accommodation. ‘The “female factory” proved a grand source of intrigue and vice, and some queer tales [were] handed down to us – the gay Lotharios of which were not by any means the lowest people in the settlement.’ (5, p. 65) Although a wall was constructed around the building, which was quickly found to be positively necessary, did ‘not seem to have been proof against the agility and nimbleness of the midnight rovers who had first all secured the blindness of the warders by a liberal use of bucksheesh.’ (Ibid) Regardless of the counter measures soon intrigue and licentiousness were rife.

Female Convict Factory, c1850.  John Oxley Library image number 153725.

For the next decade, until 1839, Moreton Bay saw a steady stream of convicts. In 1839, the last draft of convicts landed on the banks of the Brisbane River, both male and female. The earliest attempts to codify and regulate public order in Brisbane town date to 1838. The Police Act of 1838 (2 Vic., No. 2) provided for appointment of police magistrates and justices to suppress riots, tumults, and affrays in towns. Reminiscent of the Statute of Winchester or the Fairs and Markets in Churchyards Act, 1285, the first formal attempts to keep criminal element in check in England, Brisbane policemen were entrusted with an array of duties and responsibilities. Any constable was granted powers to arrest any person ‘found drunk in any street or public place, and also all loose, idle, drunken, or disorderly persons who [a constable] shall find between sunset and 8 am lying or loitering in any street, highway, yard, or other place, not giving a satisfactory account of themselves, and convey to lockup.’ (1) Per the Statute of 1285, the men who patrolled the streets after nightfall (commonly known as the night watchmen) were vested with power to arrest any stranger until morning.

Police Act 1838. See the link below for a downloadable PDF file.

Police Guide – Police Act of 1838

Following the nineteenth century reforms in the police forces of England, Ireland and Scotland, the Brisbane force was also responsible for monitoring and curtailing certain behaviours as well as crime. (2) These included enforcing trading hours, the penalty for operating outside of these hours was £3, such as on Sundays after 10 am; keeping billiard or other places of amusement open was liable to a higher fine of £5. The majority of daily activities of the town life were soon regulated. These ranged from damaging a public building to extinguishing a street lamp, and from bathing near or within a view of a public wharf to installation of awnings on shops and houses. Penalties ranged from 1 to 20 pounds. Interestingly enough, the Act did not provide for imprisonment as a form of alternative punishment. This is mainly due to absence of judicial and custodial provisions in place at the time. In 1840, the police force of Brisbane Town consisted of one Chief Constable William Whyte; Bush Constable George Brown (free); four convicts employed as assistant Constables: Francis Black (arrived on Hadlow), Robert Giles (Exmouth), and W H Sketland ‘or Thompson’ (Sophia), and John Egan. (3)

Plan of Brisbane Town Moreton Bay 1839, J G Steele, Brisbane Town in Convict Days, 1824-1842, UQP, 1975, p. 124.

The convict police was relatively short-lived, as now a free settlement of Moreton Bay saw further reforms, legal, governmental, social and policing between the 1840s and 1850s. Captain John Clemens Wickham was appointed a Police Magistrate,  Court of Petty Sessions opened in 1846, a new Police Force was organised in 1850, this was followed by a new Police Act, passed in 1855, and construction of the new jail two years later. Having said that, as the population expanded and policing became more sophisticated, the foundational principles outlined in the 1838 Act remained largely the same demonstrating that though novel female presence in town in 1829 did cause much excitement penal Brisbane was no more lawless than ‘free’ Brisbane.

If you would like to know more about policing colonial Brisbane, please join us in a seminar.  Follow this link to register: http://www.ticketebo.com.au/brisbane-history-group/policing-colonial-brisbane.html

Further reading:

(1) Bain, Donald. Queensland Police Guide; Containing an Epitome of 184 Acts of Parliament to 1891, and a Supplement of 815 Offences, Alphabetically Arranged with Penalties and Punishments. Brisbane: Watson, Ferguson & Co, 1892.

(2) Dukova, Anastasia. A History of the Dublin Metropolitan Police and Its Colonial Legacy. Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2016.

(3) Letters Relating to Moreton Bay and Queensland Received 1822-1869, SLQ, Reel A2 Series.

(4) Population by capital city and rest of state, Queensland, 1823 to 2007. Queensland Government Statisticians Office, http://www.qgso.qld.gov.au/products/tables/historical-tables-demography/index.php

(5) Pugh’s Moreton Bay Almanac, 1859 (first year of publication), Brisbane: Theophilus P Pugh.

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This information has been provided by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available.  The article was written by Museum Volunteer and Crime and Policing Historian Dr Anastasia Dukova.

The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“FROM the VAULT – Policing Brisbane before Queensland” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode

Noel Ronald Newnham came to Queensland from the Victorian Police Service and took the Oath to become our 16^th Police Commissioner at a ceremony on November 1, 1989.  He was ‘selected from dozens of Australian and overseas applicants, [and] will oversee massive reforms of the Queensland Police Force in the wake of the Fitzgerald Report’ (Vedette, October 1989, cover).  Contracted for three years to implement recommendations made by Mr Tony Fitzgerald, QC, Mr Newnham proved to be a no-nonsense choice for the role.  At the commencement of his tenure Commissioner Newnham said, ‘It’s the most rewarding and challenging job that could possibly be imagined by anyone.  It is a time to look forward with enthusiasm and optimism, to a revitalised Police Service’.

