Breaking Law And Order's Gavel

NSW politics has differentiated itself from other Australian political arenas on many fronts but perhaps none so remorselessly predictable as the law and order auction. For the past 20 years, come election time, our politicians have fallen over themselves promising to spend millions on more police, more weapons, more jails, longer sentences - anything, in fact, that assuages voters' fears about law and order being out of control. So the undertaking by the Opposition's shadow attorney-general, ...

Regatta's Rapscallions Happy To Hand Over Booty

BRIBES, horseplay and other shenanigans often attract the attention of police and other emergency services and it was no different at Toronto yesterday.

How Garden Will Help Family Heal

WHEN Wollongong police officer Brett Wright lost his fiancee, fellow officer Elise Krejci, in a tragic car accident on Picton Rd in April, he vowed to build a garden in her memory.

Police Hit Limits In Pursuit Of Four Cars

NEWCASTLE police resources were stretched when four cars, all believed to have been stolen, led officers on chases through city and suburban streets over a 40-minute period that ended early yesterday.

Actors Employed To Add Drama At Auctions

THERE are claims that a Melbourne real estate agency is employing professional actors to front at auctions. They don't bid; just look like they are about to by appearing nervous, holding each other, etc.

Aladdin's Cave, Dandenong

At first you might wonder if they are making a movie called Thelma and Louise From Toorak. How else to explain two middle-aged, manicured blondes in a royal blue BMW convertible, creeping down a side street in the badlands (well, Dandenong).

Bid To Knock Dummies From The Trees

Spot-the-inspector may replace spot-the-dummy at Melbourne's auctions, one of this city's favourite spectator sports.

State To Outlaw Dummy Bidding

The Bracks Government says it will act to clean up property auctions.

Police Reform Stalled

The persistent claims by the State Government and the Police Service that crime was under control in Cabramatta can no longer be sustained. An Upper House standing committee's conclusion that the response to drug-related crime has been mishandled is compelling. Its recommendations for greater community participation in local policing deserve support. And its overriding thrust, critical of the management style of officers appointed by the Police Commissioner, Mr Peter Ryan, must be heeded.

A Show To Die For

TV highlights: Love is a four letter word: Bier; Law & Order, Special Victims Unit: Pixie; Water Rats: Line Of Duty; ER: Rock, Paper, Scissors; The Sins: Pride; Will & Grace: Husbands And Trophy Wives; Spaced; Just Shoot Me!: Dog Day Afternoon; Aftershock: Human Immortality; About Us: My Mum's A Gangster; Changing Stages: Shakespeare; Big Brother; Roy & H.G.; Nigella Bites; Hot Auctions; The Panel; Survivor II: The Australian Outback: The Final Vote & Reunion

Nazi Taste

Jon Casimir finds it is difficult to police a world without borders. Boundaries? Who needs 'em? Well, some people do, or want them at least. A couple of weeks ago, a French court ordered Yahoo! to bar French users from sites selling Nazi memorabilia. The judge, Jean-Jacques Gomez, confirmed a

Paintings' Authenticity Questioned

An auction of one of Australia's largest private art estates featuring works by Salvador Dali, Thea Proctor and Norman Lindsay will be inspected by police who are investigating the forgery of other works in the collection. The works for sale are among 800 paintings from the estate of Germaine Cur

Justice In A Spin

I RECKON it stinks. You will have read about it this week, how Newcastle police have confiscated the car used by a young man doing a wheelie. Confiscated permanently, let me remind you. The car, a $15,000 souped-up award-winning Holden, has been forfeited to the Crown. The car didn't belong

$343,000 For Fibro Home

A MAJOR police siege and allegations of drug trafficking are not enough to dampen spiralling property prices in Belfield. A modest fibro home on Baltimore Street - which runs parallel to Bruce Street where the 32-hour police stand-off with alleged drug dealers took place last week - sold for $3

Full Tilt Into An Insurance Niche

In 1971, when Mr Robert Shannon was 19, he bought a Mini Cooper S, an ex-police pursuit car. Like most young car enthusiasts he loved his car and kept it in top nick. But no insurance company would have a bar of him or his car. So Mr Shannon started his own insurance company. He decided to insu

Six Of Today's Best

Auctions over $500,000 * 55 Ackland Street, St Kilda (pictured) - early Victorian formerly divided into four apartments. Renovate or restore. Biggin & Scott (9534 0241). Today, 11.30am. Quoting: $650,000-plus. * 797 Orrong Road, Toorak - four-bedroom English-style with swimming pool, cella

Two Many Guards Take Firm For A Ride

Two men dressed as security guards arrived to collect the day's takings at Enfield Motor Auctions in western Sydney on Monday afternoon. They walked straight past security officers, proceeded through a boom gate and into the site office. Staff, expecting Armaguard security guards to collect t

Forgers Home In On The Grange

Forgers may try to sell dozens of fake bottles of Australia's top wine, Penfolds Grange, to liquor stores and auctioneers, wine traders warned yesterday. Langton's Fine Wine Auctions in Melbourne recently discovered six fake bottles of the 1990 vintage red (bottled in 1991), believed to be the fi

A `poor' Imitation Of 1990 Grange

The most collectable Australian wine of the moment, 1990 Penfolds Grange, is at the centre of a possible fraud controversy. Six bottles of what appeared to be 1990 Grange were offered to Melbourne auctioneer Stewart Langton, of Langtons Fine Wine Auctions, with the promise of more. The 1990 is

Police To Investigate Secret Cables Claim

Canberra The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade yesterday called in the Australian Federal Police to investigate a public servant's claim that secret cables and other official documents were accidently released to the public in an auction of second-hand government furniture. The investig