Surfers community up in arms about the ‘lack of police’ on the Glitter Strip
Surfers Paradise community members are up in arms about a perceived lack of police on the Glitter Strip beat.
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SURFERS PARADISE community members are up in arms about a perceived lack of police on the Glitter Strip beat.
One woman commented on the Surfers Paradise Community Facebook group: “There seems to be plenty of police cars and no police. Never see them walking around.”
Another said it was a “free for all at the moment”, while another woman blamed COVID-19 operations such as hotel quarantine duty and border patrolling.
“Police are down on the border patrol not walking Surfers Paradise streets like they used to,” the person wrote on the community group.
But another user defended the police presence saying there were more officers than usual but felt that more were needed.
Security guard Christian Perez – who stepped in to stop a fight in the Glitter Strip at the weekend – doesn’t agree that violence is due to a shortage of police.
“I see them everywhere, they are on their radios, always doing things, but it only takes an instant for someone to get hurt,” he said.
“Police can’t be everywhere in an instant.
“We know they are around and they get there when we need them, but it can’t all just be up to them.”
It comes as the Bulletin revealed last month concerns by serving and retired officers about stretched resources due to COVID-19.
In an email by a retired senior officer sent to Broadwater David Crisafulli’s office, and seen by the Bulletin, the ex-cop said police were at breaking point due to hotel quarantine duties.
It follows claims by fed-up police that staffing Gold Coast’s quarantine hotels was slashing street patrols and causing incident response time blowouts.
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In response to the claims, highlighted by the Bulletin last month, Gold Coast police boss Mark Wheeler dismissed resourcing concerns.
He noted there were challenges but the district was balancing the business-as-usual policing with the COVID-19 response which had to take “priority” to avoid a Victoria coronavirus surge.
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