Commissioner Noel Newnham was appointed as Queensland’s Police Commissioner for a 3 year term between 1989 and 1992.
Image No. PM1179 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

Commissioner Newnham set about improving morale within the Service.  Several initiatives encouraged community policing, including Crime Stoppers and Neighbourhood Watch.  The employment of Regional Commanders, decentralised administration and shifting duties to civilian employees when police powers were not required all helped to redirect policing skills where they were needed most.  Merit based selection was refined, and new performance assessment procedures trialled.

A year on, November 26, 1990, a time capsule was placed inside the newly built Police Headquarters building which included a letter written by Commissioner Newnham addressed to his successor.  He wrote of the symbolism of new beginnings in a new building, and partisan efforts to recover public confidence in the Queensland Police Service; ‘We are striving to bring about change, modernisation, rejuvenation and a full commitment to the ideals of integrity, dedication and service’.

Plaque placed by Commissioner Newnham to denote the location of the time capsule within Queensland Police Headquarters. Only 73 more years to wait before it’s opened!
Image No. PM2784 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

One anecdote from a previous member of the Queensland Police Pipes and Drums describes the enthusiasm for, and leadership style of Mr Newnham towards his staff: Pipe bands from around the country had attended the biannual Australian Pipe Band Championships, held in Brisbane in 1990.  They were competing for several titles; Grades 1 to 4, Champion Drum Major, and best Juvenile Band.  Commissioner Newnham attended the finals to witness the success by the Victoria Police Band who came 1^st in Grade 1 division, and his new band, the Queensland Police Pipes and Drums who came 1^st in Grade 3 division.  The event was held in October’s warm spring temperatures, and preparations to celebrate their win included arranging a large esky packed with ice and beverages, to be stored under a marquee for Victorian and Queensland police band members to share after the competition.

With all bag pipping and drumming events completed at the end of two exhausting days, the esky was calling, however Mr Newnham conveniently used it as a seat.  Thirsty band members waited patiently and made polite conversation with the Commissioner as afternoon temperatures soared.  Finally, Mr Newnham said his goodbyes and departed, allowing the musicians access to their esky and stock of well-earned cold beers.

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This article was written by Museum Assistant Georgia Grier from the best resources available within the Queensland Police Museum.  The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“FROM the VAULT- CoP Noel Newnham” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode

The Fingerprint Expert

28 May 2017
11am – 12.30pm

 Police Headquarters
200 Roma Street
Brisbane  QLD  4000

FREE ENTRY

Matching fingerprints from a crime scene to an offender or using fingerprints to identify disaster victims is a small part of Sergeant Tony Martinez’s role at the Queensland Fingerprint Bureau. Sergeant Martinez is stationed at the Queensland Police Service Fingerprint Bureau and is the guest speaker for the Police Museum Sunday Lecture on May 28.

Sergeant Martinez has attended serious crime scenes, conducted countless laboratory examinations for fingerprint evidence, and has been actively involved in identifying offenders by analysing and identifying collected fingerprint evidence. Sergeant Tony Martinez is a qualified Fingerprint Expert, a qualification that is awarded by the Australian Forensic Field Sciences Accreditation Board and is recognised worldwide.

During his presentation, Sergeant Martinez will outline that fingerprint identification has been around for more than 100 years and is a cornerstone to the forensic discipline. The use of fingerprint identification helps identify offenders and place them at crime scenes, identifies disaster victims, and is a valuable biometric tool in busy airports all over the World.

Sergeant Martinez will also discuss the recent advances in fingerprint identification technology and image transmission, which provides Queensland police officers with valuable information to help solve crimes.  These advances, along with comparisons to past techniques will be discussed and examples will be given.

The one-and-a-half hour presentation will begin at 11am on Sunday, May 28 and will provide educational and up-to-date content suitable for all audiences.

The Museum opens its doors to the public on the last Sunday of each month from 10am to 3pm from February to November in addition to the standard Monday to Thursday 9am to 4pm opening hours. Monthly Sunday openings feature guest speakers from across the historical and crime-solving spectrums.

PLEASE NOTE: The Police Museum will open Sunday May 28 from 10am to 3pm, and is located on the ground floor of Police Headquarters, 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.

Thrifty fore folk left fascinating evidence of overseas trading preferences, restricted finances and careful reuse in hundreds of memorandums retained by the Queensland Police Museum.  In October 1929 Commissioner William Harold Ryan signed Circular Memorandum with the following direction;

Officers–in-charge of Districts are advised that intimation has been received from the Chief Secretary’s Office, to the effect that it has now been decided that the Queensland Government, in placing orders for material and in accepting tenders, will give;

           1) 5 per cent preference to goods of Queensland manufacture over goods manufactured in other Australian States,

             2) 5 per cent preference to goods manufactures in the other Australian States over British goods,

             3) 5 per cent preference to British goods over foreign goods including goods manufactured in the United States of America.

Constable Robert G. Pacholke on horseback near the Fossilbrook Police Station agistment yard, c1928.
Image No. PM1110 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

Due to good growing conditions the purchase of forage for horses was expected to reduce, with agistment obtained instead, but this was not the only cost mentioned when scrutinising expenditure in September 1930;

Transfers in future cannot be taken into consideration except in cases of absolute hardship or necessity, and then it must be stated as already instructed, whether the applicant is able and willing to pay the expenses of transfer.

