Fieldays car thefts avoided thanks to latest police technology

Up-to-date police technology meant three cars left unsecured in the Fieldays car parks at Mystery Creek were saved from break ins.

“One of the guys on an iPhone, riding one of the quad bikes in the car park, noticed three cars had left their windows down,” police communications representative Andrew McAlley said.

A display in the police tent illustrates how improvements in technology have helped prevent crimes like this.

“The set up here is a 1970’s work station. Back then if you were naughty and an officer on the street arrested you, we would have to get your details, then they would call it in on the radio, and take you back to the station. Then they would get your details on the teleprinter.”

McAlley points to a machine that looks like a large typewriter indicating the teleprinter.

“That took three of us to move,” he said.

“Today everything you see here fits on an officer’s belt.”

He shows a display case with an iPhone, a small black box that is half the size of the phone, called an officer safety device (OFD), and a police radio.

“That iPhone fits on the policeman’s belt, and will access the police computer. That’s an OFD. If I hit that, that will give a GPS coordinate down to half a metre, and then the new radios you can see are a lot smaller.”

He points a metal case beside the teleprinter and says,” That’s an armed defenders radio from the 1970s.They had to carry that around.”

McAlley said the officer on the quad bike was a good example of how the technology available had helped at Fieldays.

“He was able to check on the iPhone, look up their details, get their cell phone number, and ring the people up, and say ‘hey it’s the police here, we are by your car,’  and they were able to come back, and it saved them getting broken into,” he said.

McAlley said theft from cars is a main issue for police.

“So it’s already paying off in forms like that.”