Qld magistrate paints grim picture of South Burnett police staffing
Boosting police numbers in the South Burnett is ‘a priority’ according to state Attorney-General Deb Frecklington amid ongoing criticism of staff levels, including from a regional magistrate.
Police & Courts
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Boosting police numbers in the South Burnett is “a priority” according to state Attorney-General Deb Frecklington amid ongoing criticism of staff levels, including from a regional magistrate.
South Burnett Magistrate Andrew Sinclair laid bare the shocking state of available police services in the region while delivering a ruling at Murgon Magistrates Court on a police protection matter between two people on Thursday.
Mr Sinclair’s comments, published online as part of the decision, were made while he was weighing up submissions by police that each of the two parties involved needed protection from each other.
He said the matter was being decided based on records provided by police, who he said he shared “considerable sympathy” for given the situations “set out by officers themselves regularly in bail affidavits, search warrant applications, and QP9s”.
Mr Sinclair said police “in this district are so scarce they must frequently leave one significant incident part way through because they have been called to other more urgent duties and there are no other crews on duty”.
He said this shortage “might also help explain” delays in serving urgent protection orders across the region.
These orders only become effective once they have been served.
It would also explain a recent instance in which a prisoner subject to a return-to-prison warrant over an alleged parole breach remained on the street for more than a year before his arrest, he said.
The impact was being felt in “the growing apprehension of members of the community where police stations are no longer staffed or the doubling of aggrieved presenting to the Kingaroy Courthouse to take out private applications after unsuccessfully seeking police assistance to do so”.
Mr Sinclair’s comments come as the South Burnett is in the grip of an apparent youth crime wave.
Four teenagers have been charged with multiple offences after a News Year’s Eve crime spree in which three cars were allegedly stolen.
Two of these cars were later found abandoned at Cherbourg, one burnt out.
Investigations were underway into two more stolen cars torched in the centre of Kingaroy on New Year’s Day.
A Murgon family also reported having their two vehicles stolen on Boxing Day.
These cars were later found destroyed.
Two more teenagers have been charged over these alleged thefts.
In response to questions about Mr Sinclair’s comments, police said the Darling Downs District “works collectively to deliver consistent 24-hour policing services to the South Burnett community”.
“This includes proactive and reactive activities as well as specialist support and specialist response capabilities,” police said.
“The QPS continues to adopt an agile and borderless policing approach enriched with technology, in which officers are no longer restricted to a static location.”
In regards to concerns raised about Wondai police station, which A Current Affair reported was only staffed two days a week, police said it was “provided night shift coverage from neighbouring stations of Cherbourg and Murgon, which is 14km away”.
Attorney-General and Nanango MP Deb Frecklington said Tuesday the problems fell at the feet of the ousted Labor Government, under which “the thin blue line became even thinner with police leaving in record numbers”.
“The former government promised an extra 1450 officers by 2025 and failed to deliver,” Mrs Frecklington said.
“By the end of October 2024, there were only an extra 265 police officers than in 2020, with the headcount totally 12,303 across Queensland.”
She said putting more boots on the ground was “a priority” for the state government and “has committed, at a minimum, to deliver an additional 1600 police recruits above the October 2024 headcount over the next four years”.
The police union has been contacted for comment.
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