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The COVID-enforced shutdowns and laws produced an unexpected silver lining in Gympie with the number of thefts in the region plummeting by 24 per cent last year.
Police data has revealed there were 630 recorded thefts in the region in 2020, down more than 200 on the year before.
These crimes included fuel drive-offs, shop lifting and theft from houses and vehicles.
This stark drop resulted less than 40 thefts being reported in the Gympie division in four separate months (April, August, November and December 2020), compared to the number of monthly offences dropping below that mark only once in the two years before (July 2018).
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A maniacal driver was caught doing an unbelievable 225km/h in the worst speeding offence caught on camera in the region last year.
Queensland Police released the five highest speeds clocked by locally placed speed cameras in 2020, with one driver caught setting a life-threatening pace on the Bruce Highway in May.
That 225km/h mark was a ridiculous 115km/h over the posted speed limit on the highway, and outranked the second highest speeder by another 60km/h. Police say speed is one of the main killers on Queensland roads.
The next three worst drivers were also clocked on the highway at Coles Creek, recording speeds of 165km/h, 158km/h and 155km/h respectively.
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After a week of searching dense bushland, rivers, dams and steep terrain during wet conditions the decision was made to discontinue the search for 58-year-old Robert Weber, the Queensland Police Service reported. Police are still seeking any information that might help police find Robert Weber, a 58-year-old Deagon man, reported missing from Kilkivan. His car was found at Tansey this week.
The Narangba man was last seen with his dog leaving a Kilkivan hotel in a white 2000 model Ford Falcon on January 6, QPS reported. Gympie MP Tony Perrett at his Tansey property, where police searched for a missing man after his car was found abandoned near there. Pictures: Ch 7 Sunshine Coast
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Subscriber only IT TOOK five fire crews from Gympie and Maryborough to control a house fire last night at North Deep Creek. Crews arrived at a property on North Deep Creek Rd near Young and Woods Rd at 9pm last night to find a weatherboard house fully involved in flames, a Queensland Fire and Rescue Service spokeswoman said.
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Attacks against police officers and domestic violence were key drivers behind a rise in assault crimes that pushed the figure to its highest level in the Gympie police division in 18 years.
Police data revealed 167 assault offences were recorded in the Gympie Division in 2020, 15 more than the 152 recorded in 2019.
It was the highest number of assaults in the region since 2002, when 174 were reported.
The biggest spike in offending happened in June; almost two dozen of the area’s assaults occurred during the winter months, despite it traditionally being the quiet end of the spectrum for criminal behaviour.