TIME IS NOW FOR POLICE
POLICE Minister Mark Ryan, the Police Commissioner and the Police Union are at a critical intersection of sorts, as the future of funding for officers on the ground is about to be determined.
The Bulletin has reported the Coast is 88 officers down on promised numbers.
Budget funding is to be reduced for 2018-19 and on top of that, funds will be sent to Logan.
Meanwhile, the city’s top cop is filling in an Assistant Commissioner’s job in Brisbane with officers on the Glitter Strip unsure when he will return, if at all.
Today’s reporting confirms the potential impact of an independent review into the 2013 restructure overseen by Commissioner Ian Stewart during the Newman Government. The move to create five mega policing areas ultimately robbed the Gold Coast of the Coomera police district.
This newspaper has consistently argued for Coomera to retain its 24-hour police station, given the city’s north enjoys the fastest growth of any suburbs in the State.
As Bond University criminologist Terry Goldsworthy says, it is “lunacy” that the Government spends money reviewing such a poorly made decision in the first place.
At this critical political turning point, the future careers of Mr Ryan, Commissioner Stewart and long-serving union president Ian Leavers will be determined.
Watching on are the police at the coalface and a terrified young mother, whose ongoing case against her bikie ex-husband is today outlined in another report, in which she again asks Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and her ministers for support.
The independent review by consultants will be considered by the Queensland Police Service, the union and the Crime and Corruption Commission. Results need to be made public. The young mother and police on the beat need to know the impact of a loss of officers at Coomera.
The Police Union needs to not just push for the reactivating of the Coomera police district, it needs to find its voice on lobbying the Government about strengthening the Bail Act and providing GPS trackers for perpetrators so officers can lock up or monitor more violent offenders.
While the Government has an opportunity to criticise the Newman administrators for the restructure, it needs to consider the tougher and worthy domestic violence reforms being put forward by the LNP Opposition.
The young mother supports GPS tracking for violent thugs and safety watches for victims, and a one-stop shop servicing those things needs a wide range of government support services.
The Government thanked the mother for her suggestions. She is being encouraged to keep writing. What she and her family needs is a guarantee of protection.
This is the moment, this is the intersection.
Or will it continue to be like today’s front page photograph, which the young woman took while being stalked by bikies?
Will the bikies continue to harass their victims, as we all continue on the same dangerous roundabout caused by poor policing resources and weak laws?