Wide Bay MP Llew O’Brien backs campaign for District Duty Officers

A former police officer who now serves as the member for Wide Bay has backed the campaign to bring mobile senior police officers to the region.

Wide Bay MP Llew O’Brien.

A police officer turned politician has thrown his support behind a campaign to bring District Duty Officers to the region.

The campaign to bring District Duty Officers to the region, spearheaded by the Fraser Coast Chronicle, Gympie Times and Bundaberg NewsMail, has begun in the aftermath of an inquest investigating the death of a young father in Maryborough in late October, 2022.

The inquest at Hervey Bay Courthouse delved into the moment William George Grimes, 31, was tasered after he doused himself with fuel on March 3, 2020, at Granville State School.

The inquest heard from experts who were unable to determine if it was the lighter in Mr Grimes’ hand or the taser used by police that ignited the flames that caused burns to 70 per cent of Mr Grimes’ body.

William George Grimes died on March 10, 2020, aged 31, a week after he suffered burns resulting from the incident at the school.

Mr Grimes died of his injuries a week later in hospital in Brisbane.

During the inquest, the role of District Duty Officers was raised repeatedly.

Wide Bay MP Llew O’Brien, a former Wide Bay police officer, said the senior officers were an important human resource.

“Usually, when police are called to an incident, it’s because all else has failed,” he said.

“And when this happens, our police need every available resource to ensure the job is performed effectively, which means ensuring the safety of everyone involved.

“Often incidents are larger in scale or more complex in nature, and having a senior officer dedicated to the co-ordination role not only provides an extra level of experience but allow those officers performing the more practical tasks associated with the response to get on with the job in a more timely manner.

“Regions like ours have challenges that more urban areas don’t.

“We have greater distances between services and deadlier roads.”

It is understood the Wide Bay is the only region from the Gold Coast to Cairns that does not have a DDO, but the creation of five positions would give coverage to the region seven days a week, 24 hours a day, with a senior officer always just a phone call away.

“A first response general duties police officer in Wide Bay can be called to a serious incident where, at short notice and in the heat of the moment, they can be called on to perform many roles, including negotiator, crowd controller, investigating officer, arresting officer and many more, all while co-ordinating other emergency services at the scene,” Mr O’Brien said.

“It is only right that our local women and men in blue have the same resources to do the very difficult job we expect them to do.”

During the inquest, testimony was given by Detective Sergeant Dave Perry, who investigated the incident.

Sgt Perry was in Maryborough that week to investigate a separate incident involving a death in custody.

He was on the scene of the Granville incident just a few hours after it happened.

While speaking of what he discovered during his investigation into what he called “very unique circumstances”, Sgt Perry highlighted the role of DDOs and how they can help co-ordinate and lead officers at serious incidents.

Wide Bay MP Llew O'Brien

All four of the officers who were called to the scene to try to help Mr Grimes that night agreed that a DDO would have been a valuable resource.

The issue of DDOs will be considered as part of Coroner Terry Ryan’s findings, due to be handed down in the next few months.

But we believe Wide Bay should not have to wait any longer and action should be taken now.

A spokeswoman for the Queensland Police Service said it would not be appropriate to comment while the matter was subject to coronial proceedings.

“The QPS will thoroughly consider any recommendations put forward by the Coroner,” she said.

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