May 14, 2002 AD
Eleven Robberies, One Alibi
Senior Constable Karl Jenkins received a District Commander's Commendation for his work on Operation Gleam, the investigation into eleven jewellery-store robberies across Brisbane's north, Moreton Bay and the Gold Coast. His cross-referencing of alibis against CCTV and banking records had broken the crew's cover stories and led to four arrests across two states. The detectives who had worked the series for months were politely cool about it, and Karl, who had invited no guest, was back at his desk within the hour.
Senior Constable Karl Matthew Jenkins received a District Commander's Commendation at the Metropolitan North District office for his contribution to Operation Gleam, the investigation into a series of eleven armed and smash-and-grab robberies of jewellery stores across Brisbane's northern suburbs, the Moreton Bay region and the Gold Coast. The commendation was presented by the District Commander, Superintendent Ray Callinan, in a short ceremony attended by officers of the district's Criminal Investigation Branch and Investigations Support unit.
The robberies had run across eighteen months and been worked for most of that time by the district's detectives, who had treated several of them as unconnected. Karl had been drawn into the investigation through his secondment to Investigations Support under Detective Sergeant Paul Henning. Working through the case files in the unit's office, he cross-referenced the statements given by suspects and their associates against CCTV timestamps from service stations and shopping centres and against cash-deposit records from three banks. The comparison showed that a set of alibis which each held on its own could not all be true together. On the strength of his analysis the investigation obtained warrants, and forensic examination of property seized under them matched trace evidence to four of the robberies.
The crew numbered four. Three were arrested in coordinated raids in Brisbane's northern suburbs in March, and the fourth was taken into custody at Tweed Heads by New South Wales Police two days later and extradited to Queensland. All four were charged over the full series.
Callinan's citation credited Karl with the analysis that had broken the case, and, at Henning's insistence, recorded the work of the Investigations Support team and the Criminal Investigation Branch alongside it. The detectives who had carried the series were courteous at the presentation and cool afterwards. Detective Senior Constable Mark Rowntree, who had worked Gleam from the first robbery, congratulated Karl formally and remarked to colleagues later that week that it was easy to see the pattern once someone else had spent a year collecting the files.
Each recipient had been permitted a guest. Karl had invited no one, and none of his family in Adelaide knew of the commendation until his sister Jessica heard of it some months later. He thanked Callinan briefly, declined to say anything further when invited, and stood through the photographs with visible discomfort. He was back at his desk in the Investigations Support office within the hour.
Senior Sergeant Graham Mitchell attended from Stafford. Afterwards he told Henning that he would support a detective application from Karl whenever it came, and that his reservation remained what it had been for two years: that the man who could see every connection in a case file could see almost none between himself and the people he worked with.
