Mackay's top cop Det Insp Nikki Colfs under investigation

Superintendent Bruce McNab says the Antonio investigation continues

INVESTIGATION: Detective Inspector Nikki Colfs has been suspended. Picture: Lee Constable

THE senior police officer overseeing renewed investigations into schoolgirl Rachel Antonio's disappearance has been suspended from the Queensland Police Service.

Mackay-based Detective Inspector Nikki Colfs is understood to have been suspended over issues associated with promotional panels, in a shock for officers in the Central Police Region.

It leaves the high-profile Antonio investigation in limbo, with police yet to announce their findings from an exploratory dig at the Bowen dump in July.

Ten officers including scientific experts from Brisbane were involved in the tip examination, ahead of a possible excavation to search for the body of the 16-year-old who vanished from the town 19 years ago.

Before she was suspended, Insp Colfs told Rachel's parents Ian and Cheryl Antonio she had no plans to conduct a further dig at the tip.

She made the comments to the Antonios after they rang her to pass on information from a call they had received about the case.

Insp Colfs told the couple the search had uncovered refuse from about the time Rachel went missing, but otherwise did not disclose details about what was found.

When The Daily Mercury spoke to Insp Colfs on Thursday, the day before she was suspended, she said that nothing conclusive had been discovered from the dig at the Bowen tip.

And while her boss, Mackay District Superintendent Bruce McNab, wouldn't comment on the suspension he did confirm the police investigations she had been overseeing would continue as normal.

"The (Detective Inspector) is only one person of a number involved in investigations - just because one is not there does not mean that the investigation stops. The Antonio investigation is still ongoing,” Supt McNab said.

A police statement said an internal investigation was being conducted "into allegations the officer engaged in inappropriate workplace behaviour and practices. This does not mean the allegations have been substantiated.”

Queensland Police would not say what prompted the investigation into Insp Colf's conduct or when it started.

She started her Mackay stint on August 10, 2015, telling the Mercury that being part of the Queensland Police Service team wasn't just a job, it was a passion and a part of who she was.

"I'm so embedded and committed to the organisation I wouldn't go and do another job,” Det Insp Colfs said in an interview when she first started.

As one of three inspectors in the Mackay district she oversees the detectives and crime services support sections.

Originally published as Mackay's top cop Det Insp Nikki Colfs under investigation