On 14 August 1927, the Criminal Investigation Branch building was rocked by a violent explosion in a property room. ‘The roar of the discharge was heard for miles around, being audible in the suburbs.’ (BC, 15 Aug 1927, p. 13) Numerous crime records and exhibits in cases before the Police and Supreme Courts were destroyed, and nearly all windows and doors were shattered. Considerable damage from timber, iron and plaster hurled through the air was done to the buildings in the area.
Read MoreThe Detective Office began on 1 December 1864, 11 months after the inauguration of the Queensland Police Force on January 1. Samuel Joseph Lloyd was placed as the officer in charge of the new branch. Lloyd immigrated to Australia from Ireland and joined the Victoria Police Force in 1855, where he served as a Detective for nearly a decade prior to joining the Queensland Police. Lloyd was OIC of the Detective Branch on and off for the next 32 years, until he retired in February 1896. The number of Detectives in the Office was nominal and drawn basically from the best police officers in Brisbane. There were 2 classes – Detective Constable 1/c and Detective Constable 2/c. Employed only on a part-time basis, the Detectives spent the other part of their time carrying out ordinary police duties. They received no extra pay despite the complicated character of their work and the long hours they often worked in criminal detection.
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