Gold Stealing Detection Unit
| Gold Stealing Detection Unit | |
|---|---|
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | 1907 |
| Legal personality | Governmental: Government agency |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| Operations jurisdiction* | State of Western Australia, Australia |
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|
| Map of Gold Stealing Detection Unit's jurisdiction. | |
| Size | 2,645,615 km2 |
| Governing body | Government of Western Australia |
| General nature | |
| Operational structure | |
| Headquarters | Egan Street, Kalgoorlie, WA |
| Website | |
| www |
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| Footnotes | |
| * Divisional agency: Division of the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction. | |
The Gold Stealing Detection Unit (GSDU), or Gold Stealing Detective Squad (GSDS), is a special unit of the Western Australian Police, based in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. It investigates criminal activity and allegations at all stages of the gold production process in the state.
The unit consists of a very small number of detectives but is the oldest specialist police service in Western Australia.
The squad was formed in 1907, at a time when gold theft was rife in the region. It was formed after Detective Sergeant Kavanagh, in charge of the Kalgoorlie police, submitted a report in 1906 on the seriousness of gold theft in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. A Royal Commission determined in February 1907, that his allegations were justified and a special police service was formed in late 1907.
Previous to this, the Chamber of Mines operated a special service called The Bureau for investigatory services. The Chamber continued to financially support the GSDS. The unit is based now, as it was then, at Egan Street in Kalgoorlie.
In April 1926, Inspector John Walsh and Sergeant Alexander Pitman of the GSDS were murdered while investigating gold theft. Their bodies were dumped down the Belle of Kalgoorlie mine shaft at Miller's Find, Binduli, near Kalgoorlie. The murders and the subsequent press reporting about the limited resources available to the GSDS at the time had a similar effect of the 1907 reporting of issues. The lengthy investigation, eventual capture, and execution of the murderers, William Coulter and Phillip Trefene, was of considerable interest to the Perth press at the time.
Walsh's and Pitman's funeral in Perth on 17 May 1926 was a procession watched by thousands, and attended by a large number of police officers. The memorial to the two policemen was originally of low interest; however, in the year of the state's centenary it was unveiled by the Governor. The memorial was originally erected outside the police building in James Street, Perth, moved for a time to the WA Police Headquarters, and is now located in the WA Police Academy at Joondalup.
The squad was part of the Western Australian Police Department until 31 May 1995, when the latter became the Western Australia Police Service.
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Wikipedia