I find there is need for ongoing and further education to police off icers
A RAFT of changes have been put into place since police delays led to a double stabbing at Alva Beach, but a coroner has found more needs to be done.
Deputy State Coroner Jane Bentley recommended more training for police communication officers in her inquest findings on Wednesday, after she found a call taker didn’t take the word of Queensland Ambulance Service about the urgency of the job.
On October 1, 2018, Tom Davy and Corey Christensen were killed by stab wounds inflicted by Dean Webber after they forced their way into his house.
The men were looking for Mr Davy’s girlfriend, Candice Locke, who was taken in by Mr Webber when she knocked on his door with an injured shoulder.
At an inquest last year into the deaths, evidence was aired about how Mr Webber made a series of triple-0 calls while the men were outside his house. His first call was to Queensland Ambulance Service requesting help for Ms Locke, but he also told the call taker he didn’t feel safe.
The job was flagged with QPS while paramedics staged nearby, but the communication officer who received the “urgent” job, Senior Constable Michael Arope, didn’t take it seriously and coded the job as a code 3, or routine job.
Coroner Bentley found this was the wrong decision, and it was a critical factor in the delayed police response to the scene.
“The attitude of SC Arope to the procedures relating to staging by QAS indicates a concerning lack of knowledge and understanding, and has the potential to put lives at risk in the future,” Coroner Bentley said. “I find there is need for ongoing and further education to police officers, particularly those working in communication centres, regarding the roles and responsibilities of each agency and how they interact.”
Two months after the inquest, police codes were reclassified and a new code was added.
Code 3 now requires a “direct response”, Code 4 now means “for alternate resolution”, and a new Code 5 has been defined as needing “no police response”.
The Townsville Police
Communication Centre has been upgraded since the deaths, which included doubling its “quality assurance team” and almost “quadrupling” its training team.
Coroner Bentley also found that changes needed to be made to QPS Operation Procedures Manual (OPM) regarding off-duty officers carrying their accoutrements.
The inquest heard evidence that now retired Detective Sergeant Gavin Neal was delayed in attending Alva Beach when the situation escalated as he wasn’t carrying his gun or other items.
In the OPM, only officers who are “rostered on duty” are required to wear their accoutrements.
Sergeant Neal was not meant to be working that night.
“Such an interpretation has the potential to impact upon future police responses to serious situations,” Coroner Bentley said.
“I recommend that consideration be given by the QPS to amending the OPM to remove any such ambiguity.”
A spokeswoman from QPS said the coroner’s recommendations would be “carefully considered in due course”.