IN THE HERALD
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday December 22, 2009
The NSW Police Force claimed an 85 per cent clear-up rate for the 16,702 crimes reported for the year. The chief commissioner, Walter Childs, said that 6598 persons had been arrested. Property stolen during the year totalled 132,421 and the amount recovered totalled 141,976, the difference being property stolen in previous years. "The state has been reasonably free of serious crime - that is, organised and systematic crime - and even then most crimes committed are speedily cleared up."Three hundred agents from the French Secret Service swooped on a spy ring and arrested 12 people, seizing Polish, Russian and German correspondence. The ringleader was a Romanian-born Canadian, Nev Bercovitz. Others included an Austrian called Switz, and Louis Martin, an interpreter at the French Ministry of Marine, who fainted when arrested.The Smith Family Joyspreaders said they were going to put on a monster Christmas party for children at Sydney Showground and there would be fruit, sweets and toys for all. Twelve thousand children turned up, far more than could be accommodated. They burst through a police cordon and scores were injured in the melee. Parents and guardians had to wait outside, sometimes for hours, and some children became "lost", to be returned home many hours later.Five destroyers arrived in Sydney Harbour after a voyage of 20,000 kilometres. The vessels - Stuart, Vampire, Voyager, Waterhen and Vendetta - were on loan from the Royal Navy to the Royal Australian Navy. They arrived without fanfare. The crews had rather a troubled passage, some getting into a brawl with English ratings at Malta and others getting so drunk at Gibraltar that they started tossing things off the ships, including clocks and life vests. Malcolm Brown
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald
Share This