COPS’ VALUE ON GROUND
A SENIOR police officer, in detailing how the bikie gangs have been all but wiped off the Gold Coast map, sums up today how this has been achieved.
Our special report reveals it has been an intricate operation that has evolved since the days of the so-called Ballroom Blitz and then the infamous Broadbeach brawl that kickstarted a furious but controlled backlash from the state government of the day.
The Newman government brought in the controversial VLAD laws that threw the outlaw gangs under a proverbial bus. The Palaszczuk Government overturned that approach and introduced its own laws. The gangs meanwhile have been whittled down and old bikie rules have gone out the window. But tough nuts remain. They’re not interested in the old ways, in which there was an important element of camaraderie, however misguided.
Now it’s about the money and the crime, with individuals putting themselves first – we are told – and forging allegiances of convenience with old enemies. Police have an array of weapons in their gangbusting arsenal, including turning the social media-driven ego of many of the criminals against themselves. But as the officer reveals, one important, old-time aspect of policing remains a key part in keeping a boot on the throats of the gangs – legwork and talking to people.
It is an effective part of policing across the board. It is concerning therefore that while on the one hand investigators acknowledge the importance of this, on the other it is missing – or in danger of going missing – in other parts of the police service’s vital role in keeping communities and indeed our public hospitals safe.
As we also report today, the saga of assaults on Gold Coast University Hospital staff shows no sign of ending, despite years of worrying incidents and campaigning by the Bulletin and MP Ros Bates.
In 2015-16 there were 260 “acts of aggression’’ in the Coast health district. That was appalling, but the figure has gone through the roof since then with 405 assaults recorded from 2017 until May this year. The campaign includes calls for the Government to set up a proper police beat in the health and knowledge precinct that centres on the university hospital.
GOLDOC boss Peter Beattie assured the Coast this would happen, but that pledge has been ignored by the Government.
The rot has to stop. Police are achieving good results in controlling the gangs. A similar, resource-driven approach to putting an end to the violent abuse of paramedics in the field and doctors and nurses in hospital emergency departments must be enacted. This can only happen with cops being on the spot or close by within the precinct and able to respond quickly.
It is an approach that must be kept in mind too as the service moves towards warehouse policing across the city. There is merit in having large numbers of mobile police working from a central headquarters but effectively on the road, directed by intelligence to crime spots.
But there must be on-the-ground engagement too. Studies have shown the huge value in community policing, with the local cop who knows everyone in the street being a trusted contact. It works in regional towns and should work here too.