Police respond to ‘anti-social’ disturbances gripping Maryborough CBD

Just hours after an erratic, near-naked man was filmed running through Maryborough’s CBD amid escalating disorder, a top cop’s pledge to restore a safe atmosphere in the city was interrupted in jaw-dropping fashion.

Just moments into a top cop’s media conference about escalating “anti-social” behaviour in Maryborough, a menacing man with a tattooed cheek and few teeth drags a council rubbish bin past the police station, yelling and ranting as he goes.

Maryborough Patrol Group Inspector Paul Algie, who has today already overseen a siege negotiation in nearby Hervey Bay, keeps a poker face but the irony is not lost on anyone living and working in the deteriorating CBD where just hours earlier, a near-naked man was videoed running the streets before being detained.

A man walks around the Maryborough CBD in modified shorts resembling underwear on Friday.

Speaking about Operation Whiskey Legion, a high-visibility crackdown where a group of officers are assigned solely to patrol problem hotspots including the CBD, Queen’s Park and the city’s two major shopping centres, Insp Algie says the aim is for people to feel safe so they can “go about their business free of any behaviour that is disturbing or upsetting to them”.

“I work in the Maryborough CBD myself, so I understand the community’s concern about instances of anti-social behaviour in the area,” he also says in a QPS statement.

“However, we have employed reactive and proactive strategies to detect, disrupt and deter illegal drug activity and anti-social and intimidating behaviour in this area, including the high visibility operation we kicked off yesterday.

“This is a complex issue that also involves a range of support services police are working with our government partner agencies to address this from all angles and holistically case mange these individuals who are all know to police.”

It comes after this publication first highlighted the efforts of CBD whistleblower Daniel Beattie whose campaign to document the deteriorating impact of seemingly unsupported deranged and drug-addled vagrants on the city’s reputation and businesses peaked with imagery showing defecating in the street, a man stripping naked and walking the streets and two emergencies in Bazaar St involving a rooftop standoff and library-closing assault all within 72 hours.

Multiple clips showing aggressive, guttural screaming outside businesses and St Paul’s Anglican Church also emerged as Deputy Mayor Paul Truscott and hundreds of locals took to social media to declare the community was at breaking point.

Newly elected Maryborough MP John Barounis has also since announced he will hold a community meeting about the CBD crisis at City Hall next Thursday at 5.30pm.

While stressing mental health nor homelessness are crimes, Insp Algie acknowledges people are concerned by the increase in disturbing public behaviour and “whether you’re homeless or not, if you commit criminal offences you can expect to be dealt with by police and prosecuted” (the man pictured defecating on the corner of March and Kent Streets last week was charged while the man seen in his underwear on Friday was detained under an Emergency Examination Authority).

Insp Algie says police “cannot do this job alone”, that officers work with the department of housing and other agencies and drug addiction and mental illness are also public health issues.

The Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service which oversees both the Maryborough mental health ward and the recently completed $40 million Fraser Coast Mental Health Inpatient Unit in Hervey Bay, said it was aware of disturbances in Maryborough in recent months but that “anti-social behaviour is not necessarily an indicator of a mental health episode requiring treatment”.

Asked what follow up care was provided for people discharged from a mental health unit, a WBHHS spokeswoman says the Mental Health Act 2016 “promotes voluntary treatment wherever possible and ensures that the treatment is provided in the least restrictive manner possible”.

A police press conference on "anti-social" behaviour is interrupted by a colourful character outside the Maryborough station.

“Once someone receives any mental health care by WBHHS, appropriate referrals are made for the individual to be supported within the community and within their own networks.

The FCMHU currently has 22 operational beds, with a further 10 to be added in a new Old Persons Mental Health Unit, which is scheduled to open in 2025.

The proximity of the Maryborough jail to the city and ongoing issues with recently released and repeat offenders who find themselves on the streets has also angered locals.

LaFamilia restaurant owner Chuck D’Zilva claims prisoners, many of whom suffer from mental health issues, are released into the community with little support and are often burn the small amount of money they have on drugs within the first few hours.

“They get released from prison and get half a dole payment”, Mr D’Zilva says.

“There’s no transitional housing, there’s no drug rehabilitation stuff.

“If you’re going to have a prison, you need to have transitional housing”.

However, a Queensland Corrective Services spokesperson says prisoners who are released and do not have accommodation lined up “are connected with service providers, who assist in securing suitable accommodation prior to their release on parole.

“Having secure housing significantly increases the chances of preventing further offending”, the statement reads.

CSQ also maintains it is a requirement for an inmate to have a fixed address or temporary accommodation before they are granted parole.

Maryborough CBD resident Daniel Beattie has had to install multiple security cameras and bars on his windows as crims wreak havoc in the city's streets. PHOTOS: Phillip Clynes-Clinton

Meanwhile, as police patrols increase, Mr Beattie, feels that he is “finally being heard”.

“We’ve had to showcase the reality very hard to finally get a result”, he says.

“I believe the police are being a bit more reactive than proactive considering how long I have been pushing for something to happen; however, we are very happy to have some progress”.

He’d also like to see a permanent Police Beat set up around the Queen’s Park area so officers can patrol both sides of the CBD on-foot.