myPolice From the Commissioner's Desk

To the Community of Queensland

2012 has seen significant changes both in our organisation and the community of Queensland generally. It is vitally important to your police department that we maintain a strong partnership with each one of you- something I have asked all members of our department to work toward every day. Your confidence in our ability to do our job fairly and objectively is critical to a safe and secure Queensland and in this regard we will strive to provide a policing service second to none.
I wish to acknowledge and thank all members of the Queensland Police for the great work they have done on behalf of our community during the past year.
I particularly want to thank all members of the community who have in any way assisted or supported the Queensland Police over the past 12 months. This is a job that we cannot do alone and your support is gratefully acknowledged.
In closing, I want to wish every member of the community (including all members of the Queensland Police) a safe, holy and happy Christmas. Please treat each other with respect wherever you are and stay safe on our roads.
Thankyou and best wishes for 2013.

Queensland Police Media · 200 Roma Street · Brisbane, Queensland 4000

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Keep your home secure

Try and keep your home secure; do not leave items of value unattended in your vehicle and keep an eye out for suspicious persons or vehicles in the area.

SNEAK OFFENCES.

With the warmer weather doors & windows are being left open to let air in.   This is not a problem if you stay near that door or window.   Unfortunately we have had a number of incidents where the offender has come in via an unlocked or open door/window even when the residents have been home.   They target easy items such as wallets, purses, phones, keys, etc. that are left of kitchen bench or other easily accessible location.   Please be mindful that this is quite prevalent, keep doors/windows locked when you are not near them or have sufficient security devices in place such as security screen/door.

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Daniel Morcombe's Funeral

Bruce Morcombe tells what made Daniel so special.

A moment in time that will live with all of us forever occurred nine years ago today. Please do not be sad. Appreciate that the evil act which took Daniel happened a long time ago. Today is about embracing his return to family and being reflective of what might have been.

Do we dwell on what we have lost or accept the space we are in and find some positives?

I'm sure all who knew Daniel; including our family members, his friends, former teachers and classmates at Mountain Creek Primary School and Siena Catholic College, family friends among others all agree the only way forward is to feel blessed to have known him.

He may no longer be with us but Daniel's legacy lives on. The Daniel Morcombe Foundation is committed to doing all we can to ensure this never happens again by educating children on ways to keep safe and supporting young victims of crime.

The national profile and media interest in Daniel's search has allowed Denise and I to meet with many other family members of missing persons, murder victims and survivors of terrible crimes. Clearly the Morcombe family are not alone. We have been touched by each of your unique journeys and we will continue to do what we can to help.

I pay tribute to the Queensland Police Service, SES volunteers, media outlets, government and business leaders, Crimestoppers, the Queensland Homicide Victims Support Group, his former schools, parishioners and the broad community for never forgetting Daniel. I also acknowledge the efforts of West Australian Police and the Queensland Coroner for getting us to where we are today.

I'm sure we have all discovered strengths we did not know we had.

Australia is a better place because of this. Our children and grandchildren are safer because of Daniel's legacy.

What is truly ironic about all the recognition, support, help and publicity his search has attracted is that he was such a quiet kid.

He was not an attention seeker yet because of his sparkling eyes and beaming smile captured in photo after photo he is someone everyone took into their hearts.

That is what made him special.

Source: The Courier-Mail

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Support Aussie Cops

REST IN PEACE
Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson

NSW Police Force
6 December 2012

From the NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione:
"A veteran of the police force ... an excellent officer and a damn good bloke," he said.

"He was called to a dispute and at the scene suffered some serious injuries. He was pronounced deceased a short time after." He said NSW had lost a dedicated, brave and skilled officer, who would have gone a long way in the job.

"Insp Anderson worked for me as a young officer. He was a fine officer then, his tenacity, his courage, his wisdom and his strength stood him in very good stead to go much much further than he has," Mr Scipione said.

[PHOTO: http://www.smh.com.au/ / Kylie Pitt The Hawkesbury Gazette ]

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FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK

Our Facebook page is now up and running - https://www.facebook.com/WillowValeNHW.

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THE APP EVERY AUSTRALIAN PARENT SHOULD HAVE

Posted: 27 Nov 2012 10:23 PM PST

A new FREE smartphone application has been developed to help Australian parents provide information to police in an attempt to locate their children if they go missing.

The Australian Police Child ID App was adapted from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Child ID App in the United States. This collaborative effort has seen the Australian Federal Police (AFP) create a tool that will help parents and guardians more easily collect and send important information about their child/children to authorities in the event of a disappearance or abduction.