Railway Fares, Freights and Conveyance – the interest of the Department and the present economic stress must ever be borne in mind when services have to be performed under this heading.  The horses provided by the State must be used in all practicable instances, and the tendency to use private cars or motor cycles at the cost of the State must be discontinued.  Claims for mileage will, in future, be closely watched and will not be passed unless the circumstances indicate special urgency and the need to avoid dangerous delay. 

Until further ordered Police Reports may be written on both sides of the paper, the margin on the reverse side being retained on the right hand edge of the paper.  Moreover when applications for leave etc. are submitted, there is not real need to attach a separate report, and any relevant information that cannot be shown on the race of the application can be set out in a report or memorandum on the back thereof.

Control of Fibres and Jute Goods Order from the Prime Minister, Canberra, 1943.

In March 1943 the Department of Supply and Shipping reported an acute shortage of fibre supplies, so much so that an order from the Prime Minster was forwarded to all government departments requesting the conservation of such products, which was in turn provided in a Commissioner’s Memorandum;

“Control of Fibres and Jute Goods Order – Conservation of Rope, Cordage, Twine and String”
Old rope, binder twine and similar types of cordage should be saved for teasing and manufacture again into other commodities.  Details of the arrangements that have been made for the purchase and processing of this material are set out in circular letter [dated] 22^nd March 1943 from the Controller of Fibres.  Commonwealth Departments are being advised that specifications should be revised with the object of saving as much fibre as possible, and that everybody must be prepared to accept and use the type, size and quality of rope, cordage or twine that will do the particular job in hand, regardless of colour, appearance and special preferences.

DISCLAIMER – No animals were harmed whilst writing this article, and all horses were appropriately fed and watered.

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This information has been supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available at the time of writing.  The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“FROM the VAULT- Refrain, reuse, recycle” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode

Prior to the retirement of Police Commissioner James Patrick O’Sullivan, Jenny Fleming from the Queensland Police Union Journal spoke with Mr O’Sullivan about his 41 year policing career, including 8 as Commissioner.  The following is a condensed version of that interview;

Jenny: In 1993 you had been Commissioner for a year. At that time you said to me: “My whole trust and philosophy revolves around our primary objective of preservation of life and property.  It underpins the whole strategy.  If we fail there we fail everywhere”.  How do you think the Service has aspired to this strategy?

Commissioner: The Service has come a long way on many fronts.  Particularly in terms of preservation of life and property.  The recent statistical review and report that came out of the Federal Bureau of Statistics, in eight of the thirteen categories of crime, Queensland was the lowest in the nation.  While property crime is still at an unacceptable level, we are on the right track.  Our strategies are working but there’s a lot more work to be done and while you have a drug problem you are going to have a lot of property crime.  If you could solve the drug problem you could reduce the property crime overnight, probably by 60, 70 percent.

Commissioner James P. O’Sullivan.
Image No. PM1486 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

Jenny: What have been the highlights of your term as Commissioner?

Commissioner: There have been a lot of highlights really.  I think one of the main highlights is that we have come from a fairly ordinary sort of situation where respect for the Service was at an all-time low [during the Fitzgerald Inquiry] to a highly professional police service.  We have been able to regain the confidence of the community.  We are recognised now as the leader in areas of law enforcement in Australasia.  We are sending people overseas to lecture other law enforcement agencies on some of our computerised equipment.  We have seen the whole of the Service computerised, particularly in respect to crime, how it is reported, how intelligence is gathered.  We have reformed the Bureau of Criminal Intelligence totally.  We have overturned and reconstructed the educational training system in the human resources area and we are now recruiting top quality people who have work experience and life experiences.  We are targeting them at age 25, 26 and the majority have first degrees, some have second and third degrees.  We are getting the people who have all the skills and are highly motivated and top quality people.  So in terms of highlights, we have done a lot, and accountability… we have certainly made the Service open and accountable.

Jenny: What about the lows?

Commissioner: The only lows that I see are when we lose our people to tragedies, good decent people are killed in the line of duty.  That has been with us more than ever.  Quite recently too.       

Jenny: Do you think the North Queensland [Police] Academy has eased things a bit?

Commissioner: It has been very successful, quite frankly.  There was quite a lot of negativity coming from areas of the department and indeed government about that, but it is performing very well indeed.  So much so that we are in the middle of endeavouring to obtain funding to enlarge it and rebuild the campus.  It is a success story because most of the people graduating from the Townsville Academy stay in the north of the state.  For years we had a problem of finding people to go into those outlying areas.  Nowadays, I would say 95 percent of the graduates stay up there or go further west so that’s good.  We are recruiting people mainly from the north who don’t see Brisbane as their ultimate destination place.  As well we no longer have the difficult transfer issues we used to have.

Jenny: You come from an operations background.  What do you see as the major operational changes in the last 41 years?

