Flood cops finished

Extra forces are headed home

FEWER police will be on Townsville’s streets from next week, with the final officers deployed to the city to help with the flood event to return home.

Since the beginning of the flood event, 296 officers from across the state have been deployed to the region to assist with the disaster and recovery efforts.

Their primary aim was to keep the community safe. Police were deployed in rotations with the final 10 officers to return to Brisbane on Sunday.

During the flood event, from February 3 to 9, there was over 100 additional officers on the ground.

Deployed officers conducted an anti-looting operation to keep a lid on property crime and doorknocked worst-hit suburbs.

Rosslea, Idalia, Railway Estate, Hyde Park and areas of Kirwan and Aitkenvale were all in Townsville City Council’s “black zone” and were the focus of the patrols.

Since then officers have worked across a number of areas including the Rapid Action Patrol unit.

Throughout the flood event there was anecdotal evidence that crime was down.

That perception was previously credited to the additional resources taking a proactive approach to property crime prevention.

Only very few reports of looting were made to police during the floods.

Available Queensland Police Service statistics reveal there were 2369 offences in February, the lowest since July last year.

Break-ins almost halved in February, dropping to 184 offences compared to 308 in January.

Car thefts were also down. There were only 59 reports of car theft to police – 36 fewer than during the month before.

Only one robbery was recorded in the month of Febru- ary, compared to 11 the month before.

Townsville District Superintendent Steve Munro said there was a range of variables that may have contributed to the lower crime rate.

“The high-visibility policing is a wonderful deterrent for any community, so we were blessed that the opportunity was provided to us to have additional police on the road and on the ground,” Supt Munro said.

“We thank the police that came up to support our community but we are returning to a level of normality (in police operations) now.”