Police briefs

Press, 25 July 1989, Page 7

Police briefs

Woman beaten, robbed A woman, aged in her 20s, was beaten up and robbed of a leather jacket and money after accepting a ride in a car at the week-end. She was picked up in the inner city, about midnight on Saturday and assaulted soon after. She did not know her assailants, four women and three men, said SeniorSergeant Mike Moore, of the City South police. She suffered minor injuries and was robbed of $72. Security camera taken A security camera used for monitoring customers was stolen from the Phillipstown Post Office last week. The offender smashed a rear window of the Ferry Road premises to gain entry overnight on Wednesday. The television monitor was also taken. i Guard’s jacket stolen The police are concerned about the motive behind the theft of a security guard’s jacket in Aranui at the week-end. The brown Crown Security jacket was stolen from a clothesline in Cheriton Street. A spokesman said it was possible the offender could use the jacket to commit a crime. Sleep-out set alight Detectives are investigating an arson attack on a sleep-out in Wainoni early yesterday. The female occupant discovered the fire when she went outside to investigate a noise at 12.15 a.m. She put the fire out with a garden hose. The sleep-out suffered minor damage. A workshop on the Bexley Road property had been broken into. The New Brighton C. 1.8. wants to hear from anyone who saw two men on a walkway along the Avon River behind Bexley Road. A fence in Nursery Road, Linwood, was set alight, causing $5OO damage, about 3 a.m. Fire safety officers are investigating. Windows in the house on the property were smashed. Public help sought The Akaroa police are appealing for help from the public in solving a house burglary in which $5OOO of property was taken. A house at Birdlings Flat, on the main Akaroa highway, was broken into between 2 p.m. and 7.30 p.m. on Sunday while the owner was out. Constable Gerry Williamson said the house was close to the road and the thieves would have had to have backed a truck up to the front door to remove the property. Two colour television sets, a chainsaw, an automatic washer-dryer, a refrigerator, freezer, radio, rifle, gas heater, video recorder and stereo system were taken. Motor-cyclist injured A motor-cyclist was admitted to Christchurch Hospital with leg fractures last evening after colliding with a car backing out of a driveway in Burnside. The accident occurred near the corner of Kendall Avenue and Wairakei Road about 6.40 p.m. House badly damaged A fire at Stewart’s Gully last evening badly damaged the back part of a house. Four Fire Service engines and two water tankers attended about 6.30 p.m. The owner of the house escaped unharmed. About 30 per cent of the house was badly damaged. Fire safety officers were called to investigate. Woman missing A search will resume today along the Sumner coast near Whitewash Head for a missing woman, aged 23. The South Brighton woman was reported missing at 8.15 a.m. on Saturday. Clothing belonging to her was found at the top of Whitewash Head cliff a short time later. The police combed nearby beaches without success yesterday. Attendant knocked out An attendant was knocked unconscious when two raiders forced open glass sliding doors at a Kumeu service station about 5.15 a.m. yesterday, the police said. The attendant, in his early 20s, went to the door to try to stop the intruders. But one punched him about the head, causing him to fall and hit a glass cabinet, knocking him out, a police spokesman said. The raiders then rifled the till and safe before leaving with a large sum of money. The attendant was found a few minutes later by a passing motorist and taken to Auckland Hospital. He was later discharged. — PA. Fewer constables There are now fewer police constables on the beat than in 1980, the Police Association said yesterday. Referring to published police administration figures, the association’s industrial advocate, Mr Graham Harding, said yesterday the number of sworn constables had dropped from 3770 in 1980 to 3734 in June this year. “Constables are the front line of our policing effort, and in the face of increasing crime rates the fall in front line numbers must mean decreasing security,” Mr Harding said. “From a high point of 3932 sworn constables in 1987 we are now down 200 even before we take account of the latest alarming cuts.” — PA.