‘Low morale, decreasing trust in leadership’: Top cop’s stark warning

Queensland Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski detailed the “many challenges” confronting the service, and received Cabinet approval for a secretive and broad-reaching review, just weeks before he took indefinite sick leave.

Documents obtained under the Right to Information Act reveal Gollschewski was concerned increasing demand and pressure on the Queensland Police Service to do more had “eroded the QPS ability to proactively and more effectively target crime and other community safety issues, such as road safety”.

That, in turn, had led frontline officers to lose faith in leaders, and the public to lose confidence in police, particularly when “many of the police districts routinely experience significant numbers of unallocated jobs, including many that require an urgent response”.

Queensland Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski wanted a broad-ranging internal review.

Gollschewski aired his concerns after the Liberal National Party was elected on a policy platform centred on compelling magistrates and judges to be tougher on young offenders. Once in government, the LNP honoured its commitment to meet with the commissioner to discuss how to resolve the “youth crime crisis”, with Premier David Crisafulli still staking his leadership on being able to reduce victim numbers during this term of government.

At the same time, 2024 ended with the highest road toll in 15 years, the Queensland Police Union was actively campaigning over recruiting and resourcing issues, and the Crime and Corruption Commission was warning of an increasing number of corruption and misconduct complaints about police.

Documents obtained by this masthead show Gollschewski felt the QPS was being unfairly hampered by “mission creep” and needed to be refocused. He wanted the review to also deliver more authority to leaders and more support to frontline officers.

“Over the past 10 years, the organisation has experienced ongoing instability following a number of reviews, machinery of government changes and internal restructuring,” Gollschewski wrote.

“Whilst the organisation has grown significantly in that time, it is questionable whether the right balance exists in leadership roles allocated to both frontline support and at executive level.”

An inquiry by the Queensland Human Rights Commission in December found the QPS was riven by “systemic discrimination”. It followed a previous Commission of Inquiry that found sexism, racism and misogyny were a “significant problem”, as well as more routine coronial inquests, court cases and internal audits.

After Gollschewski’s 100-day review was first reported by Nine Queensland on February 5, the government and QPS rebuffed requests for further information, and the terms of reference have still not been made public. It is unclear what, if anything, will be released after review is completed.

Most of the documents identified in the RTI request were withheld, with the QPS decision-maker finding a need to keep Cabinet deliberations confidential.

Gollschewski’s concerns were outlined in a one-page draft summary of his reasoning for a review. On February 13, he sent the document to Police Minister Dan Purdie, or one of Purdie’s senior advisors, by text message.

In the document, Gollschewski – who took on the role on March 2, 2024, after the abrupt departure of the state’s first female commissioner, Katarina Carroll – warned that the QPS faced “many challenges, all of which impact on its ability to deliver frontline services”.

It is the most damning appraisal of the state of the QPS in decades, and leaves a cloud over its future.

“The agency has not been able to adequately keep pace with change and effectively deliver the resources, systems, leadership development and technology required to support its workforce in their important mission,” Gollschewski wrote.

The documents do not name the recipient of his messages – who inexplicably had Queensland’s most experienced police officer saved in his phone as “Steve Golschescsky”. The scope of the RTI included correspondence between the commissioner and the minister, but Purdie’s office refused to comment.

Whoever Gollschewski was dealing with on his one-pager replied saying they had “culled it down to ½ a page” – a week after the review was first reported in the media, and as unnamed officers were telling the tabloids the QPS leadership was to blame for its problems.

QPS staff were told of the review, and on February 20, Purdie told parliament it had “two overarching objectives: support frontline police and rebuild workplace morale”.

Former high-ranking officers Brett Pointing, Ross Barnett and Mark Ainsworth were appointed to the review panel, chaired by employee relations specialist Mischa Fahl, who previously helped the QPS reconsider its culture and structure.

They were to report to Gollschewski, with their work also overseen by Deputy Commissioner Shane Chelepy and Assistant Commissioner Brian Swan.

But the timing of Gollschewski’s sudden departure – the QPS released a statement about his cancer diagnosis on February 28 – meant the 100-day review would be undertaken mostly in his absence.

Gollschewski released a message to staff in which he reiterated the government’s support for the review and the need for other police leaders to potentially see it through.

“The QPS Review will proceed as planned, and I know the QPS leadership will remain committed to the transformational approach I have initiated,” he wrote.

In Gollschewski’s absence, Chelepy was appointed acting commissioner, which he then juggled with his other role as state disaster co-ordinator during widespread floods and Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

Chelepy declined to be interviewed about the review.

While Purdie indicated the review would be completed by the end of June, the Crisafulli government is pushing ahead with its own law and order agenda. The government recently moved to give frontline police greater powers – particularly in relation to random searches and responding to alleged domestic violence – and reduce their administrative and human rights obligations.

It has also sought to recruit more officers, build more secure facilities, expand its youth crime laws, and still intends to scrap drug diversion programs.

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