Keogh a real cop

FORMER Gold Coast top cop Jim Keogh retired yesterday and was handed two medals by Police Commissioner Ian Stewart.

One was for exemplary conduct as commander of Taskforce Takeback which recognised the crackdown against bikies had “high visibility and low tolerance”.

This summed up an old-school copper who spent much of the last two decades of his 37-year career in the heart of the uncompromising street beat of Surfers.

Keogh had his critics about his high visibility in the media. But they were more than outweighed by his supporters for his low tolerance of grubs on the street.

In an interview in the Bulletin today, in which he typically gives a warts-and-all response to the police fightback against outlaw motorcycle gangs, there is a disturbing political revelation.

Keogh was sent back to South Brisbane against a backdrop of Labor meeting its election promise to review VLAD laws. His Rapid Action and Patrol group was ultimately split up with some officers on beat duties.

The Bulletin asked him whether he had been asked by Judge Alan Wilson to be available for questioning or provide a submission on the review of the VLAD laws.

The taskforce created for this review included high-ranking representatives from the Law Society, Bar Society, senior police and the Queensland Police Union. The report ran to 416 pages.

Keogh’s answer was “No”. Asked what he would have told the review, he said “the question I would pose would be what’s not working with the previous legislation”.

Keogh knows the VLAD laws enabled his squad to close down clubhouses without requesting a search warrant; to set up a covert operation where intelligence was gathered about a crime being committed.

His legacy will be an open door to the media. The lesson for senior police is those reports, in this newspaper, showcased solid police work which in turn gained the support of residents. This is how you can combat a crime wave.