Commissioner: When I was a young detective, we didn’t have typists.  Most of us couldn’t type, only with two fingers.  You had to type all your own briefs, all your own statements, prepare your own case, buy your own typewriter, and there you were.  There weren’t that many police around in those days.  We were very busy.  Now the technological age is with us and we have work stations and computers, and any amount of administrative assistants available as well as the computerisation of the Service.  In my day, when I was a young detective you might wait a fortnight to obtain a criminal history unless it was urgent, and you sent someone to the Sydney Central Fingerprint Bureau.  Now they have got instant access to intelligence and criminal history across the board.

Commissioner Jim O’Sullivan commissions the aircraft “Captain Stan Pullen” in 1996, named after the Police Airwing pilot, and was purchased by the Queensland Police Service for just over $3 million dollars.
Image No. PM2769 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

Jenny: Have you enjoyed your career?

Commissioner: Oh, I have.  It’s been a wonderful career for me.  The Service has progressed very well.  I have been the leader but I say continually it is great people who are around me and throughout the department that have done a lot more than I have. They don’t get the recognition half the time.

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The interview with James ‘Jim’ O’Sullivan was conducted by Jenny Fleming, and published on pages 14 – 17 of the Queensland Police Union Journal in September 2000.  The interview in its entirety is available from the Queensland Police Museum.  We are open from 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“FROM the VAULT- CoP James Patrick O’Sullivan” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode

On 24 June 1987 the Queensland Police Department moved their vehicle depot from the heritage listed Petrie Terrace Police Barracks to an existing building in Pickering Street, Alderley.  The low rise concrete and glass complex was purchased from Gordon and Gotch for $5.83 million, with the intention of housing the Transport Section, Allied Trades, Uniform Store, Radio and Electronics and eventually P.S.R.T. (Public Safety Response Team).  Alterations were necessary and completed at a cost of $2 million.  This included new office furniture and garage equipment to future proof the already modern building, sprawled over nearly 6 acres.

A Mechanic working on a police car at the Alderley Police Depot, c1988.
Image No. PM2850 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

In its first year of operation Transport Section mechanics serviced 673 vehicles.  Training was given to Departmental tradies to keep them updated with vehicle technology, and training was also given to apprentice mechanics.  A squad including four qualified motor mechanics, created specifically to investigate traffic accidents, was moved to the new Alderley garage and utilised a Ford Transit van fully fitted out for crash scene investigation.

Traffic Accident Investigation Squad van parked at Alderley Police Depot, c1989.
Image No. PM3297 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

For a short time the Brisbane Dog Squad called the Alderley premises their headquarters.  A portable building on the site was surrounded by tall chain wire fencing to keep the furry squad safe from the busy Transport Section between 1992 and 1999.  But the location was never suited to the needs of the Dog Squad, and they moved to their present home at the Oxley Police Academy in May 1999.

Store room at the Alderley Police Depot, c1988.
Image No. PM2851a courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

In 2001 the Police Bulletin (Issue No. 222, 1 Nov 2001, p. 12) looked back at the transition of the Transport Section when housed at Police Terrace, and their move to the Alderley location; ‘By 1987 the garages at the Petrie Terrace Depot had become too small and cramped to efficiently conduct mechanical and service work as the Queensland Police Department had acquired more vehicles and equipment.  However, staff made do with the accommodation available.  In February 1982, it was reported ‘staff at Transport Section are currently saving the Department thousands of dollars’ and noted that in addition to regular vehicle maintenance, staff were building horse floats and constructing light bars and security screens.  Inspector-in-Charge Jack Kane outlined plans for the future: “We would like to set up our own panel beating and paint shop at the Depot…however we do not have sufficient space”.’  There is certainly more space at Alderley and we wish the Garage a happy 30^th birthday for June 24, 2017!

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This article was written by Museum Assistant Georgia Grier from the best resources available within the Queensland Police Museum.  The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“FROM the VAULT – Alderley Garage Turns 30!” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode

The Petrov Affair – a Queensland link

 25 June 2017
11:00am – 12:30pm

 Police Headquarters
200 Roma Street
Brisbane  QLD  4000

FREE ENTRY

The Petrov Affair was a Cold War spy incident in Australia in April 1954, concerning Vladimir Petrov, Third Secretary of the Soviet embassy in Canberra and his wife Evdokia. It would be the one of the most important defections in the west during the Cold War.

Greg Cope, Assistant Director of the Queensland Office of National Archives of Australia is the guest speaker for the Police Museum Sunday Lecture on June 25.

Greg will outline the Petrov Affair from the beginning of their arrival in Australia in February 1951 to what happened to them after the defection.  Now, after all this time the whole story can be revealed with the release of documents in Australia, United Kingdom and the United States.

The Petrov affair is entangled in politics, elections, referendums and a Royal Commission.  The photographs of the Russian body guards dragging Evdokia onto a plane at Mascot airport would become the most famous media images in Australia in the 20^th Century.

During his presentation, Greg will outline what the Petrovs did in Queensland which would almost reveal their identity and location to the KGB.  They were wanted by the KGB for over 20 years.  It would be the Queensland Police who would identify Vladimir and would have to manage the situation. Greg will also discuss their life in Australia after defection, up to the time of their deaths.

The one-and-a-half hour presentation will begin at 11am on Sunday, June 25 and will provide educational and up-to-date content suitable for all audiences.

The Museum opens its doors to the public on the last Sunday of each month from 10am to 3pm from February to November in addition to the standard Monday to Thursday 9am to 4pm opening hours. Monthly Sunday openings feature guest speakers from across the historical and crime-solving spectrums.

