Queensland police back relaxed drug laws

A coalition of former chief ­commissioners has backed Queensland’s plan to relax drug laws as the Palaszczuk government concedes it is struggling to recruit police.

Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll and Police Minister Mark Ryan. Picture: Kevin Farmer

A coalition of former chief ­commissioners has backed Queensland’s plan to relax drug laws as the Palaszczuk government concedes it is struggling to recruit police.

The Palaszczuk government unveiled proposed laws this week to allow drug users to carry up to a gram of illicit substances, including MDMA, cocaine and ice, ­before facing a criminal charge.

Police Commissioner Katar­ina Carroll, along with her predecessors Ian Stewart, Bob Atkinson and Jim O’Sullivan, backed the legislation, believing drug users should be treated rather than prosecuted.

“I wanted this reform because research shows that if you divert people early to health and education services they are less likely to reoffend,” Ms Carroll said. “We can’t arrest our way out of this.”

Mr Stewart, who served as Queensland’s top cop from 2012 to 2019, said the proposed laws would also free up police to target drug traffickers.

“I would suspect that every commissioner … for the last 20 years, would have been advocating for this type of change,” he said.

Under the proposals, revealed by The Australian this week, a person is given a warning the first time they are caught with a drug and on the second and third occasions the “opportunity” to participate in a drug diversion program.

Only on the fourth time they are caught with drugs are police required to issue a person with a court notice to appear on a charge of possession – and even then they may be spared a conviction.

Every year, about 20,000 people in Queensland are found with small quantities of drugs in their possession. It can take officers about nine hours to process offences through court.

The new legislation comes as the state government launches a global police recruitment drive to meet an election commitment to hire an extra 1450 officers by 2025, above attrition.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said there were “difficulties in terms of recruitment everywhere, in every industry”.

“It is in every labour market and it is in every state across the nation, this is not unique,” she told parliament. Police Minister Mark Ryan said the government was “about halfway” to meeting its election commitment, but internal police data obtained by the Courier-Mail suggests the total headcount for sworn officers has grown by just 92.

Mr Ryan said the police service had already waived application costs and stepped up recruitment efforts but “labour markets are tight”.

Through an agreement with the commonwealth, police will launch an international marketing campaign to attract recruits, which will offer them a pathway to permanent residency and citizenship.

“The Queensland Police Service has approval for 500 new international recruits to join the service each year for the next five years,” Mr Ryan told parliament.

LNP police spokesman Dale Last said the government’s unfilled and undelivered “approved positions” were cold comfort to Queenslanders who had been victims of youth crime. “We are in the middle of a youth crime epidemic and this government is too busy fudging figures to actually get boots on the ground to keep Queenslanders safe,” he said.