Former Qld. cop jailed for stealing a pistol and swapping it with a friend for two surfboards

The Gold Coast cops again

A former Gold Coast cop who swapped a police pistol for two surfboards has been sentenced to two years' jail, but will be free in six months. Christopher Morris Curtin stole the Glock .22 handgun from the gun safe at the Surfers Paradise police station in 2001 and swapped it with a mate, a NSW surfboard maker and convicted drug dealer, for two boards.

Southport District Court was told the surfboard maker, Brian Kellway, wanted the gun for pig shooting. [A .22 for shooting pigs? Tell us another one!]

The weapon was traced back to Surfers Paradise police station after it was on-sold several years later for $5000 to an undercover NSW police officer.

Curtin, who quit the Queensland Police Force in 2008 and became a wildlife carer, pleaded guilty to aggravated stealing and possession of tainted property. Judge Kerry O'Brien said he accepted Curtin had stolen the gun to help a friend rather than a crime figure. But he told Curtin: "The community expects police, those charged with detecting things, not to succumb to such behaviour.''

He jailed Curtin for two years, but orderered the sentence be suspended after six months.

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Ludicrous: Crime rates down in Queensland – but there are more murders, assaults, computer fraud and traffic offences

MURDERS, assaults, computer fraud and traffic offences have risen in Queensland in the past year but the overall rate of crime has fallen.

Police Minister Neil Roberts and Deputy Commissioner Ian Stewart have released the 2009-2010 police statistical review, hailing it as a positive result.

But the report shows spikes in some of the most serious crimes, with nine more murders last year compared with the previous year, assaults up six per cent and over 18,000 fraud offences.

Police also issued more traffic fines and there was a 53 per cent leap in disqualified drivers.

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