Deb Hann – Senior Constable
A team effort involving a retailer and police led to the successful capture of two shoplifters last week.
Quick thinking store staff identified suspicious behaviour and immediately rang 111 with details of the theft, the offenders, their vehicle and direction of travel. This resulted in the arrest and search of the offenders and their vehicle. That search uncovered stolen items linking back to three further local thefts.
Deb Hann
One offender was found to be wanted by police for other cases and both were held in custody to appear in court the next day with bail opposed. One was then further remanded to appear on another day on their combined matters, the other pled guilty and was sentenced to a short term of imprisonment.
I have mentioned in the past the concept of bail – police bail or court bail. If a person is arrested and charged with a crime, they may be summonsed or released on police bail – in either case requiring them to appear in court on a certain date. Police bail brings with it specific conditions, such as residing at a specific address, not to consume alcohol or illicit drugs, not to offer violence and not to contact victims and witnesses. After the first court hearing, bail conditions are reissued by the courts and continue as court bail.
Breaching bail conditions results in the person being arrested and held in custody to appear back before the court. They risk having their bail rescinded or opposed. If a person fails to turn up to court when bailed to do so, a warrant is issued for their arrest.
When recidivist or serious offenders are arrested, police consider whether or not to oppose bail and therewith holding them in custody to appear in court at the first available opportunity. This typically happens when there are concerns the person might not appear back in court, would reoffend, tamper with evidence or be a danger to the victim, witnesses or general public.
If granting bail in such cases, the court may consider Electronically Monitored bail.
If the bail opposition is upheld however, the offender is remanded in custody until their next court date, rather than being released.
In certain circumstances, the nature of an offender’s charge, combined with their previous conviction history, offences committed whilst previously on bail and served terms of imprisonment can make it mandatory under the Bail Act 2000 for Police to oppose bail.