PLEASE NOTE: The Police Museum will open on Sunday June 25
from 10am to 3pm, and is located on the ground floor of
Police Headquarters, 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.

A handwritten copy of a wire sent to all Inspectors by Police Commissioner William Parry-Okeden on 21 January 1889 requested to “Say whether you strictly adhere to clause 37, page 203 of [Queensland Police] Manual or whether you give full pay in all cases of sickness”.

The early Manual of Police Instructions and Duties, the copy referred published in 1876 by James C. Beal, Government Printer, William Street, Brisbane, was a series of regulations to guide Queensland’s constabulary.

Clause 37 reads ‘In ordinary cases of sickness, a constable will be considered as on leave of absence, and paid in accordance with clause 4 of “Leave of Absence” ’.  Clause 4 stipulated that “All men incapacitated for duty by accident or illness are to be under the care of the police surgeon, and must be seen by him and reported as being really so incapacitated, within twenty-four hours of their declaring themselves sick.  Without this report no man’s name is to be entered on the sick list”.

In accordance with the wired request, stations commenced submitting their reports.  Several are recorded below:

            From Inspector 2/c Alexander D. Douglas, Normanton, all cases of sickness this district have come under clause 10, page 200. There has been no case under clause 37.  Men suffering from fever constantly perform duty during intervals.

             From Inspector 1/c Frederick J. Murray, Cooktown, re your wire today no pay has ever been deducted from sick constables beyond hospital charges when long enough sick to go there.

             From Inspector 2/c John Stuart, Port Douglas, your telegraph today I do adhere strictly to clause 37, except when sickness is the result of misconduct, the rule in this district appears to be to five [days] full pay in all cases of sickness.

            From Sub-Inspector 1/c Ernest Carr, Winton, re your wire twenty first instant one constable received full pay while suffering from effects of accident to his kneecap received in scuffle with prisoner on New Year’s Day 1887.  All other cases regulations strictly adhered to.

            From Inspector 2/c William Britton, Blackall, re your wire today, Senior Constable Livingstone got three months sick leave without pay and this is the only case of sickness since I took charge.

             From Inspector 1/c Aulaire L. Morisset, Rockhampton, your telegram today I cannot say I have always strictly enforced provision clause 37, page 203.  I frequently experience difficulty in obtaining necessary repots etc. but make it a rule as far as practicable to report all cases coming under this clause to Commissioner.

Inspector 1/c Aulaire L. Morisset.  Image PM1825 part of the Queensland Police Museum collection.

            From Inspector 1/c Samuel J.C. Lloyd, Maryborough, re telegram of yesterday have given full pay in all cases of sick leave.

            From Senior Sergeant John Kincaide, Charleville, re your wire today not aware of men being sick for a long period since Inspector Ahern came to this District only Senior Sergeant Kincaide who was suffering from diarrhoea and inflammation of the lungs.

            From Inspector 1/c William Harris, Toowoomba, re your wire today don’t remember any man sick over fourteen days except one at Goondiwindi from fever contracted through sleeping in prison cell, there being no other quarters and he was allowed full pay. Men meeting with accidents in the discharge of duty are said to be sick whilst absent from duty and would I think be entitled to full pay accident not being the ordinary cases of sickness contemplated by regulations.         

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This information has been supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available at the time of writing.  The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“FROM the VAULT- The 1889 Sick Leave Audit” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode

Queensland State Archives with the
Harry Gentle Resource Centre are proud to present

Dr Anastasia Dukova
Policing a Colonial Metropolis:
from Moreton Bay to Brisbane

Join us at Queensland State Archives to hear our guest speaker, Griffith University Visiting Fellow Dr Anastasia Dukova, illuminate the key aspects of town life and policing of today’s Brisbane in its transition years, from the arrival of the first immigrant ships in Moreton Bay settlement in the 1840s, to the establishment of Brisbane as a colonial capital in 1859.
Utilising an array of primary records, Dr Dukova will examine the challenges the nascent colonial town policemen faced, also known as foot policemen. What was their day, or night, ‘on the job’ like? Who were these men?

Queensland State Archives
Friday, 14 July 2017
10.30 am to 11.30 am
435 Compton Road, Runcorn, QLD 4113

Book FREE tickets through Eventbrite
to reserve your place.

For more information about this event, please email QSA at info@archives.qld.gov.au

The Queensland Police Gazette (QPG) reported highway robbery of the Condamine mailman, on horseback six miles from Roma, on October 21 1865, and named suspect Alphin McPherson, known by many aliases and as ‘The Wild Scotsman’.  A further charge of robbery was to be effected on McPherson for holding up the Taroom mail delivery.  A £50 reward was announced and McPherson captured.

Architectural drawing of the Bowen Lockup, by J.B.C on February 2, 1885.
Image courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

A successful escape from Bowen Police at Port Mackay, on June 10 1865, preceded a crime spree including stock thefts by McPherson, firstly of a valuable four year old bay gelding branded to Messrs McEwen and Green, and six fine horses owned by P. Caldwell Esquire of Oakey Creek.  A silver pocket watch crafted by ‘Goldsmith, London’ was also found to be unlawfully in the possession of the suspect.  The gelding was eventually found near Gayndah by Sergeant Denis McCarthy.

