Inside Queensland’s toughest police job

They are the police officers you never want to meet who have arguably the toughest job in the service. This is what it’s really like working in the Forensic Crash Unit.

They’re the officers you never want to meet.

Camera in hand, dressed in high-vis at the scene of a fatal crash, the officers of Brisbane’s Forensic Crash Unit arguably have the toughest job in the service.

And as Queensland records its highest road death toll in a decade, these officers are working harder than ever, and delivering tragic news to families more than ever.

Officer-in-charge Acting Senior Sergeant Patricia Brennan is one of these dedicated officers who know the carnage of the road toll first-hand.

“Yes, you see some horrible things, some things people shouldn’t have to see or deal with, but it is dealing with the families (that’s the toughest),” Sergeant Brennan said.

“The emotional investment you put into them is far more hard than what you see on the road.

“Sometimes you can and sometimes you can’t give them answers, and that’s the difficult thing, not being able to give a definitive reason to why their family member is deceased.”

For the team of 19 officers in the Brisbane unit, and across Queensland, it’s been a big year.

In 2022, 296 people died in fatal crashes on the state’s roads, including 135 drivers and 42 passengers.

It’s the highest death toll in at least a decade, and has increased an average of 40 deaths since 2017.

Forensic police investigating at the scene of a car crash in Brightview, west of Brisbane. Picture: Liam Kidston.

But Sergeant Brennan said the causes of these crashes were the same as they’d been for years.

“We do have the usual speed, surprisingly still some drink drivers, and people not wearing seatbelts particularly in rural areas.

“But majority isn’t anything extraordinarily different this year than any other years.”

Across the state, 29 pedestrians also died in crashes, which Sergeant Brennan said was a statistic that wasn’t highlighted enough.

“We have a lot of pedestrians walking out on the road without looking, without judging how far away the cars are.

“Mobile phones are still an issue. People walking face down, texting, walking on the footpath running into things. If you can’t do that when you’re walking how can you possibly do that while you’re driving?”

Alarmingly, 73 motorcyclists died this year, which is 22 more deaths than 2016.

Sergeant Brennan said “lane splitting” was a major hazard.

“They’re going too fast down between the traffic and they can’t react if a car who’s unaware that they’re there changes lanes.

“Like pedestrians, they have to be more aware of their surroundings.”

Sergeant Brennan, who has been working in the FCU for 24 years, has witnessed unimaginable things, but said any crash involving a child hit a little harder.

The Forensic Crash Unit attended Dunlop St and Dartmoor Drive, Kelso, for a vehicle and pedestrian incident.

“Not just toddlers or babies, but primary school kids, high school kids, where life was just starting to take off, and then it doesn’t.

“Something as well that I don’t think many people think about is the people who cause these crashes … most are just mum and dad driving to the shops, or doing what any average person would do. They’ve just had an error of judgment, made a mistake.

“Although families are absolutely devastated, sometimes these things have a flow on effect to the people who have contributed to the crash.”

The flow on effect also reached the officers, but Sergeant Brennan said being able to bring closure to a family made the tough times worth it.

“If you took on board everything you see and deal with, you’d be curled up in a ball on the floor.”

Her message to drivers next year, and every year, was simple.

“Take the extra time to look before you enter an intersection. Just take an extra second or two.

“And put the mobile phone away.”