New beat must be done right

A NEW police facility in the Upper Ross could be a massive benefit to an area screaming for more services, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of other crime hot spots.

A site for a large police beat or small station has been identified in Rasmussen with the intention of filling it with 10 police officers.

It’s understandable if this meant the closure of existing beats at Kelso and Rasmussen, as the people in these areas would be serviced by the new “superbeat”, but reliable sources say police are considering closing beats at Vincent and Garbutt as well.

Both those suburbs have their own challenges with crime. In December the

crunched numbers on more than 30 of Townsville’s most popular suburbs and found Garbutt had the highest rate of property crime per capita, with one reported offence for every five people occurring in a 12 month period.

Police beats were introduced to make people feel more secure because officers would be in their neighbourhoods. Pulling services from such a crime hotspot would surely be questioned by the public.

Crime is at the forefront of many Townsville residents’ minds and it is fair to say those living near existing beats would have an increased sense of safety that could be lost with their closure.

Townsville Police Chief Superintendent Kev Guteridge says no decision on the future of these beats has been made and any decision would ultimately be up to Police Commissioner Ian Stewart.

Townsville’s police and politicians have put their heads together to try and improve services for the Upper Ross for some time now. For more than a year officers from Kirwan Police Station have been boosting beat cop numbers in Kelso but the small demountable building just isn’t up to scratch to house the extra officers so there has been an understandable push for a new station.

But it’s difficult to see how effectively robbing Peter to pay Paul will help the broader community in this instance.