Gold Coast cops sent to help clear backlog of jobs in Logan

A plan to help clear the backlog of unattended police jobs has backfired on the Gold Coast with claims cops are calling in sick and leaving the city short-staffed. Find out why

A decision to send Gold Coast police officers to help nearby Logan colleagues is causing significant staffing shortages the Glitter Strip, according to sources in the force.

On Monday morning it is claimed Runaway Bay station couldn’t put a police car on the road and had no one to staff the front counter due to unexpected absences.

It’s understood two officers from the station were due to travel to Logan to assist with the backlog of calls for service but they both called in sick.

The Bulletin put the claims to Queensland Police Service which did not dispute them, acknowledging Gold Coast officers were being diverted to Logan as “part of surge capacity, adding “the Gold Coast and Logan Districts work collectively to deliver consistent 24-hour policing services”.

An officer on the Northern Gold Coast described the situation as unsustainable, adding: “It’s robbing Peter to pay Paul – we aren’t in a position to be sending cars and crews to Logan to help with calls for service, we can’t manage our own.

“Logan has been on its knees for months with intense demand.”

Runaway Bay Station couldn't put a car on the road on Monday due to short staffing.

An internal police email obtained by the Bulletin reveals the Queensland Police Service (QPS) executive plan to send officers from the Gold Coast and South Brisbane to Logan early last week.
“This will be ongoing and rolling, Tuesday to Sunday initially and then scaled back,” a senior officers wrote in the email. “They will target all variety of calls for service including domestic violence. Many will come over several weeks from various stations. Showing them how well you work together and how much we appreciate (their) support is the best marketing to fill vacancies.”

Asked by the Bulletin about the staffing vacuum at Runaway Bay and diverted officers to Logan calling in sick, a QPS spokesman said due to “operational matters” it couldn’t disclose how many Gold Coast officers would be deployed to Logan to assist with the workload.

“The Gold Coast and Logan Districts work collectively to deliver consistent 24-hour policing services to their communities,” the spokesman said. “To ensure community safety is maintained, both districts operate under a holistic response framework, with urgent and life-threatening calls for services always treated as a priority.

“When allocating police resources, the QPS takes into account the service delivery requirements of each area, community policing initiatives and the complexity of providing an equitable policing service.

“While staffing levels and absenteeism will fluctuate from time to time, the QPS remains committed to delivering professional policing services to all residents and visitors, and resources will be deployed to support locations where necessary.”

QPS added from July 1, Logan District would benefit from 80 new positions allocated across the South Eastern Region.

The Queensland Police Service couldn’t say how many officer were being sent to the Logan Police District. Picture: Liam Kidston

A copy of the police jobs list from Monday shows at 9.30am the Gold Coast had 60 calls for service that were listed as unresourced, the category used when officers have not been able to respond. At the same time Logan had 64 unresourced jobs.

The following morning, the Coast had 86 calls for service that remained without a police response, 10 more than 76 that were unresourced in Logan. Despite this, officers were still pulled from the frontline on the Gold Coast to go and assist their neighbours further north.

Originally published as Gold Coast cops sent to help clear backlog of jobs in Logan