Police rely on sleuths for legwork

By JO-MARIE BROWN

Private investigators hired by insurance companies and businesses are increasingly helping police to catch criminals.

A Bay of Plenty woman and her lover are awaiting sentence after being convicted of burning down Te Teko's sole petrol station last year.

The business, owned by the woman and her husband, was in debt and she was seeking a cash payout on their insurance policy.

Detective Brett Watene said Kawerau police conducted a joint inquiry with insurance investigator Kevin Byrne, who was able to bring in extra forensic experts to gather evidence and testify at the trial.

"We wouldn't have got home without them," said Mr Watene.

Police had to look at every possible avenue to solve the crime "and if it means tapping into the insurance investigation then why not?"

A forensic examination of the scene by scientists from the Institute of Environmental Science and Research and the insurance company reconstructed how Avril Walker and Charles Eivers torched the town's BP petrol station.

With the business $57,000 in debt, Walker asked Eivers - a family friend with whom she was having a relationship - to douse the office in petrol and hide inside one evening while she locked up.

After waiting long enough for Walker to establish an alibi, Eivers then lit the fire and escaped through a rear door.

But police and insurance investigators found traces of petrol, proving the fire was not accidental, and evidence that Walker must have been there when the scene was staged.

Following Walker's arrest, she produced a secretly taped conversation with Eivers in which he confessed to his involvement. He, too, was charged and admitted to police that they had unsuccessfully tried to burn the petrol station down twice before.

Mr Byrne praised police efforts to catch the pair but said it was increasingly common for the private sector to help gather evidence for police.

"The reality is that the police are under-resourced and crimes against the person have to take priority, which means property crimes take a back seat."

Mr Byrne, who was a Detective Senior Sergeant for 16 years before becoming a self-employed investigator in 1987, said businesses and insurance companies often did the groundwork themselves before handing the case over to police.

Investigations could be expensive but there was a determined drive within the insurance industry to inquire into suspicious claims.

"It's done as a matter of principle because over time people will realise that you can't get away with it."

Bay of Plenty's crime manager, Detective Inspector Mike Bush, agreed that expertise from outside the police was being used more often, but said it was not because of financial restrictions.

Insurance companies were investigating crimes such as arson and theft more vigorously as a way of saving themselves money and police were happy to use any information they made available.

"It's not because the police can't do it," he said. "Most companies are becoming far more conscious of their own risk management.

"We have our experts, that is the ESR ... but we're not afraid to use other expertise when it's at hand."

Insurance Council chief executive officer Chris Ryan acknowledged that companies were helping police crack down on crime, particularly burglaries, but said insurers were not doing the police's work for them.

"The police are still totally independent in deciding whether there's evidence for a prosecution."