Sarina residents call for 24-hour police station to combat night crime

Anger is building in a small North Queensland town as residents claim criminals run rampant in the night. WATCH THE VIDEO

Frustration is rising in the small North Queensland town of Sarina as criminal behaviour goes unchecked in the night and residents are left hanging on lengthy police response times.

Cienna Beal worked nightshift at a petrol station for 12 months and said order would often fall apart after the town’s police station shut up shop in the afternoon.

“Sarina can be chaotic at night,” she said.

“That’s when it gets ridiculous.”

She said she had witnessed multiple examples of criminality.

“This one bloke stripped down naked and I don’t know exactly what he was doing but he came in, he abused me and my co-worker,” she said.

“He came in with a torch and he said ‘oh you’re a woman, so I wont bash you’.

“He ended up yelling at us.

“Ended up going down to the end of the shop, strips down naked.”

Cienna Beal used to work nightshift at a petrol station and said she had witnessed multiple examples of criminality in the night. Picture: Contributed

“I called the police but they did not show up until it was too late.”

Ms Beal said the response time on that occasion was one-and-a-half hours.

“Every time I have to call the police because of some junkie there is always at least a 45-minute wait to about an hour-and-a-half,” she said.

The station, located on Broad Street, closes to the public at 3pm, according to its website.

Mirani MP Stephen Andrew is calling for it to become a 24-hour operation to stabilise community fears about unchecked crime.

Multiple residents have expressed support for the idea.

Writing on the Sarina Community Notice Board Facebook page, Jasmine Lambert said: “Currently if something is happening you have to wait for the Mackay cops which can take 30 plus minutes.”

When asked if he would establish a 24-hour station in Sarina, Police Minister Mark Ryan was noncommittal and spruiked his government’s investment in policing.

Police Minister Mark Ryan speaks at Parliament House in Brisbane. Picture: Dan Peled

“The government is making the biggest investment in policing in more than three decades to deliver more than 2000 extra police personnel,” he said.

“The allocation of police personnel and resources is strictly a matter for the Police Commissioner and her senior officers free of political interference, just as it should be.

“The Police Commissioner has stated publicly that the government’s investment in policing will result in a minimum of 150 extra police officers to each policing region including Central Region.”

Sarina exists within the Mackay division and although the station is not manned 24 hours, a Queensland Police Service spokeswoman said the town was protected by a 24-hour “policing response capability”.

“Police officers, when not rostered on shift, maintain an on-call capability to respond to incidents,” she said.

“These stations also enjoy the support of neighbouring 24-hour divisions who provide assistance and support to urgent and large-scale incidents.

She said the QPS monitored resourcing levels across the state to ensure all communities were provided with the best services possible.

“The District maintains the discretion and flexibility to deploy resources as demand dictates, reflective of our borderless approach to community safety,” she said.