A dino and a rhino
The Dubbo Photo News page dedicated to the hard work of our emergency services personnel.
DUBBO Airport’s missing rhino statue was recovered by police in Coonabarabran this week, but an almost-as-famous model T-rex is still on the missing list.
Sherlock Holmes search
PLAY hide and seek with one police officer from Orana and Midwest and it’s probably not going to end well – for you.
Earlier this week, police patrolling at Dunedoo stopped a car on the Golden Highway.
Police say that, after speaking to the male driver, a search of the vehicle was conducted which uncovered a very large amount of cash secreted in a hidden compartment within the vehicle.
Unfortunately for the man in question, he’d run into a cop who’s spent time on specialised training when it comes to searching vehicles and knowing where all the hidden compartments and hidey holes are located – those secret places which the untrained eye may miss.
Indeed, Queensland police, who’d arrested the same bloke for drug-related matters earlier in the day, may have missed the stash of cash, so well done to our local blokes.
Anyway, the man couldn’t explain to police why he had tens of thousands in cash, nor why it had been hidden in the vehicle.
The man was arrested and brought back to Dubbo Police Station and charged with offences relating to the unexplained cash while his car was also seized for forensic examination.
He was granted conditional bail to appear before Mudgee Local Court in September.
At this stage police believe the money is the proceeds of criminal activity relating to drug supply.
Rhino rescued
GREAT to see police found the rhino sculpture that was allegedly stolen from the front of Dubbo Regional Airport on Sunday.
The most often heard question seems to be: “Why?”
The statue didn’t suffer any harm. A 41-year-old man and a 37-year-old woman, both from Coonabarabran, were charged with several offences in relation to the missing rhino statue, and will appear in Coonabarabran Local Court in September.
I bet there’ll be a few Dubbo journos up there to watch that matter unfold.
Police have thanked members of the community for providing information which led to the recovery
of the rhino.
One sculpture theft still outstanding is my eight-foot-tall yellow T-rex which was taken a few months back from its pride of place location out the front of the ICAN Forestry Nursery on Cobra Street, just opposite the old RAAF base.
I initially thought it was a prank and, while I mentioned it to a few police, I didn’t actually make a formal report of it being stolen.
So let’s not be a city that discriminates against extinct dinosaurs while supporting almost extinct rhinos. If anyone knows anything about this missing Dino please let me know.
“Great news for the community of Dubbo, that we have been able to locate this treasured and expensive symbol of Dubbo, in an undamaged state,” inspector Dan Skelly said after the recovery.
Arrangements were quickly underway to return the statue.
Bike cops in wello
GREAT to see the bicycle cops patrolling around Wellington this week.
It not only gets some uniforms out amongst the people and creates that high visibility policy that communities have been clamouring for in recent decades, it also means a boost to local officers if they’ve got any big jobs on which may require extra back-up.
The only reports I’ve heard about the cycle squad have been positive so if you see the guys riding past, let them know that their service is appreciated.
Big picture emergency
EVERY time we have a major fire these days there seems to be plenty of soul-searching afterwards.
Much of this can be traced back to emotional reactions from people who were close to the incident, but in the past two decades there’s been an emerging pattern, particularly within the Rural Fire Service (RFS), that points to systemic management failures and a disregard for the volunteers.
I’ve seen plenty of examples of this sort of behaviour first-hand, and it’s not pretty.
So it was interesting this week to see an Upper House committee inquiry into emergency services agencies table its report, with numerous recommendations to address bullying, harassment and discrimination in the NSW Rural Fire Service, Fire & Rescue NSW, NSW Police Force, Ambulance Service of NSW and the NSW State Emergency Service.
Committee chair Robert Borsak MLC said the evidence that was heard was scathing.
“The committee heard many disturbing stories from emergency services workers who had been subjected to bullying, harassment and discrimination in the workplace, and whose complaints were not managed effectively, in a timely manner or with impartiality,” Mr Borsak said.
“One of our key recommendations is for the NSW Government to establish an independent, external complaints management oversight body for workplace bullying, harassment and discrimination across the five emergency services agencies.”
I couldn’t agree with that recommendation enough.
The committee also heard of the need for much greater focus on the mental health of first responders, given the critical role they play within our communities, with many recommendations to make employee mental health a priority action across the emergency services agencies, and to do more research on developing effective mental health interventions for our first responders.
Our five emergency services fulfil far too crucial a role in this state, and within our communities, to allow this sort of culture to exist.
Hopefully the recommendations will be heeded.
Armed and dangerous
DETECTIVES from the Orana Mid Western Police District are still following up leads after an armed robbery that occurred at the Narromine Hotel at about 6.40pm last Wednesday, July 18.
Two males entered the bottle shop attached to the hotel, one armed with a metal bar, and threatened the female employee and demanded her to hand over cash from the till.
One of the males then held the female employee against a wall while the other male took cash from the till before both ran from the bottle shop.
Some gutsy hotel patrons chased them for a while but the offenders made their escape into the darkness.
One of the alleged perps is described as Aboriginal in appearance, 175cm tall, with a muscular build.
The other is also described as being Aboriginal in appearance, unshaven, between 40 to 50 years of age, and about 180 to 185cm tall.
The female employee was not injured in the incident and is assisting police with their enquires.
Hopefully the CCTV footage will help investigators. In the meantime anyone who has any info which can help police is urged to call Dubbo Detectives on 6883 1599 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 – your information can be anonymous.
School crossings back
BE careful, schools are back in business and so are the 40-kilometre-an-hour school crossing speed limits, so drive safe around schools.
It’s timely to remind drivers to be careful on the roads, with new laws allowing children up to the age of 16 to ride on the footpath in NSW.
This state also has the nation’s toughest demerit point penalty in the country for illegal mobile phone use while driving.
Do it and you’ll lose five demerit points – it’s just not worth risking your life or the lives of others.
This area was having a pretty good run when it came to no fatalities on our roads, but that all changed last week with police and other emergency services called to a head-on crash on the Mitchell Highway about 25km south of Wellington last Thursday.
A sedan and a 4WD towing a caravan had collided head-on, with an elderly man trapped in the sedan.
SES and Fire & Rescue NSW were on scene and freed the man from the sedan but shortly afterwards it’s thought the elderly man suffered a heart attack and died, despite the best efforts of emergency workers performing CPR.