The Wild Scotsman was described as about 23 years of age, 5 feet 10 ½ inches high, square shouldered, stout build, long arms, light hair, no whiskers, small downy tuft of hair on chin, Roman nose, blue eyes, face much sunburnt, gunshot wound inside left forearm from wrist to elbow, a native of Scotland and speaks the German language fluently (various QPG’s).

Snippet from the ‘Queensland Times’, supplied by the National Library of Australia via Trove.

Subsequent robberies under arms of Her Majesty’s mail from Orion Downs and Brown River prompted an increase in the reward, announced in the QPG of February 7 1866, to £250 for the apprehension of, or information leading to the capture of McPherson.  It was believed he was heading towards the Maranoa district of New South Wales via the Balonne River.  The theft of two strong horses from T.M. Bowman and allegedly ridden by McPherson at Galloway Plains on February 23 were located at Milton completely knocked up (QPG 4 April 1866, page 31).

First Queensland Police Commissioner David Seymour named McPherson in his second Annual Report, submitted in 1866 for the previous year, writing, “… it is not difficult for a good bushman, well supplied with information, to continue to ‘stick up’ with impunity for some time the solitary mailman.  I am in hopes that the active measures now taken, will shortly put a stop to this description of crime.  I am sorry to say that the opinion so confidently expressed some time back, that bushrangers would meet with no sympathy in this Colony, turns out to be incorrect.  The criminal can obtain plenty of assistance and information, the police but little.”

St Helena Island Penal Establishment ruins, 2015.
Image courtesy of Georgia Grier, Museum Assistant.

Police were now clued up to the bushranger’s modus operandi, his equine knowledge and riding prowess, and using the local mailman at Gin Gin as a decoy, successfully flushed McPherson out of hiding.  It didn’t take long for the fugitive to figure out the sting however, and he decamped at speed on horseback.  Fortunately for the police his chosen steed was too tired to gallop too far, enabling McPherson’s capture and arrest.  After trial The Wild Scotsman was given a lengthy prison term, to be served on St Helena Island Penal Establishment.

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This article was written by Museum Assistant Georgia Grier from the best resources available within the Queensland Police Museum.  The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“FROM the VAULT – The Decoyed Bushranger” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode

Raymond Wells Whitrod served the people of South Australia as a police officer between 1934 and 1949.  His rise to the rank of Detective preceded becoming the Assistant Director of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) in 1949.  In 1953 another promotion secured the Directorship of the Commonwealth Investigation Service, based in Canberra.

Educated by the Australian National University in Arts and Economics, and then by Cambridge University in Sociology and Criminology, Mr Whitrod was an advocate of merit based promotion.  His preference to recruit and promote police officers with formal education was recognised with his own promotion in 1960 by the Commonwealth Police who rewarded Mr Whitrod with the Commissionership.  The Papua New Guinea Police then appointed him as their Commissioner 9 years later, Mr Whitrod moving his family to Port Moresby for the position.

First United Nations Cyprus Police Contingent being sworn in by Commonwealth Police Commissioner Raymond Whitrod at the R.A.A.F. Base, Canberra, 21.05.1964.
Image No. PM1969 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

With this impressive policing history, and the ‘advantage of knowing police methods and routine, without the friendships and associations inevitable among officers who have spent all their working lives in the Force’, (Harris, B. Courier Mail 1969), the Queensland Police Force appointed Raymond Whitrod as Deputy Commissioner, to immediately sit in the chair of the Commissioner upon the pre-retirement leave of Norwin W. Bauer.

Queensland’s Commissioner of Police Raymond Wells Whitrod, 1970.
Image No. PM2307 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

At the beginning of his time in the top job in 1971 Mr Whitrod received an application from 21 year old Toowoomba Constable Wayne Bennett, for leave without pay to attend a Rugby League training camp in Brisbane.  The application was denied due to concerns over a potential shortage of police, and setting precedents.  The ban was quickly overridden by Premier Mr Joh Bjelke-Petersen, Constable Bennett trained at Lang Park and went on to score the only points for the Queensland Firsts with a goal in front of 19,308 spectators.

The Police continent march on Queen Street, Brisbane, in the ANZAC Day Parade of 1975.
Image PRNeg 1975-SL147 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

In contrast to views about denying a police officer leave, and for such a good cause, Mr Whitrod was very much on the side of his police officers.  His continued encouragement of police to increase their educational qualifications was backed by the approval of these applications, and his visitation to many country police stations in efforts to learn what makes bush centres tick was highly regarded.  Raymond Whitrod resigned in 1976 and returned to his home state, and the city of Adelaide.

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This article was written by Museum Assistant Georgia Grier from the best resources available within the Queensland Police Museum.  The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“FROM the VAULT- CoP Raymond W. Whitrod” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode

Further to our recent article about Police Commissioner Raymond Wells Whitrod, another sporting event came into the spotlight in 1971, the tour of South African Rugby Union team, the Springboks.  In anticipation of trouble by anti-apartheid protestors a “State of Emergency” was declared.  Operational orders included for police to carry handcuffs and batons, but not firearms.  No recreational leave was granted during the team’s stay in Queensland between 22 July and 4 August; the catalyst for refusal by the Commissioner to approve Constable Wayne Bennett’s leave request for rugby league training perhaps.

