GRIM BLUE LINE Station not much cop
THE Runaway Bay police beat has become the unwanted face of the city’s cop struggle with almost half of its 24 officers on sick leave or helping other areas.
LNP Broadwater candidate David Crisafulli, a former Local Government Minister, has exposed the shortfall after extensive doorknocking in the lead-up to the State poll.
Senior police said staff at the Runaway Bay station were either on sick leave, carer’s leave, stood down pending an investigation or on secondment to other stations.
“The community will accept vacancies occur but to have nearly half the officers absent from a station is dangerous for them and the community they serve,” Mr Crisafulli said.
“Allocations are given for a reason and the Runaway Bay station is being bled dry because of a shortfall of police across the Coast. It’s not good enough and I’m going to continue to blow the whistle on this until these positions are filled.”
The Bulletin understands Runaway Bay normallly has 24 police, but as many as 11 have been away.
“The situation is compounded by officers from Runaway Bay being summonsed to fill the void in other areas as well as acting as babysitters at the watchhouse,” Mr Crisafulli said.
“People want to see a police presence in their local area and the officers want to have the time and the resources to do their jobs properly.”
The Bulletin has previously revealed police in Surfers Paradise were being used in the fast-growing northern corridor and the allocated budget for the Coast district for this financial year was down on the actual spend in 2015-16.
Last month, the Bulletin also reported officers were facing reprimand for claiming overtime after getting a serial domestic violence offender off the streets.
The Bulletin has sought data from the QPS for the current sick leave recorded at all Coast stations, but it was not be released “due to operational and privacy considerations”. “The Gold Coast Police District is aware of the staffing fluctuations and have been supporting the Runaway Bay police division,” a police spokesman said.
“Resource limitations including sick leave occurs from time to time at all stations. The high level of policing service provided to the community has not been affected in the Runaway Bay Police division or throughout the Gold Coast.” GOLD Coast police are responding to eight domestic violence breaches a day.
The latest Queensland Crime Statistics show police attend to 228 breaches each month, on top of urgent calls for help and initial orders being taken out against offenders. In the past 10 months the Coast district has recorded 2278 DV breaches, well up on the 1887 in 2015-16.
“Our hardworking police and community sector are being stretched to the limit and Labor is doing nothing,” said Opposition MP Ros Bates, who called for an investigation into why orders were being breached.
A Bulletin campaign and last-minute lobbying by the LNP in March resulted in the Government passing new laws. They include violent DV offenders proving they were reformed before leaving jail.
The latest statistics show DV breaches on the Coast are up by 37 per cent, but also point to a positive change to the culture of reporting.
Domestic and Family Violence Taskforce chief Detective Inspector Marc Hogan said DV remained at the forefront of policing on the Coast: “An increase in breaches indicates the hard work police officers have been doing responding to domestic violence incidents and bringing offenders before the courts.”