What strategies is the Queensland Police Service employing to combat crime in the Cairns area generally and the Barron River Electorate particularly, and what resources are being made available for this purpose?

ANSWER

This Government is committed to combating crime throughout Queensland and to providing the Queensland Police Service with the resources it needs to build stronger and safer communities.

This Government has provided a steady increase in the number of police in the Cairns District. Cairns district currently has an approved strength of 466 officers and increase of 17 from this time last year. Cairns district also has 28 PLO and QATSIP police officers.

This Government's commitment to the civilianisation of non-operational roles such as the Cairns Communications Centre, Cairns Watch house and Cairns Station front counter has also released police to front line operational policing roles in the Cairns District.

Cairns police also use District and Regional resources such as the Cairns District Traffic Branch, Far Northern Police Region Drug Squad and Tactical Crime Squad to combat crime. State-wide resources, including Drug Detection Dogs and the Public Safety Response Team, are also available to support the Cairns police in their crime prevention and detection activities.

Cairns police are on the front foot in the fight against crime in the region through the use of intelligence driven proactive and reactive operations.

One such operation is ‘Operation Headline' which targets violence and property offence hot spots. ‘Operation Headline' commenced in December 2006 to target offenders and ‘hot spot' locations and to assist with crime investigation activities. It involves the creation and ongoing operation of a proactive squad dedicated to:

• identifying crime ‘hot spots';
• patrolling identified ‘hot spots' and targeting identified recidivist and violent offenders;
• conducting compliance audits of second hand dealers;
• reviewing unsolved crime reports to obtain new information; -obtaining intelligence on suspects; -conducting property crime awareness campaigns, including house to house
• personal visits in ‘hot spot' areas for property offences;
• identifying and undertaking intense management of high-risk recidivist offenders through the application of the Offender Risk Assessment Matrix (ORAM) by the Cairns District ORAM Committee; and
• arranging media campaigns to promote property security.

The success of this operation in the Cairns City area has seen it expanded to surrounding police divisions including Smithfield and Edmonton.

Police are also using targeted operations to prevent alcohol and drug related crime in public spaces. For example, ‘Operation Levity' was recently conducted in all major centres in the Far Northern Police Region to reduce the incidence of patrons in and around licensed venues consuming a volatile combination of both dangerous drugs and alcohol.

This operation was supplemented by a very high profile media plan. The media plan was designed to highlight the incidence of drug and alcohol fuelled violence in and around licensed premises. This resulted in very positive community acceptance of strategies such as the presence and use of Drug Detection Dogs to reduce the availability of dangerous drugs in licensed premises, thereby reducing the propensity for violence.

The Cairns Police District is also very proactive in forming partnerships with the community and other agencies to combat crime. The police actively participate in forums such as the ‘Cairns Safety Summit' that brings together local government agencies and state government agencies to develop strategies to provide for greater safety across the Cairns area.

The Cairns District police also attend and participate in public forums on crime such as the recently held Cairns ‘Residents Against Crime' forum to discuss community concerns about crime in Cairns and surrounding areas. The Assistant Commissioner for Far Northern Police Region attended the forum with other Cairns Police managers and responded to concerns raised by members of the public. The meeting attracted over 220 attendees.

Since that meeting senior police consulted with attendees who raised concerns and provided them with feedback on police actions to address their concerns.

The Cairns District police are also very proactive in their participation and support for crime prevention strategies such as Crime Stoppers and Neighbourhood Watch. Additionally, there are two school-based police officers based at schools in the Barron River Electorate.

These strategies along with dedicated commitment from local police generally have seen a significant reduction in the incidence of ‘Offences against property' in the Cairns region.