Palaszczuk backs pair
A TOP Gold Coast cop visited an elderly couple more than a month after multiple calls to triple-0 and Southport Police Station about a violent assault.
Greg and Joan Darlington saw the brutal bashing of a man by about eight others at a Southport Park on January 30 and have been searching for answers ever since.
Mrs Darlington phoned the Southport Police Station to get help and onlookers called triple-0. Both failed to trigger a police response.
It was only when a Gold Coast Bulletin journalist phoned triple zero that action was taken.
The victim, a 41-year-old homeless man, received a broken nose and jaw, injuries to his eyes, six fractures in his cheeks and damage to his internal organs.
“I peed blood for 10 days,” he said.
“I have lost 70 per cent hearing in my left ear and my vision is blurry in my right eye.”
The Southport man yesterday said he was struggling to get information from police about his complaint.
“I was told by police it was in my best interest not to pursue the matter ... so I didn’t have to face my attackers in court,” he said.
After the attack a senior police officer visited the Darlingtons at their Southport unit to discuss the matter.
“In relation to your call to Southport police there is no record of that call on our systems,” the police officer told the couple.
But Mrs Darlington has evidence of the calls she placed from her mobile phone on January 30.
“There were three different calls to triple-0 by three different people,” she added.
Mrs Darlington does not wish to name the top cop, as she felt he was trying to get to the bottom of the situation and believed he was a “good person”.
“I want to be involved but I don’t want to upset the only person that has ever helped me in the police force,” she said.
The top cop told the Darlingtons he would investigate the incident. ordered to different stations within a week of making their complaint.
The treatment of the three crime managers stood in stark contrast to Commissioner Stewart’s praise of the officers in a letter to the acting auditor general.
Commissioner Stewart wrote: “I would also like to acknowledge those QPS officers who came forward to help identify the crime reporting issues”.
This week’s scathing Audit Office report said the Gold Coast police district’s “governance over the quality and accuracy of crime data is poor, with inappropriate practices and attitudes towards changes to data”.
The report found that because Coast police had targets on reducing crime referred to as “aspirational goals”, they had an incentive to manipulate targets. Asked how seriously she viewed the principal findings of the report in relation the Gold Coast, she said: “My Government knows the importance of crime statistics.
“That’s why my Government had already committed $5.3 million over three years to establish an independent crime statistics body to collect data and monitor organised crime, as well as impacts and trends across all crime types.”
Asked if resource allocation and crime prevention strategies should be reviewed given the report findings about dodgy data, she said Commissioner Stewart had acknowledged crime statistics were an important tool for Queensland Police Service when making decisions and when approaching government for funding.
“Operational decisions are a matter for the leadership of the QPS. The Government is committed to provide our police with the resources they need and the pay they deserve.”