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[tab=30][tab=30] Eventually we purchased one hundred acres and rented a farmhouse across the road from our property.
I failed to understand why it always took me five years to learn anything. Was five years a time set in brackets to allow my brain to devour the concept or was five years the time to learn anything of importance. Before promotion to the higher rank of constable first class, I needed to have five years service. When I look back and realise it took me five years to learn the craft and skills to become a competent investigator, five years was the time for me to learn anything important.
The township of Dalby is situated on the edge of the Darling Downs region, approximately a three-hour drive west from Brisbane. Detective work in the country was much more of a challenge than in the city. In the country there were no squads; all complaints received from the public for investigation it was the role of a detective to investigate it.
The new ‘Boss’; we named him Chief was a true leader and knew his role. Apart from myself there was a trainee detective and a designated detective to complete the team. Chief became my mentor. Without the proper groundwork I learned from him my climb up the ladder of knowledge would have been more difficult. He was a man who required respect and honesty. He’d go out of his way to help each of his staff, but if one of them lacked self respect for him, or told fibs, they were discarded. There were no half measures. Either you wanted to learn or you didn’t. It was not hard to instantly show total respect and admiration for him.
In those times I took many risks, not because I needed to, but because I felt an urge to impress him. I wanted to earn his respect and you didn’t earn it or his admiration by accident.
His ability to know exactly the correct rules of evidence to support an investigation was beyond any other person’s I had ever met...

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[align=center]Chapter Three[/align]

I was transferred to Dalby Criminal Investigation Branch. Over the next three months I was on probation to receive my designation as a detective. My work would be reviewed and if it were to the standard required of a detective, I received my designation. My goal was to become a fully fledged detective.
Before I joined the Criminal Investigation Branch, I promised Olga we’d return to the country. She was happy with this arrangement because she missed the country way of life. She felt isolated and alone in the city. Honestly, I don’t know how she survived in Brisbane. Kaylene was born at Stanthorpe and often she told me how they’d go to Westfield Shopping Centre at Toombul to window shop. She didn’t have any friends and must have lived a lonely life.
In those times we didn’t have a telephone connected to our home. We lived at Boondall, a suburb north of the city. I remember one evening we were dressed to go out for dinner when a police car pulled up in front of our home. I was urgently needed to return to work and wouldn’t know when I returned. At the time, my work was important and Olga played the dutiful wife and mother. Some day I wanted to make it up to her for being patient. This was an opportunity to show how much I loved her.
Since we married our life was wrapped around my career and she never complained. Her life in Cunnamulla was one of few luxuries. I remember after we were engaged to be married, she wanted me to purchase a brand-new car. First, I couldn’t imagine myself owning a brand-new car however after she explained how important it was to have a new car I conceded to her wishes. It was only a change in my thinking on my part because each second year we purchased the latest model car...

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[tab=30][tab=30]We often told our story of the ‘suspect ring’ to other detectives especially younger ones. The moral of the story was to never give up, follow your instinct, and don’t believe what you are told and have a good partner who knows the law.
After fourteen months of training I received my appointment on probation to become a designated detective. It was 1975. After investigating ‘bank robbers’, ‘drug users’, ‘fraudsters, and ‘burglars’ I was about to take my first step upon the ladder on my personal journey to be a designated detective in the Queensland Police Force.
I achieved my lifetime dream and felt ecstatic. All my life I always wanted to become a real-life detective and now I’d reached the goal...

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[tab=30][tab=30]When he returned, he said ‘The owner has identified the ring as one of the rings stolen from the store when it was broken into about four months ago.’
[tab=30]‘The people who broke into the store obviously dropped it when they left.’ He replied. Was he telling the truth? Why was he in the vicinity of the store the night when it was broken into? It was too convenient.
‘I’m arresting you for not reporting you found the ring to the police. You will be charged with ‘stealing by finding’. Is there anything you’d like to say?’ My partner said.
‘I’d better tell you why I was here.’ He confessed.
‘Why were you here?’ I wanted to know. The reason he travelled to the other side of town was instead of working he watched homes and make certain no one was home. When he noticed no one was home he broke into them, stole property, and pawned the stolen property in the city for cash. That’s how he made his living, housebreaking. He denied he broke into the jewellery store it wasn’t his go and swore he found the ring on the ground.
For the remainder of the day he pointed out houses around the area and told us how he broke into each one of them, either by opening a window, which was left unlocked or sometimes the front door was left unlocked or open. It was easy for him to break into any home. He only stole small items he could carry and pawn for cash.
We couldn’t believe what we were being told. We’d apprehended a daylight burglar who admitted to breaking into at least fifty houses and stole property worth thousands of dollars. Never in our wildest dreams did we ever dream of solving a huge case like this one.
By the end of the investigation we were totally exhausted from working daylight until dark counting the housebreakings he admitted to. If we hadn’t followed up with the information given to us by his brother none of this would have been solved...

