Letter to the Premier of Queensland

Dear Mr Beattie,

This is a complaint about police inaction in investigating the theft of my car -- inaction I am inclined to draw to the attention of the media. I am particularly peeved that I was able to give the police the identity of one of the thieves but have heard nothing from them about the follow-up that should have resulted from that.

The theft of my Toyota Echo 538-xxx took place on the night of 7-8 of June this year. I reported it to Dutton Pk police on the morning of 8th. Redcliff police notified me that the car had been recovered on 10th and they released the car on 13th. AAMI had the car until 23rd., checking it, cleaning it etc.

When I finally got the car back on 23rd, I discovered among the few remaining contents a library card for a young woman whom I had never heard of . The card was issued by a public library not far from Redcliff. It seemed highly likely that the card had inadvertently been dropped by one of the thieves. I therefore immediately took the card to Dutton Pk police but the policewoman I spoke to was so uninterested that she did not ask me my name nor which car was involved. I left the building rather stunned at that but soon turned around and reapproached her offering the relevant particulars. She did at that point write the particulars down on a scrap of paper but said in effect that the card was of no use as evidence of anything.

I hoped that her attitude would not be decisive so have waited until now to see if there was going to be any follow-up from any other police. Quite a lot of my possessions that were in the car were not recovered so I would have thought that a visit to the card-owner should be accompanied by me so that I could identify any of my belongings that might be found in her possession. I have however heard nothing at all from the police so infer that NO investigation has taken place.

I am of course motivated in this complaint by a desire to recover my possessions as well as wishing to see justice done.

I note that I have made some contributions to the academic literature of criminology and that I have access to a criminal justice blog. As you will no doubt be aware, information posted on a blog becomes public property and is sometimes given wide circulation by the mass media. I feel that you should see the present matter as requiring your serious attention.

Yours faithfully,


(Dr.) John J. Ray (M.A.;Ph.D.)