Finding justice for all victims

Children think that no one will believe them, but I tell them there is nothing they can say that I won’t believe and that they can tell me everything.

ACTING SENIOR SERGEANT LIBBY BALDOCK

WHEN Libby Baldock arrived at the scene of a fatal traffic crash about two decades, ago she found a distraught mother who had just lost her baby.

The woman could not accept what had happened and refused to go near the deceased infant.

It was a confronting and tense moment, and to navigate it Acting Senior Sergeant Baldock reflected on her own experience of losing an unborn baby two years earlier.

“I said to her, ‘you need to say goodbye to your baby, you need that closure, and this is my experience with losing a child’,” she said.

At that moment, Sgt Baldock broke through the anonymous garb of a blue uniform to connect with the woman as two mothers sharing a common trauma.

It became about finding peace instead of fault.

“Three months later she wrote me a letter saying that she was so glad she had the opportunity to kiss her baby goodbye,” Sgt Baldock said.

The conversation was one of the thousands where the 54year-old officer has helped a person in need during her three decades in the Queensland Police Service.

After all that time, she still remembers her first arrest.

It was Surfers Paradise in 1991 and the bright-eyed 21year-old with her “brand new pair of shiny blue shoes” was tasked with chasing a car thief.

Her pursuit ended with a foot chase where she tackled the offender to the ground.

“I remember putting the handcuffs on him and getting a standing ovation from all the people on the balconies of the high rises,” Acting Senior Sergeant Baldock said.

It was a thrilling start to a long career that would push the mother of four to confront humanity at its worst and find justice for young and vulnerable victims.

“It has always been about making a difference even if it is only for one person,” Sgt Baldock said.

“Not everybody will like the police, not everybody will appreciate what we do, but I have met some of the very nicest people at the worst times of their life.

“And if I can make finding justice easier for them then that is really important.”

After four years on the Gold Coast beat, Sgt Baldock transferred to the Darling Downs when her husband took a teaching job.

After a stint in general duties she moved to the Forensic Crash Unit and later became a detective with the Criminal Investigation Branch and Child Protection Investigation Unit.

As a CPIU detective for almost a decade, Sgt Baldock investigated horrific child abuse and helped find justice for countless numbers of victims.

And again she brought her experience as a mother into the interview room.

“I explained that as CPIU investigator I don’t wear a uniform but I am there to keep children safe, then I would take everything out of the room and just sit with the child, so they feel safe.

“Children think that no one will believe them, but I tell them there is nothing they can say that I won’t believe and that they can tell me everything.”

Today she heads up the new Toowoomba Vulnerable Person Unit where she helps police across the Darling Downs, Kingaroy, Warwick and Goondiwindi manage hundreds of high-risk domestic violence offenders.

It is sad fact the domestic violence has become a core business for the QPS.

In September 2002, there were just 40 domestic violence prevention order breaches in the Darling Downs, but this has steadily grown to a staggering 256 in September 2022.

Sgt Baldock said this was a good thing as more victims felt they could report abuse, while at the same time there was greater awareness of what constituted abuse.

“People are not standing by and ignoring the problem,” she said.

“But domestic violence is not something the police can solve, it’s not something the courts can solve or something service providers can solve.

“We’ve got to come together as a community and support victims and perpetrators.”

To make this happen Sgt Baldock runs a watch house intervention program where offenders are offered counselling to address the cause of their actions and disrupt the chance of repeat offending.

It is tough work that stops crime before it starts and is a role where she brings to bear a lifetime of experience.

“I have worked with some amazing people all the way though,” Sgt Baldock.

“You can’t have a successful police service without all of those things.

“You can’t be a good detective without general duties police, you can’t do general duties without communication staff.

“I still meet new people, and I am able to make a difference. I can hear what they have to say and hopefully keep them safe.”