It was not a smoking gun, just a common rechargeable household torch.
But the torch left behind by a thief in the Canberra night on the weekend reveals the strains on police resources wrought by the Covid pandemic.
Internal instructions issued to operational police members last week has given general duties officers discretion whether or not to attend low-level "priority three" crimes such burglaries, theft and property crime.
A burglary in Florey on the weekend in which an expensive KTM trail bike was stolen from a backyard was one which went unattended.
However, since August 12, police have responded to an average of 78 priority-three incidents per day. At the weekend, they responded to 84 priority-three incidents on Saturday and 89 on Sunday.
Thousands of people remain in quarantine across the ACT, with the specific task force of uniformed ACT Policing officers assigned to check they are adhering to the guidelines.
For a relatively small police force, Covid compliance in the ACT has been hugely resource-intensive.
Calls to police Operations at Belconnen have gone up by 500 per week. Most of these are health-related.
Since the ACT-wide lockdown came into effect on Thursday, August 12, police have conducted more than 6200 compliance traffic stops, including at border checkpoints and random locations across the ACT.
Police have also conducted more than 2280 compliance checks at Canberra residences and businesses, in addition to more than 3000 conducted in the ACT since interstate restrictions prior to when the local lockdown began.
Each of these interactions have to be appropriately recorded and the details passed on to ACT Health so that when a 14-day quarantine period lifts, people can leave their homes.
"ACT Policing (sic) assess and prioritise all requests for police attendance which continues during the current COVID-19 lockdown in the ACT," police responded in a carefully-framed statement.
As Covid circulates around the ACT community, interacting with the public, too, carries its risks for police. Any infected officer has to be isolated, which has a knock-on effect across the teams. There is already an unknown number currently in self-isolation.
"For the safety of our community and our members, we are considering where we can reduce or delay attendance to minimise the volume of interactions officers may have with the public," the police statement added.
Meanwhile, the changes are unsettling for the Canberra couple who were told police were unable to attend their burglary.
The intrusion to their property and the theft means the older couple have been unable to sleep over the past few nights and "every sound we hear at night, we wonder whether the thieves are coming back".
