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 Queensland Police Service

Eyes front: Constables Nat Fowler, Rose Clarke, Shane Martin and Dan McEntee are ready for their first assignments in the force, joining nine fellow-rookies in Cairns

PLAYING cops and robbers as a 12-year-old, Dan McEntee knew he had chosen his dream job.

The fresh-faced constable is among 13 new officers hitting the streets for the Queensland Police Service in Cairns.

The budding crime fighters have finished a 30-week training course and will now finish a year-long constable program.

Nine of the rookies will be based at the Sheridan St police station with the others being stationed at Smithfield and Edmonton. They will undergo three months at the various stations to learn the ropes.

Cairns District Education and Training officer Sgt Joy Melchiori said the rookies ranged from having backgrounds in tourism and hospitality to corrections and Customs officers.

"We had six in January, 14 in May, four in August and this lot in December," Sgt Melchiori said.

BUDDING crime fighter Andrew Hunter today begins his new job as a rookie constable – a Cairns boy back from police training to patrol the community he grew up with.

THIS is the state-of-the-art, mobile police station security services have been using to protect dignitaries at this week’s Pacific Island Forum.

Far Northern police opened the doors of the $220,000 van this week, allowing access to the facility which was stationed on Collins Avenue, near Whitfield House, where talks between the leaders have been held.

Cairns Police District Insp Russell Rhodes said the van was based in Townsville but was often used by Far Northern police for large-scale events.

He said it allowed police added mobility.

“It allows us to instantly set up a police station,” he said.

“We use it for planned events like the Pacific Islands Forum, Cairns Amateurs or Port Douglas Carnivale.

Gotcha: Constable Wayne Lummis from Cairns traffic branch with the new VW Golf GTI, one of the new fleet of undercover cars that can book people for speeding.

SPECIAL unmarked police vehicles nabbed 23 motorists speeding during a six hour period at the weekend which has disgusted the region's acting inspector.

The patrols on the Bruce Highway, south of Cairns, are believed to have stopped over-eager motorists travelling to the Dunlop Townsville 400 and by midday a motorist had been booked every 17 minutes.

"It is a concern that they can get that many in such a short period of time – it clearly shows that people aren’t driving appropriately," acting Far Northern traffic co-ordinator Insp Preben Farbaek said.

"There is still a high rate of motorists that need to get the message and change their driving behaviours."

The weekend operation – which came as the region’s horror 2009 road toll sat at 27 – was one of many in the region that use the two unmarked police cars called Qcars, which look like any other vehicle on the road.

Acting Innisfail District Insp Peter Williamson said he believed many of the offences were related to people travelling to Townsville.

He said another motorist was caught overtaking a Qcar at 165km/h in a 100km/h zone on the Bruce Highway near Babinda on July 7.

The 21-year-old P-plater from Kirwin in Townsville has had an automatic six-month licence suspension.

"It’s not good," Insp Williamson said.

"People continue to speed and over the last weeks people have seen a lot of high speeds come through.

"It’s only a matter of time until one of these speeds end up in a serious accident."

Apart from the Qcars, there are up to eight other unmarked police cars in the Cairns district also used in operations.

"It’s about trying to change the mentality of these blatant road offenders," Insp Farbaek said.

"We try to have a high visibility presence out there but we can’t obviously be everywhere at once. It’s definitely not revenue raising. We refer to that as a voluntary tax.

"If you don’t want to pay them don’t commit the offences."

After phasing the special Qcars out in the v80s and ’90s the police are reintroducing them into the fleet and more are expected soon.

"The issue here is to try to get people to drive safely whenever they think police aren’t around," Insp Farbaek said.

"It enables us to be a little more operational in a sneaky way and instil that healthy thought in the person’s mind".

Cairns began without a police force, apart from the customs officers whose powers were limited to customs duties. However the authorities knew that law and order would be arriving soon. In October, as the town was being surveyed, the Police Magistrate of Cooktown set aside three acres as a reserve for what eventually became the first court house and police station in Cairns.

Early crimes usually were stealing, fighting, drunkenness and stealing livestock. The European officers in charge of Native Police could not deal with it as their job was to 'disperse' aborigines from areas of European settlement. [link to Aborigines] However they became very concerned with the crime rate. Policemen in Cooktown and Cardwell also heard rumours of crimes committed in Cairns and pressured the government to create a police force in Cairns.

Thanks to their complaints, there was a police station in Cairns in 1876 as well as one at Smithfield later in the year. This first station had one Senior Sergeant and five Constables. The arrival of this force was sorely needed, as crimes in Cairns were getting more violent and frequent.

