Night Shift at Pier 9

BeginnerCrime analysis~25 min6 reports

Tasking

Requested by: Detective Sergeant Imogen Vale, Harbour Crime Unit, Port Calder Police
Key question: Are the five Pier 9 break-ins the work of one group, and what is the most likely explanation for how they keep getting in unseen?
Deadline: Written assessment by 1200 tomorrow. DS Vale briefs her inspector at 1400.

Pier 9 Logistics Park is a fenced compound of 22 storage and bonded-warehouse units on the Port Calder waterfront. Between 2 and 20 August there were five overnight break-ins. Tenants are furious, the security contractor is defensive, and the local paper has started using the words 'crime wave'. The Harbour Crime Unit wants to know whether it is dealing with one problem or five before it commits two detectives to it for a month. You have six pieces of reporting. Some are better than others.

Brief pack · 6 reports

Incident summary: Pier 9 break-ins

21 Aug, 0900 (covers 2–20 Aug)

Official record: Port Calder Police records system. Compiled by the Harbour Crime Unit's intake officer from attending officers' reports and tenant statements.

Five incidents, all at Pier 9 Logistics Park, all between 0140 and 0420: • 02 Aug (Unit 6) — padlock cut on roller door; power tools taken. • 07 Aug (Unit 11) — padlock cut; e-bike batteries and chargers taken. East-side CCTV camera found disconnected. • 11 Aug (Unit 14) — padlock cut; 12 cordless drills taken. Tenant recorded the serial numbers. • 16 Aug (Unit 3) — padlock cut; 40 tool batteries taken. East-side camera disconnected. • 20 Aug (Unit 19) — padlock cut; tool kits taken. East-side camera disconnected. In all five, the goods were new, boxed and easy to resell. No fingerprints recovered. Bolt-cutter marks on the padlocks look similar but have not been forensically compared.

Security supervisor's shift log

20 Aug, 0630

Human source (first-hand): Night supervisor at Sentrel Security, the park's contracted guard company. Has given the Harbour Crime Unit six reports in two years; five were later corroborated.

A white van with roof ladder racks was seen idling with its lights off near the east gate on the nights of 07, 16 and 20 Aug — the same nights the east camera went down. On 16 Aug I got a partial plate: ZQ-4, then two characters I couldn't read. The van left towards Kessler Bay each time. The east camera's power and network run through a junction box behind a locked steel gate inside the compound. After 16 Aug and 20 Aug the box was found closed and locked, no damage, with the cable unplugged inside. Keys to that gate are held by Sentrel staff (four people) and two tenant site managers. I have checked our key register: no keys are recorded missing.

Crime Stoppers tip

18 Aug, 2215

Anonymous tip: Anonymous phone call to the Crime Stoppers line. No call-back number. No previous reporting can be linked to the caller.

Caller states: "The Pier 9 jobs are the Haskett brothers from Kessler Bay. They're flogging the tools at the Sunday market on the foreshore. Everyone knows it." The caller would not say how they know. The call lasted 40 seconds.

Online listing: Kessler Bay Buy Swap Sell

17 Aug, 0912 (post time)

Open source: Public post in a community buy-and-sell group, captured by the Harbour Crime Unit's online monitoring. The seller account ('tradie_deals_88') was created three weeks ago and has no other posts or profile details.

"40 x 18V tool batteries, brand new in packaging, plus 2 e-bike batteries. Cash only. Pick up Kessler Bay. No time wasters." The photo shows boxed batteries of the same brand and model as those stolen from Unit 3 on 16 Aug. Batch numbers are not visible. The post was deleted at 1430 the same day.

Second-hand dealer register and serial check

Official record: Statutory register kept by Calder Cash Exchange, a licensed second-hand dealer that must record each seller's photo ID. Serial check run by the Harbour Crime Unit against the Unit 14 stock list.

Seller presented a driver licence in the name of Marcus HASKETT, address Kessler Bay. Sold 4 cordless drills, new in box, for $380 in total. Police serial check: 2 of the 4 serials match drills stolen from Unit 14 on 11 Aug. The other 2 serials are not on any stolen-property list. The dealer's counter CCTV is kept for 30 days. It has not yet been requested.

Information report: registered source HS-219

19 Aug, 1630

Human source (second-hand): Registered informant handled by a Kessler Bay patrol constable. Four of HS-219's five previous reports were corroborated.

HS-219 states: "Word around Kessler Bay is that the Haskett brothers are doing the Pier 9 warehouses and selling the gear at the Sunday market." HS-219 did not see any of this personally and could not say who he heard it from. Handler's comment: source is usually on the money, but this is pub talk.

Brief pack (6 reports)

Brief pack · 6 reports

Incident summary: Pier 9 break-ins

21 Aug, 0900 (covers 2–20 Aug)

Official record: Port Calder Police records system. Compiled by the Harbour Crime Unit's intake officer from attending officers' reports and tenant statements.

