Concern grows among Ipswich residents as police close Booval Station

It’s one of the most crime affected areas of Ipswich — with prostitution, theft and assault charges going towards hundreds of offences over the past few months — and soon it will be without a police station.

The Queensland Police Service has announced it plans to close Booval Police Station after a review revealed it was “outgrowing” its suitability to accommodate staff and service the local community.

This comes as Booval clocks up its 230th crime committed in less than 90 days and a new “mobile police beat” is launched in the Ipswich District.

Police data released in February revealed Booval was the sixth most dangerous suburb in Ipswich, with a sky-high number of theft offences and a prostitution offence recorded in the three months prior.

Between January 14 and Wednesday April 13, the suburb recorded 231 offences including: 93 thefts, 21 property damage offences, 21 fraud offences, 19 drug offences, and 18 assaults.

Constable Brian Kitto at Booval Police Station in 2011. Picture: David Nielsen

A post shared to social media about the announcement garnered more than 100 comments from concerned community members — one wrote the closure was a “very poor decision”.

“Being a business owner for 15 years in this area, the once well-run Booval station helped ... with often difficult community needs,” the Facebook user wrote.

“Police that knew the locals and locals’ needs.”

Another user questioned the Service’s understanding of just how prolific crime in the area is.

“Removing a police station from the most notorious area of Ipswich for crime?” she wrote.

“Not safe to walk from the Booval train station to Booval Shopping Centre. There needs to be more active police in this area!

“What happened to research into the advantage or disadvantage of this move?”

A police spokesman said the decision resulted from a review of issues including service demand, available resources, officer safety, emerging crime trends and population growth.

“A review of policing establishments in Ipswich has identified Booval Police Station as outgrowing its suitability to accommodate staff and adequately serve the local community,” he said.

“Approximately half of all calls for service in Booval are currently being responded to by police in neighbouring divisions and extra staff cannot be accommodated in the small post-war building.”

He said the service was adopting an “agile and borderless” policing approach which means officers will spend the majority of their shift responding to calls and patrolling areas.

Booval officers will “transition” from the station on April 22, but the officer in charge will remain until “formal” closure occurs.

“Police boundaries within Ipswich Police District will be modified to absorb the Booval Police Division into neighbouring divisions,” the spokesman said.

“Officers attached to Booval Police Station will be reallocated to nearby policing divisions. The Booval positions have been allocated to Ipswich and Yamanto stations where divisional boundaries have been realigned to service the Booval community through a 24/7 policing response.”

In the same week police announced they are closing the Booval station, they shared they would also be launching a “police station on wheels” in Leichhardt to be deployed to locations across Ipswich, including Booval.

A police spokesman said the mobile police beat will allow officers to swiftly attend to major incidents, investigations, and emerging crime issues.

The facility is part of a state government commitment to deliver 25 mobile police beats by 2025.

Meanwhile, the police spokesman said the Booval Police Beat “continues to remain open and resourced”.