Cleo Smith: WA’s top cop says rescue operation has had lasting effect on the way police investigate

The success of little Cleo Smith’s rescue operation almost a year ago has had a lasting effect on the way police investigate, WA’s top cop says. Police Commissioner Col Blanch said the 1am phone call he received when Cleo was found is still vivid in his memory as he reflected on the case ahead of the one year anniversary on Sunday. On October 16 last year, then four-year-old Cleo was snatched from her tent during the night while on a family camping trip at the Blowholes campground, just a 35-minute drive from Carnarvon Her parents, Ellie Smith and Jake Gliddon, had an agonising 18 day wait while police worked tirelessly around the clock to locate and rescue Cleo. Cleo was found by police in a Carnarvon home on November 3 where she had been kept prisoner and presumably treated as a living doll by her kidnapper, local loner Terence Darrell Kelly. Mr Blanch said everything officers learned on that case were now being applied to even the lowest level crimes which had boosted crime solving rates. “We make sure we use it for everything. And that’s why the solving crime rate in WA has gone through the roof.” WA’s top cop said it was essential to have access to a wide range of capabilities from analysts and data scientists, to drones and search and rescue crews. “One of the best outcomes from the Cleo investigation...was that I knew that we had a team, and a massive team, working 24/7 for those 18 days, to have that outcome,” Mr Blanch said. “Having all have those capabilities with us...that is why we had success on that case.” The officers who were involved in the rescue mission were expected to catch up and reflect on the case on Sunday for the one year anniversary. “That 18 days was an extraordinary hard slog,” Mr Blanch said. “And I know [the officers] have formed some really tight bonds.” “They’ll be probably reflecting on their success tomorrow. And I know that as a whole police force, that’s something we will always remember.”