DON’T CASH IN ON VIRUS
Top cop warns kids as armed offenders target bottle shops
THE Far North’s top cop has issued a stern warning to criminals looking to exploit the current virus crisis, telling them “it won’t work” and assuring residents they have the manpower to cope.
It comes after a surge in robberies driven by packs of armed juveniles targeting bottle shops and threatening staff.
Cairns faced a steep rise in property offending – particularly car thefts, break-ins and robberies – during January and February, although this was beginning to slow.
Police have now been called in to man roadblocks preventing non-essential access to the region’s indigenous communities, while specialist taskforces deal directly with COVID-19 regulations. But FNQ Chief Supt Brian Huxley said it was in hand.
“We’re not being overwhelmed and the general public can be assured we’ve got very good police resources to be able to respond (to other crime) despite the COVID-19 response,” he said.
“People who want to try to use the current crisis as a means to commit offences are going to find it’s not going to work for them.”
With greater numbers of people working from home or remotely, he also put online offenders on notice.
“I would be warning people about accessing child pornography or other illegal sites that the fact we’re in a current health crisis is not going to be an excuse for people acting illicitly online,” Chief Supt Huxley said.
“We’re also aware there are organisations around the world who would see an opportunity to try to access people’s bank accounts (after the $750 stimulus payments) by contacting them.
“Legitimate financial institutions don’t ask those details so people need to be really careful how they act with people on the phone and the type of information they are being asked for.”
“We will also have no sympathy for offenders taking advantage of people who are elderly or vulnerable. These people need to be looked after, not preyed upon.”
BOB Katter has taken to the skies to call on Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to isolate North Queensland and protect the region from the coronavirus pandemic.
To hammer it home, the Kennedy MP paid for a plane to fly around Brisbane with the words “Premier, isolate North QLD now!”.
He was even willing to “go down” with COVID-19 if it meant proving the “border”, which he considers from Mackay to Hughenden and then to Mount Isa, should be closed.
“We are a demographic island,” he said. “We are surrounded by 320km of nothingness, you might call it a wasteland. There is just six highways running into North Queensland. All we have to do is put on a hard hat, grab a stop sign and protect North
Queensland.”
But Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young said the State Government was already doing enough to protect North Queensland.
Speaking in Townsville, Dr Young said closing the “borders” at the front of people’s houses and between states was enough to protect North Queensland.