Brisbane watch house running at half capacity due to major works, triggers memo to cops

Queensland Police’s assistant commissioner has confirmed parts of Brisbane’s watch house are down to 40 per cent capacity, after a bombshell memo revealed officers had been advised to “consider alternatives to arrest”.

Inside the Brisbane watch house showing processing cells where prisoners are held before having details taken.

Assistant Commissioner Ben Marcus has confirmed one wing of the Brisbane Watch house has been closed for repair works due to a plumbing issue, with parts of the facility’s capacity at about 40 per cent.

His response comes a day after the revelation police crews have been told to “consider alternatives to arrest” people as Brisbane’s watch house is running at just half capacity.

In a memo sent to officers, staff were warned the Brisbane watch house was operating at half capacity due to major works.

“For the greater Brisbane area Brisbane City Watch House is operating at half capacity due to major works,” the memo said.

“Space is extremely limited and crews must call ahead prior to attendance.

“If your prisoner is violent do not delay, one of the violent detention cells can be used.

“Crews are to consider alternatives to arrest as appropriate.

“There is no room for juveniles or protection prisoners and there is limited capacity for females.”

On Friday, Mr Marcus said police still had some capacity in the Brisbane Watch house, and across 12 watch houses in South East Queensland.

“What we do is share the load of the prisoners across the watch houses,” Mr Marcus said.

Mr Marcus said anyone who was a threat to the community would still be arrested, despite a memo being sent to officers asking them to consider alternatives to arrest where appropriate.

The Brisbane watch house is operating at half capacity.

“The fact remains that anyone who needs to be arrested and taken into custody will be arrested and taken into custody.

“Any offender deemed to be a risk to the community will be arrested and taken into custody.”

Asking whether it was a concern police time was being wasted travelling to other watch houses, Mr Marcus said it was business as usual.

“If it takes longer to make the community safer … we will always do that.”

Asked whether the person who sent the memo to officers had been ‘disciplined’, AC Marcus said: “no”.

“The person who put the memo out is at one custody facility and trying to be as helpful as they can, to save police officers wasting time, going to someone that may not have a bed,” he said.

“What the memo says is ‘call first’.”

Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers said the service always had contingencies in place and people were being taken to other watchhouses.

“Things do happen, we have business continuity plans in place and that is exactly what is happening,” he said.

“There is a problem with the infrastructure and we are getting experts into fix it and that just means we need to move other inmates around southeast Queensland.”

Mr Leavers said he wanted to assure the community that police would continue to arrest people commiting crimes.

“I can assure the criminals of the world we are still going to arrest you, we are still going to put you before the courts, you will still be held in custody so it’s business as usual as far as police are concerned,” he said.

Crime reduction operation Whiskey Legion has been operating across the south east over the past week, leading to a large number of arrests and more people being placed in watch houses.

Asked whether it was putting pressure on capacity issues, Mr Marcus said they were operating “as expected”.

“As a senior police officer, I’ll always tell you I want more resources.

“I’m very comfortable that we will continue to target offenders as hard as we possibly can and I can tell you hand on heart we have the capacity within the system to meet that.

“We have capacity in our watch houses.”

It comes as police have launched major operations cracking down on crime across the state, with crews being sent to areas to prioritise problem crime areas. Many of the deployments have been in the southeast.

Watch houses around the state are filling, with extra officers being called on to staff them, including Cairns where staff have been offered overtime and travel allowance.

A police spokeswoman said the watch house had minor flooding because of a pipe leak on April 27.

Assistant Commissioner Ben Marcus. Picture Glenn Campbell

“Staff had to move multiple prisoners around while the leak was isolated and repaired,” the spokeswoman said.

“No one was injured or adversely affected by the water and there were no issues with prisoner movement, prisoner welfare or staff welfare.

“The Brisbane Watch house is now undergoing further maintenance to repair damage and prevent further leaks. It is expected this work will be completed shortly.”

The spokeswoman said contingencies were in place to accommodate prisoners who could not be housed there, while repair work was underway.

“Any offender deemed a risk to the community will continue to be detained across the watch house system as standard procedure,” she said.

“The capacity of all Queensland Police Service watch houses, including those within the wider south east region, are subject to daily fluctuations.

“Capacity figures are closely monitored, and transfers between watch houses and detention facilities are instigated, when needed, to appropriately accommodate the operations of the watch houses and the safety of those in custody.

“The QPS works in collaboration with partner agencies to ensure high standards are maintained with respect to all persons in custody and actively manages capacity across the state, transferring people between watch houses where needed to ensure the safety, health and welfare needs of those in custody are met.”

Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers said the union supported “incentives” to attract more staff to temporarily assist at the Cairns watch house for the increased numbers of people in custody.

“We support the increase in prisoners arrested and incarcerated in the watch houses as it is an obvious side effect of the new Police Commissioner’s initiative to direct police from Police Headquarters in Brisbane to work in regional Queensland to assist, aid and reinforce frontline, first response general duties officers with their massive task of arresting serious offenders,” he said.

“We also support prisoners, once either denied bail or sentenced by a court to be moved as soon as possible to a suitable Correctional centre.

“This increase in focus by the QPS on frontline policing means a natural increase in watch house numbers. Anyone who does not appreciate this clearly does not understand policing. More police on the frontline equals more arrests which in turns equals more prisoners in watch houses which means more staff are needed in watch houses to keep prisoners and police alike, safe. It is that simple.

“The new Police Commissioner is striking a balance and providing police for these additional watch house duties when it’s the result of police removing offenders from the community so they can be prevented from committing crime and creating more victims of crime as these actions by police equal better community safety for all.

“At a time when crime needs to be brought under control, it is entirely appropriate for all police, irrespective of whether they normally work at Police Headquarters, to take on roles in regional Queensland assisting those police on the frontline.

“Operation Whiskey Legion” directs police from Police Headquarters to work in police regions for two weeks at a time, has already produced outstanding results and the QPU supports this police operation continuing as the focus at this time needs to be on frontline, first response policing and all police I speak to are very willing to play their part helping bolster frontline, first response, high visibility policing.”