One of the crimes committed after the arrival of this new police force was particularly gruesome and occurred when a dead Austrian packer named Frank was found floating in the Barron River around 3.2 kilometres from its second crossing on the 8th of September 1877. When a post mortem was performed on 27 August 1877, the cause of death was found to be a revolver bullet to the right temple, the revolver being found near the scene of the crime. Although a man was later arrested for this crime on the basis of suspicion, he was eventually released due to lack of evidence.

By the end of 1877 the size of the Cairns police force had grown to 1 Second Class Inspector, 1 First Class Sub-Inspector, 2 Second Class Inspectors, 1 Senior Sergeant, 2 Sergeants, 2 Senior Constables and 20 Constables.

In 1911 Cairns got an attractive new timber police station on the Esplanade. It served the city until 1976 when a new masonry building replaced it. This was on the corner of Shields St and the Esplanade. This only lasted until 1992, when the police moved to the new Police Station and Law Court precinct in Sheridan St.

The Court House

The first court house was a tent on the Esplanade. It was within a metre of the high tide mark and was described as "uncommonly dirty". The Court of Petty Sessions officer was James Pevers. Courts of Petty Sessions looked after civil cases and minor matters, like being drunk and disorderly or trying to recover bad debts. Pevers was soon joined by a Police Magistrate, Edmund Morey, who could hold trials for more serious crimes. Port Douglas took the shine out of Cairns for a while so it took until 1884 to get a proper court house. A new timber court house was built in Abbott St, in the same block as the Customs Office. It was opened by W.R.O. Hill, then the Police Magistrate. It was renovated in 1908 and given new gas lighting but the local residents weren't happy. They wanted a new one. It was described as the "worst court house in the North", which was certainly an exaggeration. In 1919 a new concrete court house was built, in the dignified Classical style of grand public buildings. It served the city until the 1990s when it was replaced by the new building on Sheridan St. The old court house, once the pride of Cairns, is now a bar.

The Cairns Prison

Every police station had a cell or two as a lockup. Official jails (or gaols) were only found in larger towns. In 1897, the jail at Herberton closed because the town was declining, and the Government decided to replace it with a new jail at Cairns. It was behind the old Court House and it was run by police officers. It held prisoners who were locals serving short sentences, no more than 6 months, or awaiting trial at the Court House, or waiting to be transported to Stewart Creek jail in Townsville. The prisoners going to Townsville were those sentenced to longer prison terms for serious offences.

The stockade was fenced in by an iron fence about 6 metres high. There was cell space for 50 men. The only female prisoners were those in the lock-up, which was separate. The lock-up was for people awaiting trial for very short periods of time. Prisoners were kept busy with hard labour, mostly splitting logs for firewood, which was sold as fuel for wood-burning stoves. Prisoners with special skills would do other work eg. Chinese market gardeners grew vegetables.

The jail closed on 28 February 1925 and the remaining prisoners were transferred to Townsville.

Further Reading:

Dawn May, "Cairns Building Boom 1907-1914", Cairns Historical Society Occasional Paper No. 9.

W.R.O Hill, Forty Five Years Experience in North Queensland, 1861-1905.

Cairns Police Bike squad

The new Police Bike Squad has been accepted by the residents of Cairns.

Their duties consist of riding around the CBD and keeping an eye out for any problems that may arise, they also have been seen riding around some of the suburban areas.

If you see these officers riding around stop and say gday and show them your appreciation for keeping the CBD safe.

Coming up soon "The Trail Bike Cops" stayed tuned for more info.

He has already liaised with the Cairns Bike Squad and said he was looking forward to working with them more in the future.

Setting the benchmark: Victoria Carrillo, Brent Carter and Brad McLeish have their sights set on reducing property crimes

A squad of 14 Cairns detectives, brought together to target property theft in the Far North, has laid 437 charges against 142 people in less than two months.

Launched in mid-March, officers involved in Operation Benchmark have made a significant dent in what was a rampant property crime scene in Cairns - returning thousands of dollars worth of stolen goods to its owners.

As well as property-related charges, the operation has also laid robbery, fraud and drug charges.

It has also claimed several major scalps, including the arrest of three men accused of robbing and bashing an Italian tourist and a man who allegedly broke into five separate dwellings and sexually assaulted the occupants.

The man has been charged with five counts of burglary, one of sexual assault, two of indecently assaulting children and one of abducting a child.