The application allows families to store photographs and vital information about their children on their mobile phone. In the devastating event that a child goes missing, this information can be immediately provided to authorities.

While the vast majority of children who go missing are quickly returned safely, usually within 24 hours of going missing, the application can be used to quickly provide crucial information to police, assisting them to expedite their search.

The application also includes safety advice and checklists for parents on keeping children safe, information about what to do in the hours immediately after a child goes missing and provides quick and efficient access to emergency contact phone numbers.

Available at no cost for Android and iPhone users.

Anyone with information relating to a missing child should contact their local police or contact National Missing Persons Coordination Centre on 1800 000 634 or email missing@afp.gov.au. 

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From Mark Boothman MP

"Police Solve Serious Assaults within the previous 24 hours, Gold Coast police have solved a number of violent assaults on the Gold Coast.  Yesterday afternoon, police charged two teenagers in relation to the serious assault of two security guards at a Palm Beach takeaway store. It is alleged that a disturbance occurred in the store in the early hours of November 11, 2012 which resulted in a security guard being knocked to the ground suffering severe head injuries.  A 16-year-old and 17-year-old boy have each been charged with two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm and are due to face Southport Magistrates Court today.  Police have also charged a 25-year-old man and a 30-year-old man with one count each of assault occasioning bodily harm, stealing, possession of a dangerous drug and possession of a drug utensil following the serious assault of a taxi driver at Coolangatta on the evening of November 11, 2012.  It is alleged that the taxi driver transported two men to an address in Coolangatta prior to the attack which caused him serious injury. Such examples reiterate the commitment of police to keeping our local area safe for all who live and visit the Gold Coast."

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myPolice From the Commissioner's Desk

Police pursuit policy a matter of balance  

There has been a lot of ongoing discussion about police pursuits in recent times, and I thought it might be useful to elaborate on my views on this matter.

Police work is inherently a dangerous job, but our first priority must always be public safety.

Every day our officers must make snap second decisions about how to resolve potentially dangerous situations, and the single most dangerous thing they will do in their career is get behind the wheel of a car.

Sounds mundane, doesn’t it? But worldwide, more police and members of the public are killed ‘in police action’ due to car crashes than any other cause.

A recent study by Australian Institute of Criminology shows that more than half of all people killed in Australia in an interaction with police die as a result of police pursuits. And that is not just offenders. More than one third of those are the general public.

While I understand the frustration experienced by officers who see offenders flauting the road rules, the risks associated with pursuing them for minor traffic offences are simply too great. It is worth noting that the Queensland Police Union of Employees supported the implementation of the policy. I question the timing and nature of the comments now being made by spokesmen for the union in the lead up to union elections. This issue is too important to be used for political purposes.

You don’t have to look far into the past to see the tragic consequences for innocent bystanders in Queensland.

I have personally had to tell a father that his teenager died as a result of a police pursuit. I never want another one of our officers to have to go through that awful task.

The reality of our pursuit policy is that our officers can pursue if there is a significant public risk in letting the offenders go. This is rarely the case.

Overwhelmingly, these evade police incidents are young, inexperienced drivers who are either drunk, affected by drugs, or both. They have little regard for their own safety, and even less care for the safety of other road users. According to the AIC, nearly 90 percent of offenders who died in pursuit crashes are impaired.

We have to be the cool, responsible head in these situations, and understand that by pursuing these people, we are dramatically increasing the risk to you, to our officers, and to the offenders. Our first priority is always to public safety, and it must always be that way.

The good news is that we are getting better at catching these offenders. Increasingly, we are charging people after the event with evade police after the event, through following up on investigations. Take the example highlighted in the Courier Mail this morning. An 18-year-old Waterford West man was arrested one week after the incident, and charged with:

• 8x stealing
• 1x fail to stop motor vehicle
• 6x armed robbery
• 2x dangerous operation of motor vehicle
• 1x unlicenced driving

He was remanded in custody to appear again in Beenleigh Magistrates Court on 20 November.

The Government recently introduced mandatory minimum sentences for evade police, and the first offenders have already been sentenced under this legislation.

This is the start of the solution to this matter. By bringing these offenders to justice, and imposing heavy penalties, these acts of stupidity will be deterred in the safest way possible for everybody.

I will be reviewing the pursuit policy over the next 12 months, however we must always strive to get the balance right between public safety and deterrence.

