Editorial: Cops shouldn’t have to fight bureaucracy

There may be sound administrative reasons for disciplinary action against Sen Sgt Arron Ottoway, but none of them will pass the pub test, writes the editor.

Bureaucracy should never stand in the way of effective policing.

It is almost unfathomable then that a police officer, hot on the heels of a group of allegedly armed teen offenders, would be told not to pursue them because in doing so he would work overtime, which had not been approved.

Yet that is what we have learned has happened in the case of veteran Gold Coast cop Arron Ottaway, who has been stood down since the incident on February 1.

Police, much like the best teachers and health workers, can be so devoted to their careers that the job becomes more a vocation than merely a means of earning their daily bread.

It’s instructive to learn that Senior Sergeant Ottaway, a decorated officer of 33 years, declared he was “hunting criminals here,’’ and continued with his work regardless of the directive to back off.

Today we learn that one of the teens in the car he was chasing is wanted by police again.

After going through the court system, the young offender received 20 hours community service but just weeks later is suspected by police of allegedly stealing a car on the northern Gold Coast.

Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll, who serves her last day in the top job today, said yesterday that standing down Sen Sgt Ottoway was “definitely the right decision”.

“There’s a lot more to this that people aren’t aware of,’’ she said, adding that there had been “serious breaches of policy”.

There may be sound administrative reasons for disciplinary action to be taken against Sen Sgt Ottoway, but none of them will pass muster at what is now Australia’s standardised, democratic forum for judging proposals, policies, and predicaments – the “pub test’’.

These are the facts. Queensland is in the grip of a youth crime crisis.

A growing number of Queenslanders – almost 60 per cent in the state’s regions – don’t feel safe in their own homes.

Some police are even too scared to walk the streets at night.

As reported by The Courier-Mail last month there are also not enough frontline police, with the proportion of officers per 100,000 residents dropping to the lowest ratio at any point during the past 12 years.

But we don’t need a poll to grasp the fact that the overwhelming number of Queenslanders, appalled and sickened by the extent of juvenile crime in this state, would loudly approve of the behaviour of this Gold Coast copper.

Nor would Queenslanders give a second thought to allowing the Queensland Police Service to use everything at their disposal to keep them safe.

And this includes a small hit to the bottom line by way of extra resources or overtime.

Queenslanders have no desire to return to the corruption of the pre-Fitzgerald years where too many officers clearly believed they were a law unto themselves.

But it now seems clear that we have tilted too far the other way.

Our police officers have a tough enough job as it is. That job is to keep us safe and fight crime.

They shouldn’t have to fight bureaucracy as well.

NAME THE POLITICIAN WHO BETRAYED US ALL

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton was right yesterday when he said the statement by ASIO boss Mike Burgess that a former politician has “sold out his country” puts every politician under a cloud.

Mr Burgess made the revelation on Wednesday night, saying that the politician had been “cultivated and recruited” by an “A-Team” acting for a foreign power.

“This politician sold out their country, party and former colleagues to advance the interests of the foreign regime,” he said.

Yesterday, Mr Dutton called for ASIO to name the traitor.

“It’s pretty rough to essentially besmirch former politicians when he’s talking about one,” Mr Dutton said.

“The trouble is, if he doesn’t indicate the name, then there is a cloud hanging over everybody else,” he said.

We concur. And while the politician may have technically not broken the law as it stood at the time (as there were no charges laid), why would they deserve the benefit of anonymity if they were willing to betray their country for the benefit of another nation.

Australians have the right to know which foreign nation was involved, and how they were trying to influence the politician.

Mr Burgess, who has described by Mr Dutton as “a first-class operator”, has opened a can of worms.

The speculation and rumours have already started.

To end them, the politician who betrayed their country must be named and shamed.

Responsibility for election comment is taken by Chris Jones, corner of Mayne Rd & Campbell St, Bowen Hills, Qld 4006. Printed and published by NEWSQUEENSLAND (ACN 009 661 778). Contact details here