Phone calls lead Gladstone police to $59K of drugs, 33 arrests
GLADSTONE cops arrested 33 people, charging them with 119 offences thanks to anonymous crime tip-offs last year.
Crime Stoppers Queensland released its annual results on Monday.
Calls to the community-based organisation also resulted in the seizure of drugs worth $59,600, the recovery of property valued at $4230 and police confiscating $9682 marked as the proceeds of crime.
Gladstone had one of the lowest 2016 rate of Crime Stoppers-related arrests across Queensland.
Gold Coast, Ipswich, Townsville, Toowoomba and Sunshine Coast were the top five.
Across the state, 46,963 calls resulted in 3102 arrests, 8557 charges, $8,382,616 in drugs seized, property worth $238,000 recovered and $569,443 in proceeds of crime collected.
Crime Stoppers Queensland CEO Trevor O'Hara said drugs, weapons, assaults and property offences were the top crimes reported by Gladstone residents.
Mr O'Hara said while there were fewer calls in 2016, more of the calls contained high-quality information that ultimately resulted in a record number of arrests.
"It's our fourth consecutive record-breaking year," he said of the registered charity's 2016 outcomes.
"We've been pushing heavily to get people to ring us about things that we can help with and this means we can hand good reports to police.
"We get a lot of calls for things we can't help with but we can direct people to the right places when this happens."
Mr O'Hara urged residents to give as much information about crimes as they could when contacting Crime Stoppers.
"Good value reports need to contain names of people, their descriptions, addresses and details about the crime," he said.
"For example, if people call about drugs, we like to know how it's being distributed, quantities, values, times of the day that people are coming and going, registrations of vehicles."
Crimes can be reported via 1800 333 000, www.crimestoppersqld.com.au or the Crime Stoppers app.
- ARM NEWSDESK
AT A GLANCE
| Region | Arres6s | Charges | Drugs value | Property recovered | Proceeds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold Coast | 249 | 853 | $870,861 | $54,100 | $10,125 |
| Ipswich | 221 | 689 | $210,741 | $5,680 | $23,460 |
| Townsville | 198 | 593 | $489,289 | $1,002 | $120,957 |
| Toowoomba | 196 | 499 | $147,247 | $2,200 | $15,430 |
| Sunshine Coast | 176 | 458 | $496,015 | $12,700 | $55,245 |
| Caboolture | 143 | 381 | $169,069 | $9,000 | $27,265 |
| Redcliffe | 112 | 326 | $260,125 | $10 | $84,100 |
| Cairns | 106 | 271 | $2,218,120 | - | $565 |
| Rockhampton | 97 | 232 | $52,375 | $3,700 | $3,755 |
| Logan Beaudesert | 95 | 322 | $98,525 | $2,000 | $61,050 |
| Maryborough | 95 | 233 | $93,630 | $5,190 | - |
| Bundaberg | 83 | 227 | $234,765 | - | $7,931 |
| Mackay | 80 | 214 | $134,845 | $2,700 | $17,090 |
| Brisbane Metropolitan South | 79 | 207 | $46,105 | $5,450 | - |
| Brisbane Metropolitan North | 69 | 167 | $45,933 | $12,000 | $10,930 |
| Brisbane Bayside | 57 | 175 | $106,895 | $1,375 | $10,120 |
| Gympie | 55 | 182 | $195,828 | - | $1,895 |
| Lockyer Valley | 52 | 197 | $145,747 | - | $4,390 |
| Dalby | 49 | 172 | $149,015 | $1,000 | $7,140 |
| Brisbane Centenary | 44 | 140 | $82,114 | - | $25,950 |
| Pine Rivers | 43 | 118 | $42,756 | - | - |
| Warwick | 34 | 89 | $109,060 | - | $400 |
| Gladstone | 33 | 119 | $59,600 | $4,230 | $9,682 |
| Brisbane Central | 23 | 64 | $1,305 | - | $751 |
| Emerald | 21 | 43 | $3,655 | - | $750 |
| Brisbane West | 15 | 54 | $1,425 | - | - |
| Coolangatta/Tweed | 14 | 29 | $305 | - | - |
| Mount Isa | 12 | 63 | $97,460 | - | - |
| Ingham | 8 | 20 | $38,800 | $3,500 | - |
| Tara | 5 | 10 | $185,170 | - | - |
| Non-regional | 638 | 1410 | $1,595,836 | $112,163 | $70,462 |
| Total | 3102 | 8557 | $8,382,616 | $238,000 | $569,443 |
