Police continue to crack down on drugs in Brisbane’s bayside

Is Brisbane’s bayside a hub for drug activity after a spike in arrests over the past two years? Read what police are doing to combat the issue.

Police officers Nick Bentley and Bec Taylor in the Wynumm CBD. Picture: AAP/Jono Searle

POLICE will continue to crack down on drugs on Brisbane’s bayside after a high number of arrests in the area over the past two years.

In a story recently released by the Courier Mail recently, where Brisbane regional crime co-ordinator, Superintendent Col Briggs, warned more needed to be done to head off an increase in drug-related assaults, Wynnum West (295 arrests) and Wynnum (287 arrests) both featured among the top 15 suburbs.

Manly West comes in third among bayside suburbs with 128 drug arrests since 2017.

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Wynnum Police senior sergeant Andrew Fitzpatrick said even though the number of arrests were high, they were starting to make a big impact in the area through several operations and community consultation.

“We are aware and have identified certain areas in these suburbs which have increased activity and contribute more to these types of figures,” he said.

“We also believe that over this time we have put a number of operations and tactics in place which have allowed us to make these arrests and apprehend people involved in these types of activities, which is probably another reason for the arrest figures.”

Operations Wynnum Police have started to combat issues such as drugs include Operation Romeo Herin, which has targeted suspicious activity in the Wynnum CBD as well as Wynnum Plaza.

The operation has run for almost seven years but Wynnum Police have increased their presence in the areas and made the operation a major focus in the past two years, resulting in several big arrests.

Drugs seized by Wynnum Police recently. Picture: Supplied

This includes when 14 people were charged with 93 charges as part of Operation Romeo Heron when eight search warrants were executed over two consecutive days from August 20 with 2165 grams of cannabis, 26 cannabis plants, 1.7 grams of methylamphetamine, 1.2 grams of dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and 18 grams of psilocybin (magic mushroom) seized.

At the time of the arrests, Wynnum Police were especially concerned with the discovery of DMT, a rare hallucinogenic drug.

Drugs seized by Wynnum Police recently. Picture: Supplied

Sgt Fitzpatrick said feedback and community consultation continued to be the best ways to address the problem.

“We continue to ask for help from residents through CrimeStoppers or reporting suspicious activity to the station, that’s how we will be able to make an even bigger impact on this type of activity in the area,” he said.

Bayside politicians believe drugs are not a major issue in the area and have praised the work Wynnum Police do in the area to combat the issue.

State Member for Lytton Joan Pease said she was never happy to see high figures for drug arrests in local suburbs but believed one of the major reasons was the strategies and operations police have put in place.

Wynnum Police officers patrolling the Wynumm CBD. Picture: AAP/Jono Searle

“Obviously you’d always like to see those numbers be low but I don’t think those figures mean that it’s a big issue in the area,” she said.

“I believe drug activity on the bayside is isolated to a couple of areas but also I think the reason why arrest numbers are high is because the operations and tactics Wynnum Police are conducting have been successful.

“Wynnum Police continue to do great work in co-operating with businesses and residents to limit the amount of dangerous and suspicious activity on the bayside.”

Ms Pease also said she had not received much feedback from local residents, who have witnessed drug activity on the bayside.

ALP Councillor (Wynnum Manly) Peter Cumming said most of the complaints he received about drug activity came from Department of Housing properties..

“However, I don’t think it is a major problem in the area,” he said. “You rarely see anything obvious around and I think when it becomes a major problem is when drug activity turns into violence and those sorts of things.”