Thin blue line strengthened as police fill vacancies across the Far North
The Far North’s desperate police officer shortage is improving with more than two dozen vacant roles filled in the last three months, the region’s top cop says.
Cairns
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The Far North’s desperate police officer shortage is improving, with more than two dozen vacant roles filled in the last three months, the region’s top cop says.
But the Opposition has attacked the LNP for failing to curb youth crime figures across the state through its Making Queensland Safer laws introduced late last year.
The Queensland Police Union revealed the Far North held the highest vacancy rate for police officers in the state last year with 13.2 per cent, or 118 sworn officers, needed across the region.
But that figure has dropped dramatically since December with new cops bolstering the thin blue line, Chief Superintendent for the Far North district Kevin Fitzgibbon said.
“We’ve had a reduction in vacancies of about 26 which is a significant improvement,” Superintendent Fitzgibbon said.
“There are internal activities under way to deploy more police to the Far North.
“There was a graduation in Townsville last Thursday with about 12 (police officers) coming directly from that cohort to the Far North. There will be more police on the street as a result.”
Police Minister Dan Purdie, who attended this week’s community cabinet in Cairns, conceded a lack of experienced police officers and staff retention in regional Queensland remained a concern.
“We need to stop police leaving in droves,” the former police officer said.
“Over the last 10 years, the laws were watered down and police were losing the battle against a rising tide of youth crime.
“It was my old team in the Child Protection Investigation Unit that all left at about that time because they’d had a gutful of fighting a youth crime crime crisis with their hands tied behind their back.
“We are sending a clear message that we do have our frontline police’s back … and we value them.
But Mr Purdie couldn’t provide a timeline on when the state government will reach its target of adding 1600 police officers to its police force.
“It took 10 years to get to the dire situation we’re in now and we’re working tirelessly to arrest that,” he said.
Shadow police minister Glenn Butcher said the LNP’s efforts to cut crime so far had been underwhelming.
“David Crisafulli promised crime would drop as soon as his signature laws were introduced. It hasn’t,” Mr Butcher said.
“In the first month since the laws took effect there has been an 11 per cent increase in juvenile offenders charged with break-ins and a 21 per cent increase in offenders who were charged with unlawful entry with violence.”
The LNP announced more than $30m to allow specialist police officers to conduct more high visibility patrols throughout the state on Monday.
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