Police Minister Mark Ryan disputes David Crisafulli’s Cairns police numbers
Claims by the Opposition Leader that Cairns police numbers have remained static since 2015 have been met with a fiery rebuke by the Queensland Police Minister.
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Claims by the Opposition Leader that Cairns police numbers have remained static since 2015 have been met with a fiery rebuke by the Queensland Police Minister.
On Monday David Crisafulli streamed a live press conference to Twitter from the Esplanade Lagoon alongside Cairns Mayor Bob Manning.
Mr Crisafulli lambasted the Palaszczuk Government in regard to Queensland Police officers, who he claimed were leaving the service faster than new recruits could get boots on the ground.
I'm speaking #LIVE from Cairns with Mayor Bob Manning. #qldpolhttps://t.co/ruIxM9cXc6
— David Crisafulli (@DavidCrisafulli) March 19, 2023
“Since the government was elected in 2015 there are fewer police in Cairns than there was eight years ago,” he said.
“We are not keeping pace with those officers that are leaving in the middle of a youth crime epidemic.
“Police feel like punching bags, they are leaving in droves.”
Based on whistleblower reports according to the LNP between 2015 and 2022, Cairns has had one full-time officer cut, Innisfail has had three officers cut, Tully has had one officer cut and Thursday Island has had five officers cut.
Police Minister Mark Ryan didn’t hold back when responding to claims made by the Opposition.
“Well that is just a big fat lie and he is a liar,” he said.
“There are almost 100 extra police in the Far North region today compared with when the government was elected in 2015 and there’s more police on the way.
“The government is funding more police and more funding for police, more resources for police, in fact if the LNP was elected there would be 90 less police for the Far North region than compared to Labour, so he is a liar and he is a big fat liar.”
The 100 extra pairs of boots on the ground since 2015 appears to fall short of the 150 new officers promised for the Cairns by Mr Ryan and police commissioner Katarina Carroll in February last year.
In another busy weekend for law enforcement Cairns police enlisted the support of the Rescue 510 helicopter to track stolen vehicles through the streets of Edmonton, Gordonvale and Bentley Park on Sunday night.
Eight vehicles were stolen between Thursday and Monday morning to bring the running March total to 50 cars.
A total of 178 cars have been stolen this year after an all-time record of 1299 was set in 2022.
Queensland Police Service was contacted for comment.
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