Katarina Carroll urged to intervene on stood down officer case amid mounting frontline pressure

The Queensland Police Union has urged Commissioner Katarina Carroll to reinstate a stood down Gold Coast officer amid mounting pressure from frontline staff.

Senior Sergeant Arron Ottaway

• Reaction: Fury over ‘absolute crock’ decision

Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll has been urged to intervene and reinstate a respected Gold Coast officer amid mounting pressure from frontline staff.

Gold Coast officer Senior Sergeant Arron Ottaway was stood down after a claim that he helped catch armed offenders by authorising officers ram a stolen car on the Gold Coast on February 1.

An internal police unit review is now underway into the claim that Sgt Ottaway allowed officers to ram a stolen Volkswagen Arteon when it had been driving for 18 minutes on its rims after tyre-deflating devices, or stingers, were used.

The Queensland Police Union has asked the commissioner to intervene in the matter this week.

It’s the second time the officer has been stood down for a pursuit, after he was last year placed on desk duties after an internal investigation into the pursuit of a stolen car driven by teens in which police rammed the car in a control precision immobilisation technique known as a PIT manoeuvre. There was no sanction, guidance nor any other disciplinary action against Sgt Ottaway for the matter.

The stand down comes amid the state’s crime crisis, with thieves increasingly targeting homes to steal cars.

Senior Sergeant Arron Ottaway

In the incident this year, police had been tracking a group who had stolen an Audi 5 on January 29 which was allegedly involved in multiple dangerous driving incidents in the following days. On January 31, the Audi was driven to a house in Pacific Pines and people armed with weapons got out and allegedly threatened people at the home before stealing the Arteon.

The two vehicles went to a house in Mermaid Waters the following day, with people in the vehicles allegedly involved in a failed carjacking attempt.

The two cars were then tracked by police. Police rammed into the Arteon, after deploying stingers, and arrested the alleged offenders.

Officers also arrested the people in the Audi. Sen Sgt Ottaway works as a district duty officer, a senior role in which split-second decisions regularly need to be made.

Two days after the incident, officers attended his house just after 8pm and issued him with “professional development” paperwork in front of his wife and children. On February 8, Sen Sgt Ottaway was stood down pending the outcome of an investigation into the pursuit.

After the February 1 incident police arrested two 15-year-olds, three 18-year-olds and a 17-year-old.

The Queensland Police Union is furious about the stand-down and have called on Commissioner Katarina Carroll to intervene.

“This is an example of the disconnect between senior management in the South Eastern Police Region and frontline police,” president Ian Leavers said.

Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll.

“Senior Sergeant Ottaway should be receiving commendation for co-ordinating the apprehension of serious criminals and instead the police hierarchy are standing him down from operational duty.

“It is no surprise crime is out of control in the Gold Coast when the police hierarchy are so out of touch with frontline policing that they would rather stand down hard working police than let them apprehend (alleged) criminals,” he said.

“It seems the senior police hierarchy on the Gold Coast would rather police sat behind desks than be out keeping the community safe and apprehending (alleged) criminals.”

Former Gold Coast police chief Jim Keogh said Sen-Sgt Ottaway was “one of the most competent operational officers working in Queensland” and was being punished for doing his job.

“Anything he does, any action he takes, he would have community safety at the front of his mind,” ex-Superintendent Keogh said.

“He’s obviously frustrated seeing the same offenders on the street, day in and day out. If Arron Ottaway is frustrated, you can bet a lot of other officers are feeling the same.

“Those offenders (involved in the pursuit over which Sen-Sgt Ottaway was stood down) simply weren’t going to be taken – they were travelling on the rims of the stolen car.

“Arron is very professional and knows the law and operational procedures backwards. He knows how to effect a take-down safely but for some reason, the police hierarchy seems hell bent to get him.

Former police Superintendent Jim Keogh. Photo: Jamie Hanson

“The more offenders are allowed to run riot, the more the public are at risk. Officers like Arron Ottaway need to be allowed to do their duty.”

The investigation into Sgt Ottaway has left colleagues in dismay.

“It was textbook. Went off without an issue,” an officer who was working on the night said.

“Three cars were damaged. And? What’s the alternative?

“An innocent person being injured?”

The stand-down of Sgt Ottaway has caused outrage across the Gold Coast Police District. Officers have started a #FreeOtters campaign, printing off flyers and hanging them in lunchrooms at stations across the city.

Sources within the force claim the respected cop is being targeted for voicing his concerns with senior management about the welfare of his colleagues.

“It is entirely political. He has stood up for our mental health, the stresses we’re under and tells them (management) we can’t cope,” one officer said.

“It is a single senior boss that is not happy about Otto breaking ranks and sticking up for us and they have it in for him.”

“Otto is the only DDO that will let us do our job. He lets us pursue kids in stolen cars when it’s safe.”

Speaking further on Tuesday, Mr Leavers said he had been speaking to Sen Sgt Ottaway every day who “just wants to get back to work and do his job”.

He said Queensland didn’t want to cause a “disconnect” between senior police and frontline police that had been raised in coronial findings after Melbourne’s Bourke St rampage.

Six people died and 27 others were injured when James Gargasoulas drove a stolen car through lunchtime crowds in Melbourne’s Bourke St in January 2017.

Police Union President Ian Leavers. Picture, John Gass

An inquest found that a fear of being disciplined stopped some police from being assertive on the day and that there was also a lack of assertive leadership.

“We have a crime wave at the moment where the public are demanding police take action,” Mr Leavers said on Tuesday.

“And what they are saying is we want the police to protect us and that’s where we go back to the Bourke Street massacre. Some of the findings out of that was the disconnect between frontline police and senior management. We don’t need to see what happened down in Melbourne happen here in Queensland.”

A spokesman for the Queensland Police Service said: “The circumstances around an incident involving the pursuit of a motor vehicle at Mermaid Waters on the February 1, 2024 are currently being investigated by the Ethical Standards Command. No further information is available at this time.”

Originally published as Katarina Carroll urged to intervene on stood down officer case amid mounting frontline pressure