Mudgeeraba, Nerang and Broadbeach police stations struggle to staff patrol cars
A Gold Coast police officer says the frontline is on “the bones of our a***” after claims three of the city’s stations were left with no staff to attend call-outs on the same day. Find out more.
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A senior Gold Coast police officer says the frontline is on “the bones of our a***” after claims three of the city’s stations were left with no staff to attend call-outs on the same day.
Police sources have told the Bulletin Mudgeeraba and Nerang stations couldn’t put a patrol car on the road on the morning of Friday, March 1 due to staff illness, with officers pulled from local police beats to attend jobs.
Broadbeach station was also left with no patrol crew in the afternoon.
“We are on the bones of our a***,” a senior officer said.
“You have no idea how bad it is.”
Police sources within Broadbeach station have told the Bulletin they have been struggling to meet demand for months.
“Some days it’s 20 or 30 jobs that don’t get touched by the time I finish, I just don’t have enough hours,” a constable at the station said.
“It’s not just us. This is happening weekly here (Gold Coast).”
A spokesman for the Queensland Police Service said staffing levels do fluctuate from time to time but there is sufficient resources to deliver services.
“The Gold Coast District has the discretion and flexibility to allocate police resources as needed.” the spokesman said.
“Where necessary Rapid Action Patrol (RAP) can be deployed to assist and provide staffing resources.”
The staffing of police stations across the Coast has been in the spotlight for months.
Last week QPS announced 11 recruits had been assigned to stations across the city. They will spend a year here as part of their training.
While it has been a welcome announcement, it comes after a series of Bulletin reports about the state of staffing for the Glitter Strip.
Six approved officer positions have vanished from the Palm Beach police district leaving the crime-ridden southern Coast with its lowest resources in more than 13 years. The Gold Coast’s busiest police station, Southport, is often operating at half strength at night. The station’s watchhouse also faces understaffing with officers at breaking point and some walking off the job on stress leave.
Meanwhile further north at Runaway Bay the Bulletin has been told by officers that there is no patrol car on the road for several hours overnight due to staffing availability.
Concerns over police numbers has the community living in fear according to Mudgeeraba MP Ros Bates.
“It’s outrageous that Gold Coast police stations are empty during different parts of the day,” Ms Bates said.
“Our dedicated local police officers are exhausted, under-resourced and overworked because of the chaos and crisis.”
Ms Bates said statewide the number of officers was going backwards with 322 less police on the beat compared to last year.
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