Australian Police Journal - All Articles

The Tip Off

C.B. (Barry) Fay

Justice is swift when a burglar painfully leaves a piece of himself behind at the crime scene ...

Category: Fingerprints
Tags: Drain, Finger tip, Bondi, Forensic, Barry Fay, NSWPF, Fingerprint, burglary, Scientific, Tip off, Finger, Restaurant, Downpipe

The Black Rooster

A True Account of a Human Sacrifice

Superintendent H.S. Thomas

A human sacrifice and cargo cults. From the January 1972 edition of the APJ; written at a time when Australia was the colonial ruler of the territories of Papua and New Guinea, and when Australians held senior positions of authority in all government agencies, especially the police.

Category: Homicide
Tags: Homicide, PNG, Royal Papua and New Guinea Constabulary, Madang, Human sacrifice, Thomas, Black Rooster

Air Disaster and its Problems to Police

Sergeant R. M. Lawrence, Western Australia Police

Category: Crashes (land, air, sea)
Tags: Ansett, Indee Homestead, Western Australia, WAPOL, Coroner, DVI, Disaster Victim Identification, Plane crash, Lawrence, MacRobertson Miller Airlines Limited, Viscount, Port Hedland, VH-RMQ

The Finding is One of Murder

From the April 1970 issue of the APJ

Ernie Kirk

Category: Historical
Tags: Coronial, SAPOL, Bill Delderfield, Earnest Ernie Kirk

A Case of Cannibalism

First printed in the July 1968 issue of the APJ

Sergeant W. C. GLARE, Instructional Staff, N.S.W. Police

Category: Homicide
Tags: Historical, Cannibalism, Glare

Testifying in Court

Category: Education and training
Tags: Trial, VICPOL, Evidence, Witness, Testifying in Court, Hearing

Million-to-One Shot

A gun-fight with an amazing outcome. From the April 1967 issue of the APJ.

Category: Firearms
Tags: Free To Read, Firearms, Shooting, gunfight, FBI, Ballistics, Revolvers

The 19th Century Case of the Chinese Robber

Sergeant G. M. O’Brien

Category: Robbery
Tags: Stony Creek, Henry Bedgood, Chief Commissioner, Alexander Oliver, Ah Sung, VICPOL, Robbery, detective, Thomas O'Callaghan, Isaac Morris, Daylesford, Chinese Miners, G.M. O'Brien, Guildford, Ah So, Sergeant Frood

Crime and the Bow Street Runners

Earnest Ernie Kirk

Category: Historical
Tags: SAPOL, UK, London, England, Metropolitan Police, Bow Street Runners, Ernie Kirk

Send Letter Threatening to Kill

Detective-Sergeant P.F. Clark

Category: Threats to kill
Tags: Handwriting Section, Crimes Act, Roy Knight, Robert Jeffery, NSWPF, Sydney, Davis, Clark, Adelaide, Criminal Investigations Branch, CIB, Paull, Threat to kill, Joyce Jeffery, John Pacey

Thallium Poisoning in N.S.Wales

Superintendent J. H. Rogers, New South Wales

Category: Homicide
Tags: John Mickelson, John Lundberg, Mary Anne Mickelson, Christina Downey, Justice Herron, NSW, Yvonne Fletcher, NSWPF, Butler, Thallium Poisoning, Rodenticide, Rogers, Caroline Grills, Carrie Grills, Louis Yuncken, Otto Yuncken, Eveline Lundberg, Christina Mickelson, Angeline Thomas

The Dog as a Police Officer

Brian Cox and P.F.S. Fife, Commonwealth Investigation Service

From the archives - a 1956 article explaining the utility of canines in police and guarding duties.

Category: Canine
Tags: K9, Jason Byrnes, canine, Canberra, CIS, Commonwealth Investigation Service, Fife, Brian Cox, Peace Officer Guard, POG, Molonglo, Police dogs

The Bungendore Bones

From the October 1950 issue of the APJ

Police investigate a suspicious death in remote NSW during the Great Depression, with inquiries extending overseas.

Category: Investigations
Tags: Suicide, NSWPF, rifle, Bones, New Scotland Yard, Bungendore, Suspicious death, Pyre, The Great Depression, Foul play

‘The Concrete Slab Murder’

The Value of Circumstantial Evidence

Detective Sergeant George Ronald Richards, CIB Perth

A body is found floating in the Swan River in post-WW2 Perth, and police move swiftly to identify the murderer.

Category: Homicide
Tags: Ford, Como, George Richards, Fremantle, Swan River, Homicide, Concrete Slab Murder, Free To Read, Stella Ivy Farnworth, Murder, Suicide, Western Australia, WAPOL, Forensics, Perth, Scientific, Prison, Handwriting

On Patrol with the Mounted Police

From the July - September 1947 edition of the APJ

Category: Mounted Police
Tags: Gwabegar, Urbenville, Woodenbong, Acacia Creek, Rylstone, NSWPF, Capertee, mounted police, Ebor River, Sydney, Guy Fawkes River, Horse, Armidale, Glen Innes, Gulf, Livestock, Tweed, sheep, Hunter, Pilliga, Upper Colo Valley, Wee Waa, Royal Agricultural Society Show, Western Plains, Tablelands

‘Action Stations’ in Crime Investigation

From the April-June 1947 issue of the APJ

Senior Detective H. R. Donelly, C.I. Branch, Melbourne

An article from the April - June 1947 issue of the APJ, extolling the benefits of wireless patrolling.

Category: Homicide
Tags: death penalty, historic, Free To Read, Murder, Victoria Police, capital punishment, knife, youth, St Kilda, Melbourne, ammunition, wireless, action stations

Hit and Run Investigations

Detective Sergeant C. S. Jardine

From the first issue of the APJ, October 1946.

Category: Techniques
Tags: Historical, NSWPF, crash investigation, Traffic policing, hit-and-run, Jardine, tram, headlight