Police utility belt with gun, ammo stolen from police car in Darling Downs
The Courier-Mail, 7:46am, Friday, 2 January, 2009
A fully equipped police utility belt, including a Glock pistol and ammunition, has been stolen from an unlocked and unattended police car.
The belt also held capsicum spray, an extendable baton, additional magazines of ammunition and handcuffs.
The only thing missing was a stun gun - yet to be rolled out to all operational police officers in Queensland.
A bag containing a digital camera was also stolen.
The items were taken from a police car in the Roma police district on the western Darling Downs on Wednesday afternoon, but police did not release details of the theft until 6pm yesterday.
At that point - more than 24 hours later - they required assistance with their “urgent inquiries” to locate the belt.
Police have asked the thief to be careful with the items, advising they “have the potential to cause injury or death”.
The belt and bag were left in an unattended, unlocked police car that was parked outside a police station.
Police last night refused to reveal which police station the vehicle was parked outside when the equipment was stolen, only saying the vehicle in question was regularly stationed at Wandoan.
“The car is a Wandoan police vehicle, however, it has been driven around the district,” a police spokeswoman said.
“So the investigation is not focused solely on Wandoan.”
Police also refused to say how long the vehicle was unattended with the utility belt inside, or what time the theft was discovered, only saying it occurred on Wednesday afternoon.
“The Queensland Police Service advises that these are operational items and have the potential to cause injury or death,” a statement said.
“The QPS will thoroughly examine the circumstances of this property going missing to ensure current procedures are adequate and were complied with.”
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