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[tab=30][tab=30]‘Ah, it’d be about four months ago now. I’m not sure of the date.’ He continued to question him about finding the ring. I lost the way some time along the track and didn’t know where he was heading with the questioning.
In criminal law when any person finds property, they didn’t know the owner, they should report the item found to the police, or place an advertisement in the local newspaper. After three months if no person has reported the property missing, the finder can legally own the property. In this case it was clear he had not reported he found the ring. His reason for not handing it to the police was because he didn’t trust them but he liked the ring. Did he steal the ring or find it?
My partner certainly knew the law and how to apply it in different circumstances. I thought he was clever how he did it. I learnt a huge lesson and realised my knowledge of law needed to improve immediately.
[tab=30]We arrived at the place where the ring was found. It was on the opposite side of the city from where he lived. ‘What were you doing over this side of town when you live two hours away?’ I was curious to know.
‘I was sick and tied of the same area and wanted to have a look over here.’ He said.
‘How did you get here?’ My partner said.
‘Public transport.’ He told us. Why would a person travel without a vehicle all this way across town two hours from his home? It was strange. Nothing he said made sense. Was he telling the truth?
‘This is where I found it. It was around nine o’clock at night and the light shone enough to see the ring,’ and pointed to the ground near a telegraph pole.
‘I’m taking the ring to the jewellery store to see if the owner can identify it.’ My partner said. A jewellery store was opposite...

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[tab=30][tab=30] The truth was never known as to whether the man was actually held out of the window by detectives, or after he was charged with the offences, he returned to the police building and scratched his name in a convenient place to blame police.
One evening I worked with another trainee detective when a male person came to the front counter concerned about his brother who recently obtained a ring and couldn’t account for it. He thought his brother had either stolen the ring or came by it unlawfully. This was an opportunity to prove once and for all I could be a detective.
We were both trainee detectives and decided it was a job we could solve, the case of the ‘suspect ring’. We wanted to investigate a case by ourselves and felt confident enough to do it. There wasn’t a complaint, only the suspicion of one brother against the other and a ring. There wasn’t much to go on.
Before daylight the following morning, we arrived to speak to the brother about the ‘suspect ring’. He was hardly awake and showed the affects of alcohol and a hangover. He admitted he found it on the footpath in front of a jewellery store. Alarm bells went off. ‘Can you show us where you found this ring?’ My partner said.
‘Yeah, can I get dressed first? It’s over the other side of town and takes a couple of hours to get there.’ He replied.
‘Be our guest. We’ll take you there’.
The next couple of hours we discovered there might be more to his story of ‘finding the ring near to the jewellery store’ than meets the eye. He told us one night he was standing beside a telegraph pole outside of the store when he looked on the ground and saw the ring. He picked it up and put it in his pocket. ‘When did you find the ring?’ My partner wanted to know...

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[tab=30][tab=30]The next morning all detectives were summoned to the muster room to be addressed by the Detective Superintendent. We had no idea why we were being summoned to this urgent meeting. He began to tell us how difficult the role of a detective is when trying to apprehend an offender. I looked and whispered to my off sider, ‘Did you tell anyone about yesterday, because I know I didn’t.’
‘No, how did they find out?’ If it got out, we lost a prisoner and not reported it we would be in big trouble. No detective appointment. It was a serious matter. The Detective Superintendent continued his story of preventing people from escape and finally shared with his audience a senior detective from the Consorting Squad lost a prisoner and all detectives should be on the lookout for the escapee. We were relieved.
It was not our man but a senior detective of the Consorting Squad allowed a prisoner to escape. What a relief. Our fraudster was never seen or sighted again.
Rumours were always rampart around a detective’s office of stories being stretched further from the truth they became believable. Each story sounded exciting in the way it was told. One story, which happened interstate to a person under interrogated, should be told.
The story goes detectives from interstate had questioned a male person about break and enters offences, which he denied. Whilst he was being interrogated, he was allegedly held by his feet outside of the window of the police building three stories above the ground for the police to obtain a confession.
I couldn’t believe detectives would go to such lengths to obtain a confession; it was a story none the less, believe it or not. Unbeknown to the detectives who allegedly held the man’s feet out of the window, the suspect scratched his name on the wall outside of the building where he was being held against his will. At the subsequent court hearing, evidence supported the suspect when his name was found scratched on the wall outside of the building. The Judge discharged him...