Burleigh police beat and Southport officer boost will help policing morale, resourcing crisis

Police desperately need to get on the “front foot” to handle Burleigh’s emergence as a hub for partying and trouble, a crime expert says. Subscribe to read his solution

Burleigh needs a police beat to combat crime as it morphs into a wild entertainment precinct and more cops stationed to troubled Southport CBD, a leading criminologist says.

Dr Terry Goldsworthy, an ex-detective now a criminologist at Bond University, is calling for change after Queensland Police Service staff survey results revealed by the Gold Coast Bulletin.

Bond University Criminologist and former Gold Coast Detective Inspector Terry Goldsworthy says Burleigh needs a police beat.

The confidential QPS’ Working for Queensland Survey from October last year expose plunging morale within the rank and file and high rate of staff burnout. It also shows Southern and Central Gold Coast beat police suffering higher rates of burnout and stress compared to colleagues in party and tourism hubs Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach.

Dr Goldsworthy said the model of mobile or “borderless” policing “was not matching what was happening on the road”.

“Those figures tell me the workload is not being spread equitably. Resources should be deployed to address that,” Dr Goldsworthy said.

If demand was high at Southport where police attended homeless, drug offenders and DV complaints, more police should be stationed there, he said.

“Southport has always been a busy station. The counter is phenomenally busy, you have the Courthouse next door, the watch house, the hospital with guard duties. Southport is a high crime area,” he said.

Dr Goldsworthy said a Burleigh shopping precinct police beat should also be a priority.

Residents this month said they feared a return to “Braw-leigh”, where in late 2022 up to 40 vans were parked along the beachfront.

James St shopping precinct workers said they were afraid to walk to cars after shifts, with some operators shutting early to out of concern for their welfare. Customers had stayed away due to physical attacks and thefts, prompting business operators to plead in the Bulletin for help to “claim back” their idyllic suburb.

“Burleigh has gone to being a service-based industry little village to a very popular nightspot. There are any number of alcohol service businesses opened up, quite late into the morning,” Dr Goldsworthy said.

“I drive past The (Burleigh) Pavilion and queues are 30 to 40 metres. It’s becoming very popular for young people to party.

“You have Coolangatta, Broadbeach and Surfers as the nightclub precincts. Very shortly Burleigh will have to be declared one. That’s even moreso when you get the light rail stopping at Burleigh.

“I expect to see some increase in assaults. We know light rail attracts crime. It’s problematic there late at night,” he said adding police needed to get on the “front foot there” with a police beat operating weekends and nights “when the calls for service are there”.

A QPS spokesman said the Service was committed to keeping people safe.

“We highly value staff participation in Working for Queensland. Senior management respond to the results as a priority including reporting actions to the Executive Leadership Team” the spokesman said.

“Strategies are already being implemented by local police management to address work fatigue and increasing calls for service.”

“The QPS will continue investing significant resources into supporting its workforce.”

The police beat push comes after QPS closed major shopping centre police beats.

In March, the Bulletin revealed the QPS had rejected a $1-a-year rent offer and free utilities to keep the police beat open at famed Pacific Fair.

A QPS spokesman said the decision to close the police beat and the ones at Robina Town Centre and Australia Fair were made as the service transformed to “an agile and borderless policing approach”.

Officers could use technology which did not require them “to be restricted to a static location”

But several police sources claimed the reason behind the controversial closures was due to a lack of staffing.

“Broadbeach is responsible for staffing the police beat. They can’t put cars on the road they’re that short – so they needed every spare person they’ve got.” an officer said.

SEE THE FULL SURVEY RESULTS