Wasn't going to advertise this but I'll fill you in on my experience over Christmas.
I have an estranged relative who I've had no contact with since he physically assaulted my then 3yr old son back in 2008, I'll call him "Bob" for the purpose of this post. Around October last year a relative told me that "Bob" was wanting my number as he was trying to keep me out of gaol, relative refused and called me. We both scratched our heads and dismissed it as the ravings of an idiot. On the 12th of December I received a threatening text message from "Bob", I knew who it was based on the content. I thought wtf??? nothing in 10yrs and the first contact is a threat.
The first instinct was to just ignore it and hope nothing further came of it but after further consideration I decided to report it to the Police. There were 2 compelling reasons to report it, 1. I am legally obliged under the crimes act to report any threat involving the use of a firearm and 2. Having personally known 2 people that lost their marbles and killed multiple people in the last 12 months I wanted something on the record in the event Bob went postal.
On advice from a solicitor I attended Riverstone Police and proceeded to make a complaint, I asked multiple times for a senior officer and was denied this request. After a discussion with the constable I was informed that if I proceeded with the complaint that my firearms would be seized for 28 days. I was due to depart the next day on a 10 day hunting trip with my son so I withdrew the complaint and said that I would revisit the matter on my return. I departed the station believing the matter resolved.
Imagine my surprise at 10am the next morning when the Police roll up on my door step wanting my firearms.....After a bit of heated back and forth I agreed to co-operate as there was no way to win. I asked if they had a truck, they asked why, I showed them what I have, they agreed to come back in a couple hours with a van and a 3rd officer. It took 3 officers, a big ass van, 2 cars and 7 hours to catalogue and load my items. I was fortunate that the 3 officers were quite understanding of the situation and allowed me to box and pack things how I wanted so as to prevent any damage. They also took the opportunity to do a full audit, we were surprised at just how inaccurate their records were. I had several firearms which they had no record of despite owning them for a few years or more. Being an anal retentive type I keep immaculate records and for each undocumented firearm I produced its registration.
Once the firearms were loaded the subject switched to ammunition, I gave them 2 choices they could load the locked cases or they could go to the station and grab 10 more guys and start counting individual rounds. At the time I had just over 800kg of loaded ammo so they took option 1
While all this was going on I had a call from the inspector as I had raised concerns about security at the station, he informed me that they had allocated a whole room to me and only 2 people had access to it and every care would be taken to look after my items. At the finish the officer took my license and large caliber permit into his possession. I should mention that the officers acted professionally at all times and took into account that I was the "victim" in this matter.
That evening I attended the station and filed the complaint that I had withdrawn the day before as I figured I may as well considering the worse has already happened. "Bob" got a nasty knock on the door the next morning and had his firearms seized along with being questioned about the assault 10yrs prior along with the current threatening text message. I cannot comment further on his situation as the matter is before the courts.
A couple days passed and I arranged a meeting with the deputy chief inspector in charge of the region, as I walked into the interview room a comment was made about my massive "arsenal". I mentioned that Zombies were a problem in the Pilliga Scrub and wanted to be prepared, he cracked up laughing and we had a great chat about guns in general for a couple hours. He had gone to the trouble of taking photos of the room showing how they had stored my items and I was more relaxed about the situation. I was advised to write a letter to the regional commander outlining the situation and why I should have my license / firearms returned. I promptly wrote and submitted the letter and on day 28 I was told my firearms could be picked up from the station, they offered to deliver but I wanted to check stuff as it came out of the lockup. I took the boy with me, got some funny looks from the officers as they handed pistols to the boy so he could check and clear them. I offered to produce his permits but they didn't seem to worry about it. I think every 2nd cop in the station came over to speak to me at some stage, they were all either collectors or shooters
I was unlucky that this occurred but fortunately had a bunch of good natured professional coppers that understood I was the victim in this. My gear was seized under section 82 & 83 of the LEPRA Act part 6.
I believe that you were screwed over royally by the police in this instance as the decision to suspend your license is discretionary and I doubt based on what you said they can prove the decision justified as they didn't follow the "Domestic and Family Violence Standard Operating Procedures 2018". My license remained "Valid" during the 28 days and even had a couple Cat H PTA's turn up in the mail. One thing they didn't do was to seize my ammunition dealers permit, probably didn't show up on their checks as its issued in my company name.
If you feel like a chat then drop me a line
It's a pain, it's stressful but there's not much you could have done to avoid it. Be happy that you obeyed the law and sleep easy, this will be over in due time.