SHORTER ARM OF OUR LAW
Police are at breaking point – and we’ll all pay the price
MORE than a third of our coppers admit to being “burned out by my work”. At least a fifth have too many jobs.
The State Government has finally released the latest round of public service worker surveys, and the results show for police it is not getting easier on the beat.
Asked if their work had a negative impact on their health, 39 per cent said “yes”. This is 13 per cent higher than the Queensland public servant average.
The Bulletin this month showed property crime, offences against the person and domestic violence complaints continue to soar.
Bond University criminologist Dr Terry Goldsworthy has now crunched the numbers for a second lot of figures which show proactive policing.
For the past financial year these offences on the Coast are down – drugs (13 per cent), drink-driving (two per cent), weapons (10 per cent) and good-order offences (13 per cent).
A former Burleigh detective, Dr Goldsworthy explains that if “reactive offences” like property theft are increasing and “proactive offences” like drug arrests are declining, this points to a vicious crime cycle.
His theory is police are too busy to chase druggies, armed robbers and search for weapons due to the desk work with property and DV cases.
Once the bad guys get a sniff of this, before you know it a crime wave takes off.
What cannot and should not be denied is the unpublicised work of police in the Coast’s new DV taskforce under detective Inspector Marc Hogan. By monitoring suspects, murders are being prevented.
Two police officers were
DO WE INVEST TIME IN THE DRUGS PRECINCT, OR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE? ... THESE ARE THE THINGS AS A COMMUNITY WE ALL NEED TO HAVE A DISCUSSION ABOUT POLICE SOURCE
recently grilled about an overtime claim after they took more than a shift to find, arrest and complete the extensive paperwork to remove a violent man from his Hinterland family.
All of this, the lack of resources, the red tape, raises several questions – and readers, please provide some feedback on this. “What’s more harmful for a community – robberies or domestic violence,” an experienced, respected cop asked your columnist.
“Do we invest time in the drugs precinct, or domestic violence? We know domestic violence damages kids for generations.
“A robbery would be horrible for the victim of violence. These are the things as a community we all need to have a discussion about.”
Take a good look around your home and at your kids. What do you expect from police to protect you from violence? We expect a measure of security, to be safe.
We do not expect to read reports, like this week, of a net decrease of 90 full-time policing positions across the state and not enough officers to patrol Surfers Paradise on Origin party night.
What we really expect is this government and the next, to be elected after an election later this year, to provide adequate funding for Gold Coast police.