Security supervisor's shift log

20 Aug, 0630

Human source (first-hand): Night supervisor at Sentrel Security, the park's contracted guard company. Has given the Harbour Crime Unit six reports in two years; five were later corroborated.

Crime Stoppers tip

18 Aug, 2215

Anonymous tip: Anonymous phone call to the Crime Stoppers line. No call-back number. No previous reporting can be linked to the caller.

Online listing: Kessler Bay Buy Swap Sell

17 Aug, 0912 (post time)

Second-hand dealer register and serial check

Information report: registered source HS-219

19 Aug, 1630

Human source (second-hand): Registered informant handled by a Kessler Bay patrol constable. Four of HS-219's five previous reports were corroborated.

Step 1 of 4

Evaluate the information

Grade every report twice: how far you trust the source (A–F) and how believable this information is (1–6). Then say why in a line — The Chief reads your notes.

Admiralty grading scale

Source reliability

ACompletely reliable
BUsually reliable
CFairly reliable
DNot usually reliable
EUnreliable
FReliability cannot be judged

Information credibility

1Confirmed by other sources
2Probably true
3Possibly true
4Doubtful
5Improbable
6Truth cannot be judged

Grade the two separately. F means you can't judge the source — not that it's bad. 1 means confirmed by independent sources.

R1Incident summary: Pier 9 break-ins—
Read R1
Port Calder Police records system. Compiled by the Harbour Crime Unit's intake officer from attending officers' reports and tenant statements.
Five incidents, all at Pier 9 Logistics Park, all between 0140 and 0420: • 02 Aug (Unit 6) — padlock cut on roller door; power tools taken. • 07 Aug (Unit 11) — padlock cut; e-bike batteries and chargers taken. East-side CCTV camera found disconnected. • 11 Aug (Unit 14) — padlock cut; 12 cordless drills taken. Tenant recorded the serial numbers. • 16 Aug (Unit 3) — padlock cut; 40 tool batteries taken. East-side camera disconnected. • 20 Aug (Unit 19) — padlock cut; tool kits taken. East-side camera disconnected. In all five, the goods were new, boxed and easy to resell. No fingerprints recovered. Bolt-cutter marks on the padlocks look similar but have not been forensically compared.
Source reliability
Information credibility
R2Security supervisor's shift log—
Read R2
Night supervisor at Sentrel Security, the park's contracted guard company. Has given the Harbour Crime Unit six reports in two years; five were later corroborated.
A white van with roof ladder racks was seen idling with its lights off near the east gate on the nights of 07, 16 and 20 Aug — the same nights the east camera went down. On 16 Aug I got a partial plate: ZQ-4, then two characters I couldn't read. The van left towards Kessler Bay each time. The east camera's power and network run through a junction box behind a locked steel gate inside the compound. After 16 Aug and 20 Aug the box was found closed and locked, no damage, with the cable unplugged inside. Keys to that gate are held by Sentrel staff (four people) and two tenant site managers. I have checked our key register: no keys are recorded missing.
Source reliability
Information credibility
R3Crime Stoppers tip—
Read R3
Anonymous phone call to the Crime Stoppers line. No call-back number. No previous reporting can be linked to the caller.
Caller states: "The Pier 9 jobs are the Haskett brothers from Kessler Bay. They're flogging the tools at the Sunday market on the foreshore. Everyone knows it." The caller would not say how they know. The call lasted 40 seconds.
Source reliability
Information credibility
R4Online listing: Kessler Bay Buy Swap Sell—
Read R4
Public post in a community buy-and-sell group, captured by the Harbour Crime Unit's online monitoring. The seller account ('tradie_deals_88') was created three weeks ago and has no other posts or profile details.
"40 x 18V tool batteries, brand new in packaging, plus 2 e-bike batteries. Cash only. Pick up Kessler Bay. No time wasters." The photo shows boxed batteries of the same brand and model as those stolen from Unit 3 on 16 Aug. Batch numbers are not visible. The post was deleted at 1430 the same day.
Source reliability
Information credibility
R5Second-hand dealer register and serial check—
Read R5
Statutory register kept by Calder Cash Exchange, a licensed second-hand dealer that must record each seller's photo ID. Serial check run by the Harbour Crime Unit against the Unit 14 stock list.
Seller presented a driver licence in the name of Marcus HASKETT, address Kessler Bay. Sold 4 cordless drills, new in box, for $380 in total. Police serial check: 2 of the 4 serials match drills stolen from Unit 14 on 11 Aug. The other 2 serials are not on any stolen-property list. The dealer's counter CCTV is kept for 30 days. It has not yet been requested.
Source reliability
Information credibility
R6Information report: registered source HS-219—
Read R6
Registered informant handled by a Kessler Bay patrol constable. Four of HS-219's five previous reports were corroborated.
HS-219 states: "Word around Kessler Bay is that the Haskett brothers are doing the Pier 9 warehouses and selling the gear at the Sunday market." HS-219 did not see any of this personally and could not say who he heard it from. Handler's comment: source is usually on the money, but this is pub talk.
Source reliability
Information credibility