The Enoggera Army Barracks was secured for police radio communications, training, accommodation, meals and recreation.  A log of occurrences commenced with meetings between key organisers; Queensland Rugby Union officials, Commissioner Whitrod and senior police, with all inspecting Ballymore Oval in Herston.  Printed media was scrutinised whilst Traffic Police, and Public Order and Emergency Squads were mobilised in readiness for the arrival of players and commencement of play.

900 police from all over Queensland assemble in the Exhibition Ground Main Oval on July 21, 1971, to be addressed by Police Minister Mr Hodges and Police Commissioner Mr Whitrod in preparations for the Springbok Tour. Courier Mail Article 21/7/1971.
Image No. PM1342D courtesy of the Courier Mail.

As the tournament loomed, so did security concerns surrounding the use of Ballymore Oval.  Alternative venues were considered, including Lang Park (now known as Suncorp Stadium) and the Brisbane Exhibition Grounds.  With demonstrations increasing, a decision was made to erect security fencing at the Exhibition Grounds, establish a mobile police station on site and hold the games at that location.  The retail sale of gunpowder was monitored, whilst specialty police squads were armed with smoke flares.  Newspapers increased their distribution of at times exaggerated reports of extreme policing methods, whilst the Commissioner continued to ready operational police for large crowds. 

Anti-apartheid demonstrators making their way towards the Exhibition Grounds, July 1971, supervised by police in cars and on motorcycles.
Image No. PM1342J courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

Transport was identified as a significant factor in successfully policing the event, and it became apparent extra buses were needed to move large numbers of police and the public into and away from the tournament.  Preparations were made by employing the services of private coach companies to complement Transport Department buses.  Three days prior to the arrival of the South African team in Queensland, on July 17, a rail strike threatened as senior police travelled to Sydney to watch the Springboks play there.

Queensland’s turn to host the games commenced amid heightened security for players, spectators and peaceful protesters.  Extra paddy wagons were secured in anticipation of multiple arrests.  A large crowd congregated outside the team’s accommodation at the Tower Mill Motel, with varying reports about the behaviour of university student and other demonstrators on Wickham Terrace; no chanting, chanting, motel windows being smashed, bomb threats made, multiple arrests.

The Rugby Union game between the South African Springboks and Australia, at the Brisbane Exhibition Ground, July 1971. Police keep a close watch on spectators and demonstrators. The Springboks won the game 14 – 6.
Image No. PM1342O donated by the Courier Mail.

On the day of the Test, July 31, and after police escorted the Springboks to pre-game strategy talks at Ballymore Oval before continuing the escort to the Exhibition Ground where South Africa beat Australia 14 – 6.  The Springboks travelled to Toowoomba the next day for a final game, prompting temporary fencing of the oval and additional police resources.  No incidents were reported there and the team safely departed Oakey Airport on August 4, for their return flight to Sydney, New South Wales.

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This article was written by Museum Assistant Georgia Grier from the best resources available within the Queensland Police Museum.  The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“FROM the VAULT- Springbok Tour of Queensland” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode

Robert Atkinson commenced cadet training for recruitment in the Queensland Police Force in 1968 with the first station posting at Hemmant, near the port of Brisbane, and relatively close to his childhood home at Wynnum.  Within five years Constable Atkinson had been promoted to the Plain Clothes division of Brisbane’s Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB).  This softly spoken policeman kindly and cleverly continued to unravel many terrible crimes during his next twelve years as the one man CIB outfit at Goondiwindi and then with a team on the Sunshine Coast.

Detective Senior Constable Robert Atkinson, standing tall in the centre row, at the Prosecutors Course, July 1977.
Image PM1683c courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

Degrees in Administrative Leadership and Police Management qualified Detective Sergeant Atkinson to study at the FBI National Academy, Quantico, where he graduated with a Certificate in Criminal Justice.  Promotions to Inspector, Superintendent, Chief Super and Assistant Commissioner followed, and in November 2000 Mr Atkinson became Police Commissioner.

Robert Atkinson, at the rank of Assistant Commissioner in 1998.
Image courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.

An advocate for multiculturalism, Commissioner Atkinson encouraged important links with a variety of ethnic and religious communities, and steady progress was made to recruit higher numbers of police and civilian staff, focusing on personnel with Indigenous and multicultural heritage.  The March 2004 induction parade produced the highest number of Indigenous recruits to date (2004).  Commissioner Atkinson also encouraged partnerships with volunteer organisations, promoting this ‘P’ from four new focus principles: Professionalism, People, Performance and Partnerships.

Commissioner Atkinson oversaw the introduction of a national framework to be followed by government leaders after terrorist attacks in the United States of America on September 11, 2001.  Queensland’s turn to host the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) loomed shortly after but proved to be a great success.  Mr Atkinson stated in July 2002 “CHOGM involved the largest security operation undertaken in the 138-year history of the Queensland Police Service.  To bring it to a successful conclusion, while maintaining core policing services throughout Queensland, was an achievement that demonstrated the Service’s capacity to manage security for large-scale events”.

