Gold Coast crime: New police beat to open at Harbour Town shopping centre

Officers will be stationed at one the Gold Coast’s biggest shopping centres by the end of June.

ONE of the Gold Coast’s biggest shopping centres will soon have the law pounding its pavements.

Two officers will be stationed at Harbour Town Premium Outlets from the end of June, with the new Police Beat all but complete.

Assaults, theft and robbery will be the target of officers, as they look to keep one of the highest foot traffic areas of the city under control.

Police Officer Bernadette Dobyn and Chief Superintendent Mark Wheeler at the Harbour Town Police Beat. Picture: Jason O’Brien

The opening of the Harbour Town beat coincides with the closure of the Biggera Waters Neighbourhood Police Beat.

Gold Coast Chief Superintendent Mark Wheeler said: “The Biggera Waters Neighbourhood Police Beat has been decommissioned. We want the community to know about that, it no longer exists.

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The Harbour Town Police Beat would start June 22.

“We will have officers operating out of here. We’re now going through the budget process for this area, working out the boundaries, because it’s going to be really important that we can work out our crime rates and clear-ups around this area.”

Chief Superintendent Mark Wheeler. Picture: Jason O'Brien

He said the allocation of the beat was a smart strategic move for policing the Coast.

“The area here is strategically important to us. There is some nine million people visit this shopping centre every year, and when we look at the surrounding areas and what the trends are, it’s important that we have police working out of here.

“It’s important that we get our operational police operating out of here as soon as we can. Where you have so many people congregating in one area, there’s opportunistic theft and we will see the odd offence against the person, but we want our police here to be highly visible and out patrolling. The aim is for them to be out and about in the shopping centre and the surrounds,” he said.

Police Minister Mark Ryan said the new beat was a step forward in community policing on the Gold Coast.