Queensland police stretched to the limit with few stations operating 24 hours

THERE are almost three times as many 24-hour McDonald's in greater Brisbane as 24-hour cop stations as police struggle to cope with a booming population.

AS few as 1800 first-response officers are on duty across the state during any given shift, as police say they are struggling to cope with Queensland's booming population.

And the problem worsens at night as most stations close, leaving only a handful to operate around the clock.

There are almost three times as many 24-hour McDonald's restaurants in greater Brisbane as 24-hour police stations.

Despite a population of close to two million people, only 11 of the greater Brisbane area's 36 police stations are open all hours – including the City, Fortitude Valley, Dutton Park, Upper Mt Gravatt, Inala, Cleveland, Indooroopilly, Boondall, Hendra, Sandgate and Petrie. That compares with 31 24-hour McDonald's restaurants.

One of the worst areas for police coverage is the Wynnum district, where there is only one officer for every 954 people in an area covering seven divisions, including five islands. The only permanent 24-hour station is at Cleveland, with a staff of just 39 officers.

Although Capalaba and Wynnum stations are also meant to operate around the clock, an officer said they were shut more than they were open at night due to poor staffing.

The traditionally high-crime district of Oxley in Brisbane's southwest is not much better off, with a police-to-population ratio of one to 778 people and only Inala station open 24/7. And in Brisbane's CBD, police numbers are regularly as low as six first-response officers a shift to cover the area from Gardens Point to the Broncos Leagues Club at Red Hill.

As a result, on busy weekend nights, as many as 10 per cent of jobs go unanswered.

The Queensland Police Service has refused to reveal how many crews are available for each shift, out of concern the information could be used by organised crime syndicates.

Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers said in most areas, even those with a 24-hour police presence, there was often just one patrol car on the road to service more than 50,000 people.

"Under Peter Beattie, Queensland recruited 300 new additional police a year. When Anna Bligh became Premier, she cut that to only 200 police a year," Mr Leavers said.

"That's not keeping pace with population growth and is barely covering the number who leave each  year."

In 2008-09, 388 officers left the service following on from 489 the previous year.

Opposition police spokesman Vaughan Johnson said poor staffing levels undermined the purpose of the few 24-hour stations Queensland had.

"You've got a skeleton staff on at night-time when they're most needed," he said.

"It's a deplorable situation."

Police Minister Neil Roberts said police numbers had grown from 6800 in 1998 to 10,434 this year.

"The Bligh Government has committed to increasing police numbers further, with 600 new police to be inducted by the end of this term . . . resulting in more than 10,600 police serving the people of Queensland by March, 2012."

Mr Leavers said the figures might look good on paper but at any one time more than 1000 police were on leave, another 1500 were part-time and at least 1900 were in non-first-response roles.

"That means there are as few as 1800 first-response officers available across the state for each eight-hour shift," he said.

"We would like to see a minimum staffing policy adopted so that at any one time, there are a set number of crews patrolling a division."

With 1800 first-response officers per shift to serve Queensland's 4,473,000 people, that's a ratio of one officer to every 2485 citizens.