Other achievements by Commissioner Atkinson included the introduction of a state-wide secure digital radio network, establishment of a Counter Terrorism Coordination Unit and five Tactical Crime Squads.  An expansion to the Awards for Excellence categories added Crime Prevention, and increased Police Liaison Officer (PLO) positions included the first Sudanese and Muslim PLO’s.  In 2003 Mr Atkinson recognised the 110^th anniversary of the Queensland Police Museum, and praised the performance of Police Pipes and Drums members who had fronted 160,000 people at the Sydney Football Stadium when the Edinburgh Military Tattoo travelled there in 2005.  Policelink, a call centre for use by members of the public to report non-urgent crime, was officially opened by Mr Atkinson in 2010 to compliment the emergency 000 service.  The location in the aptly named Dandiiri (Aboriginal word ‘to meet’) Contact Centre is the meeting and work location of several state government services.

A relaxed and retired Police Commissioner Robert Atkinson wears his Order of Australia medal and enjoys celebrations at the Queensland Police 150th parade, held in Brisbane in 2014.
Image courtesy of Senior Sergeant Mel Wilkins.

After retirement from the Queensland Police Service, the skills in leadership and community engagement consistently displayed by Mr Atkinson during his 44 year police career were recognised; he was awarded with and named as Officer of the Order of Australia.

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This article was written by Museum Assistant Georgia Grier from the best resources available within the Queensland Police Museum.  The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au

“FROM the VAULT- CoP Robert Atkinson” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode

Queensland State Archives with the Griffith Criminology Institute

are proud to present

Professor Mark Finnane
ARC Laureate Fellow, Griffith University

discussing

The Prosecution Project
Queensland sources and Queensland stories

Website banner of The Prosecution Project.

Join us at Queensland State Archives to hear our guest speaker — Griffith University’s Professor of History in the School of Humanities and Director of the Prosecution Project Professor Mark Finnane — as he discusses The Prosecution Project.

The Prosecution Project is a national research project investigating the history of criminal prosecution in Australia. The project aims to document criminal trials in all Australian states from as early as 1824 to the 1960s.

This presentation will focus on Queensland sources for the project and the stories about crime and justice they disclose.

6 September 2017
10:30 am to 11:30 am
435 Compton Road, Runcorn

Need more information about this event?  Please email us at: info@archives.com.au

Please book early through Eventbrite to reserve your place.

The scientific use of photography has come a long way in the 125 years since it became apart of the Queensland Police Service.

Police archives as far back as 1884 praised the photographic process as a new technology which would have great advantage in the future identification and apprehension of criminals.

In late 1892 Acting Sergeant John Raphael Thompson was officially appointed as the first QPS police photographer.

At the time of his appointment Thompson was performing clerical duties at the Brisbane CIB which forced him to combine both roles, earning him an extra £10.

Thompson was assigned to record mugshots of convicted persons at the Brisbane and Saint Helena Gaols.

John Raphael Thompson

As Queensland ran its own affairs until Federation in 1901, Thompson also took photographs for the Immigration Department. Thompson would also take photographs of police trainees and portraits and group shots for departmental records.

In 1905, Thomson established the QPS’s first darkroom and studio in converted horse stables behind the CIB Building formally located in Queen’s Park.

The former CIB Station located in Queen’s Park

During this period Thomson would have used a bulky 4×5 camera on a heavy tripod which would have been loaded with glass negative plates.

In readiness for his capturing photographs he would mix his own chemistry and apply it to those glass plates to create the negative emulsion.

Back then travel was not as simple as it is now and Thompson would have been required to travel by horse, buggy and then boat to Saint Helena which would have taken at best a day or two depending on the weather.

He would then capture the images and return to his darkroom in Queens Park and hand develop the glass plates before proceeding to chemically develop the black and white photographs.

The first published police photographs appeared in the Police Gazette photo supplement No. 39 of 1897 of one “Missing” and one “Wanted person.”

The legacy of Sergeant Thompson has permeated throughout the members with the QPS Photographic Section as strong culture to embrace best practices and technological progression.

After 125 years the skills profile required of a QPS police photographer have evolved significantly from understanding the fundamentals of photography and combining  this knowledge with the emergence of new technologies.

In 2017 Inspector Adrian Freeman is the current Inspector of the the Photographic Section.

Inspector Freeman has over 30 years in Forensic Services and has the responsibility of not only managing fundamental forensic photographic and video services but also supplying specialist forensic imaging services.

Inspector Adrian Freeman, Photographic and Electronic Recording Sections

These services include Remote Pilot Aircraft Services (RPA) for aerial photography and mapping, Interactive Forensic Imaging Services and three dimensional scanning mapping and modelling that provides immersive and augmented experiences for investigators and the courts.

Today the skill profile of a police photographer is very dynamic. From attaining extensive knowledge in forensic applications and photographic and video fundamentals to being trained as a Remote Pilot Aircraft pilot and observer.

From scanner recorders to mapping specialists to modelling builders and face composite producers to evidentiary image comporators to crime scene photography trainers the  job description for members of the photographic section has certainly changed.

The QPS has indeed overseen a very strong evolution in the processes of police photography since the days of Sergeant Thompson in the late nineteenth century as the photographic section has embedded itself as a core resource to record and process forensic images more comprehensively and accurately.

To celebrate the 125th anniversary of the photographic section, QPS Media in conjunction with the Photographic Section will be producing a blog series to celebrate the achievements and evolution of the section.