Heralds from Home Hill with Sgt Brett Smith Hello again, well another week has passed and thankfully this past week has shown a decrease in the amount of reported offences for the Home Hill police division. The Home Hill police division stretches from the invisible barrier on the Burdekin Bridge, south to Wunjunga and Wangaratta Creek and west to the middle of nowhere. So as you can image we cover a great deal of area in our travels and more often than not we also attend Gumlu and Guthalungra which is in Bowen’s police division. It is getting to that time of the year again where we will see an increase in the theft of diesel fuel. Based on past figures it would appear that we may see an increase in reported theft of fuel from machinery and fuel storage areas. Why this occurs is still a mystery but many scenarios arise including the increased cost of fuel, the availability of fuel in storage at unattended locations and it has even been suggested that once we reach the 30-40% round of cane cutting, farmers and staff move from the home farm areas to differing locations thus leaving the home farm vulnerable to theft. It is time to take preventive measures to stop this from occurring. Now that we are into the new financial year it may be worthwhile investing in CCTV or other means of surveillance security. I know that locking gates, fuel drums, tanks and other areas will only result in damage being sustained but it also increases time it takes to steal and the possibility of offending persons making noise and therefore increasing their chances of detection. In today’s current environment of technology, there is a plethora of CCTV systems out there that are at very reasonable cost. Some even have a phone ‘app’ that gives you same time visual on your property items. So a little preventative cost and action may save you money and allow us to prosecute those who choose to steal fuel from your home and/or business. We have been proactively policing the division in the past week with a number of drug search warrants being executed on a number of addresses within the Home Hill Area. These addresses have produced results and a number of persons will be fronting the Ayr Magistrates Court in the not too distant future facing drug and drug related paraphernalia charges. We here at Home Hill Station welcome any information relating to drug offences and those who choose to take part in the drug trade. Remember that drug possession, distribution and production is an offence and will not be tolerated in the community. So if you have information, please let us know at the station on 4782 1300, or Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000 or even email us at [email protected] and remember the information can be anonymous. Any information received will be protected by legislation and treated with confidence. Well this Saturday will see the commencement of the Burdekin Water Festival 2014 with the ‘Tastes of the Burdekin’ festival in Ayr. Also on this night you will see the 000 challenge with a cook off between Police, Fire and Ambulance. Unfortunately I, along with Constable Meg Fitzgerald, will represent the police in this event. I am putting this out there now – my cooking is shocking. I am going to be fully reliant on Meg to carry me through this event and the competition will be tough. I am hoping that the staff at Ayr Hospital have taken stock of ingestible charcoal for food poisoning in preparation of my lack of cooking skills, let alone the Firies’ skills. I know that Ash Ryder and Greg Vincent from the Firies will no doubt cook up something that might look and taste impressive, as we all know based on TV shows that all Firies do in between calls for service is sit around and cook massive feasts in the station. For the Ambos we have my wife Lisa Smith and Sam Carter, who mind you will not disclose to me what they are cooking or even give me a hint. I know that as ambos, all they do in between calls for service is sit around and cook. So we as proactive policing members of our society are clearly disadvantaged by our occupations as we do not have time to sit around, hold hands and have cooking sessions in the station. Also if my wife does not win, my god, life at the Smith household will be very awkward. Until next week Stay safe Sgt Brett Smith Officer in Charge
Posted on: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 06:37:37 +0000