Crime soars again but no new police
Bond University criminologist Dr Terry Goldsworthy.
“Crime just continues to rise. We have a paralysed leadership down here and the Commissioner failing to display any leadership.”
The only decrease in major offences was drugs, which dropped 19 per cent, he said.
The State Opposition has accused the Government of being focused on Brisbane and ignoring the Coast’s long-term crime issues.
“Labor’s con job State Budget has no specific commitment of additional police officers on the Gold Coast, at a time when crime is on the rise, particularly domestic violence, and criminal gangs are re-establishing themselves because Labor is soft on crime,” Opposition police spokesman Tim Mander said.
“It is clear that Labor have given up tackling crime on the Gold Coast because their focus is pork-barrelling inner-city Brisbane seats.”
The 2017-18 budget for the CCC is $362,000 less than this year and its performance in “targeted criminal entities” only reached 86 per cent, down from 100 per cent in the previous year.
A spokesperson from the Department of Justice and Attorney-General said staff numbers at the CCC had remain unchanged.
The decrease in the Budget was due to “lower than budgeted interest rates on fixed deposit investments”.
Asked if the Coast would get more officers, a spokesperson for Police Minister Mark Ryan said the allocation and deployment of police was a matter for the Queensland Police Service.
Crime statistics would continue to be reported on the QPS website annually but the Audit Office had agreed for that data to be removed from future Budget reports.
The Government was “absolutely committed” to re- ducing crime Queensland.
“There are more police than ever before on the Gold Coast and we are continuing to develop and implement strategies along with the QPS and broader community to combat crime right across Queensland, including the Gold Coast,” the spokesperson said.
One of the key contributing factors to some crime increases including robbery was the amount of ice available in the community, the spokesperson added.
The Government has announced a $4.1 million program to tackle the problem. across IN need of food and vet care, 24 cats have been rescued from a car where they were living in southern Tasmania.
Police were called by concerned members of the public over the weekend after spotting the distressed animals, which have since been referred for proper care.
“Never leave animals alone for extended periods of time without proper planning for their care and attention,” RSPCA Tasmania inspector Ray Kroeze said, adding that the cats and kittens were generally emaciated.