Tony Perrett joins calls as campaign for Deputy District Officers grows

Gympie MP Tony Perrett has joined a growing chorus calling for senior, experienced roving police officers to be added to the region’s services following a coronial inquest into a Maryborough man’s death.

Gympie MP Tony Perrett has joined a growing chorus calling for senior, experienced roving police officers to be added to the region’s services following a coronial inquest into a Maryborough man’s death.

Gympie MP Tony Perrett has joined a growing chorus of voices calling for senior roving police officers to be installed across the region, saying their absence only highlights ongoing bureaucratic ills within the service.

Mr Perrett’s support follows the launch of a NewsCorp campaign for District Duty Officers to be introduced in the wake of a coronial inquest into the tragic death of a Maryborough man.

William Grimes suffered fatal injuries in March 2020 when he was tasered by police after having doused himself in petrol while threatening to self-harm.

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Experts at the inquest were unable to determine whether it was the taser or a lighter in Mr Grimes’ hand which ignited the flames which burned 70 per cent of his body.

The inquest revealed an urgent need for DDOs across the region.

Retired sergeant Steve Webb, who attended fatal crashes across the region, has been among those calling for DDOs to brought in.

NewsCorp has launched a campaign calling for experienced District Duty Officers to be installed across Wide Bay police services after a coronial inquest found there was an urgent need for them.

Mr Perrett said the lack of such experienced officers reflected ongoing staff shortages which left police stations and frontline services “under stress”.

“Most stations run under strength regularly, particularly small stations such as Imbil and Kilkivan,” Mr Perrett said.

“Even based on the government’s preferred statistic Gympie station has been stagnant at 39 officers since 2017.

“In Imbil it has been two since 2017 – but that doesn’t mean that two officers will be working there.

“It regularly has only one working there.”

Gympie MP Tony Perrett said the absence of DDOs highlighted ongoing concerns about police service retention and staffing levels across the Gympie region.

He said Tin Can Bay’s count of eight staff included two working from under a house at Rainbow Beach more than 30km away.

The state government claimed it was increasing its recruitment “the reality is that police are leaving as quickly as they’re recruited”.

“There is no net gain,” Mr Perrett said.

It “sometimes takes months” to replace those who leave, compounding the problem.

“The best prevention to crime is a visible presence of police officers,” Mr Perrett said.

“There is no substitute.”

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