Gladstone’s Officer in Charge unwavering in approach to region’s incessant drug crime

They lurk in the shadows and cause bedlam on our streets. Drug dealers and suppliers have the region in a stranglehold and have the police second guessing their efforts. Find out if a street in your area is on the list.

They hide in the shadows yet cause bedlam on our streets, drug dealers and suppliers are fraying the Gladstone region’s tensions and have police second guessing.

In an exclusive interview with The Observer, Detective Senior Sergeant Tony Andersen said it was hard to say whether they were winning the war on drugs in the region.

“We have teams of detectives, we also have a district response team with uniformed officers who actively target drug offenders in the Gladstone region,” he said.

“There is always opportunities for us to continue our investigations, whether we are winning it or not that is hard to say.”

With more than 1400 drug offences recorded in the Gladstone region over the past quarter alone (May 13 to August 12) Mr Andersen said the Gladstone CIB took a holistic approach to fighting drug crime.

“We don’t have any specific areas we target, we target everywhere,” he said.

“The detective teams I mentioned earlier will cover the entire region from Agnes Water, Baffle Creek to the northern end of our division as well.

“Obviously if that can cut off the supply to people that are merely users, they are the people who we will target.”

Mr Andersen said the Gladstone CIB had various continuing operations throughout the region, which always looked to cut down drug activity.

“One highlight in the last quarter was the successful operation Sierra Wise in July by the Biloela Criminal Investigation Branch, which falls under our control,” Mr Andersen said.

“That was targeting cannabis and cocaine in the area, it was quite successful.”

Mr Andersen said there were support services out there for people who chose to get off drugs.

“We would also ask the community if they are aware of people that are involved in the sale, supply or use of drugs that they contact Crimestoppers,” he said.