Cairns Police District Supt Brent Carter, who established Operation Benchmark shortly after arriving in Cairns, said the operation had started well. But it is not over yet.

"It has been a real success story for Cairns," Supt Carter said.

"Property theft has been an issue in Cairns for some time and we are really making a mark on reducing it.

"I knew it was an issue but I am very impressed with the results the detectives have got."

Supt Carter said iPods, phones, cameras and cash tended to be the most commonly stolen items, but said property including power tools, stereo equipment and jewellery had also been targeted.

Although still in its early stages, the operation has already had a marked affect on crime in Cairns, with property theft rates now lower than last year.

"If we hadn't started what we did, property crime would still be going up," Supt Carter said.

"But we are pulling the figures back from last year.

Cairns Property Crime Squad Det-Sgt Brad McLeish said the operation was focused on the western suburbs but charges had been laid in relation to thefts right across the city.

He said solving one theft often led to more charges and arrests in relation to other offences.

As well as gathering information from offenders, police have also used intelligence gained from questioning members of the public through a campaign of more visible policing.

While Supt Carter said that information had proved useful, he said the results could not have been achieved without the dedication of the officers involved in Operation Benchmark.

Sydneys new riot squad people talking - good and bad but they achieving the results that good citizens would expect.

Watch the video and see for yourself what our police have to put up with and this is what Queensland needs.

Click here to see the video...

REMEMBER: It could happen anywhere 

A young cop tries to break up a wild pub brawl.

In the process he's crash tackled, headbutted and left unconscious.

WE MUST SUPPORT OUR POLICE OFFICERS

Click here to see the video as shown on sixty minutes...

 On patrols: Public Safety Response Team members (from left) Dean George, Vincenzo Fioriti, Pete Robinson and Richard Hinrichsen walk the streets of Cairns last night. Picture:

POLICE from Brisbane last night joined an ongoing effort in the Far North to crack down on anti-social and alcohol fuelled offences in the CBD and across Cairns. 

Four members of the Public Safety Response Team will spend the weekend working in Cairns, helping police in their efforts to clean up notorious trouble spots throughout the city.

Insp Russell Rhodes said the four Brisbane officers would work with the Tactical Crime Squad and City Beat officers.

"Over the last two months we have increased police numbers substantially between 4am and 6am on Saturdays and Sundays in the CBD and other suburban hot spots," he said.

"This has reduced the number of public disorder offences through an increased detection in these vital hours.

"We have also conducted increased compliance with licensed premises.

"It’s going to be an ongoing crackdown."

Insp Rhodes said the crackdown was in response to the high number of offences committed in the CBD on Saturday and Sunday mornings. "We are focused on anti-social offences and offences fuelled by alcohol and drugs," he said.

"The apprehension of offenders will be a high priority because ultimately we need to enhance public safety for those who want to enjoy the restaurants and nightclubs of Cairns."

He said information gathered in the past had allowed police to better target trouble areas.

"We have been doing weekly operations and have increased operations through intelligence-
driven rostering that has put more police on the streets at vital times," he said.

 Right response: Acting Chief Supt Brent Carter

  ONE of Cairns' police bosses says officers used their first Taser shot appropriately and saved an elderly woman from immediate danger.

The woman was 5m away from the man when he jumped the fence into her back yard as he was running from police at Woree on Monday.

Acting Chief Supt Brent Carter said a domestic violence investigation had started more than two hours before the Taser was used.

Man shocked by taser hit

Officers were called to the Woree property shortly after 4pm and again at 6.20pm.

In between, they were called to a Dunbar St, Mooroobool, incident which involved the same group of people after 6pm.

Acting Chief Supt Carter said the man was in an agitated state with clenched fists and rocking side-to-side but when police confronted him he ran into the back of the yard.

He said the man climbed a fence and police told him they had a Taser and asked him to stop.

"At this point in time, police were made aware there was an elderly woman in the yard next door and they took that into consideration, of course, with the violence that is alleged that occurred in the afternoon that this male could be, or likely to either flee, attack police or perhaps go towards the woman," Acting Chief Supt Carter said.

"He was side-on to police and at that point when police took action and he was immobilised for a five-second period and police arrested him."

The man faced a charge of assault and obstructing a police officer in Cairns Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

So far Cairns police have unholstered Tasers in nine confrontations but had never fired one before Monday.

Tasers were rolled out in the Far North in January and 40 per cent of the Cairns District officers have been trained.

Acting Chief Supt Carter said at least seven out of 10 of those trained had voluntarily been shot by a Taser