Queensland Police Media · 200 Roma Street · Brisbane, Queensland 4000

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Rising Pressure on Organised Criminal Networks

Police continue to apply pressure to OMCGs with the latest statistics revealing more than 285 (Members; 
Ex Members; Probationary; Prospect; Nominee and Associate OMCGs) have been charged on 705 
offences between January 2012 and October 2012.
The most serious charges include:
.  five Murder, Attempted Murder and Grievous Bodily Harm offences
.  113 Drug Trafficking, Supply, Produce and Possession
.  29 Possession / Use of a Dangerous Article
.  26 Motor Vehicle Steal / Unlawful Use and Possession
.  14 Unlawful Possession of Firearms
.   20 Assault Occasioning Bodily Harm / Assaults on Police
.  23 x Break and Enter, three Robbery and one x Deprivation of Liberty offence.
Increased scrutiny and intensive police activity targeting all OMCG crime will continue in an effort to create a strong disincentive for those who aspire to become OMCG members or support OMCG activities.
November 7, 2012 at 2:11 pm 

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Ways to Safeguard Your Home

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From the Commissioner’s Desk

This week I started my new role as the 19^th Commissioner of the Queensland Police Service, and I thought it was only appropriate that I use this opportunity to launch From the Commissioner’s Desk, my new blog.

I look forward to using this blog to talk about issues of significance to me personally, to the Queensland Police Service, and to the people of Queensland.

Even more importantly, I would like you to use this blog to let me know what matters to you, and provide me with feedback on my performance, the performance of the Queensland Police Service and how we can work together with you to make Queensland an even better place to live.

I take on my new role with three main priorities, with the first and most important being to stop crime.

This may be an aspirational goal, however I truly believe that working together, we can, as a society, make real and important reductions in crime rates. But we can only do it by building relationships between our police service and the community we serve. This is another priority for me as Commissioner.

 Together, we can make Queensland safer. This is my third priority.

Peel’s Principles of Policing, written in 1829, are seen as the basis of policing theory in modern democratic society, and they are worth revisiting here:

Principle 1: The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder.

Principle 2: The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon the public approval of police actions.

Principle 3: Police must secure the willing co-operation of the public in voluntary observation of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public.

Principle 4: The degree of co-operation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity of the use of physical force.

Principle 5: Police seek and preserve public favour not by catering to public opinion, but by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service to the law.

Principle 6: Police use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order only when the exercise of persuasion, advice, and warning is found to be insufficient.

Principle 7: Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent upon every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.

Principle 8: Police should always direct their action strictly towards their functions, and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary.

Principle 9: The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it.

Every one of these principles are as relevant in a digital age as they were when they were written.

I am in the fortunate position of being the first Queensland Commissioner of Police, and, I believe, the first Commissioner in Australia, to be able to take advantage of the power of social media to build upon those principles, and you may be aware that I have been tweeting for some years under the account @DeputyStewart. That account has now been renamed @CoPStewart.

I welcome you to follow me on Twitter, and favourite this blog to get an insight into the day-to-day realities of being the Commissioner to a modern, professional police service of more than 10,500 sworn officers providing for the safety and security of more than three million Queenslanders spread across more than 1.72 million square kilometres. I look forward to working with you to make this wonderful State an even safer place to live, work and do business.

This article from the Commissioners Desk - November 2, 2012 at 11:02 am

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HOONING LAWS IN QUEENSLAND ABOUT TO CHANGE

Posted: 19 Oct 2012 01:21 AM PDT

Police Minister Jack Dempsey and Michael Crandon, member for Coomera are getting tough on hoons with a proposed bill passed through Cabinet recently that will see Queensland implement the toughest anti-hooning laws in Australia.

The new laws will see an offender’s car taken off the road and impounded for three months following the first serious offence.

“Not only will the car be taken off the road for the first offence, but a second offence in five years will result in the car being sold or crushed,” Mr Dempsey said.

“The Newman Government is committed to being tough on crime in order to ensure Queensland is a safe place to live, visit and work – and we’re putting the brakes on hoons.”

Minister Dempsey said the changes would tackle hoons head-on in the Coomera electorate and work to take dangerous driver behaviour off local streets.

Member for Coomera welcomed the changes on behalf of local residents.

“The Newman Government’s new anti-hooning laws will do what the previous Labor Government did not do, take the hoons off our roads,” Mr Crandon said. 

“Coomera electorate residents have had enough of hoons receiving a slap on the wrists under the previous Government’s weak laws and penalties.”

Member for Coomera encouraged residents to be proactive in reporting hoons by contacting the Queensland Police Service’s Hoon Hotline.

“Members of the public should call the Hoon Hotline on 13 4666 to report any hooning activity they may see in the local area,” Mr Crandon  said.

“A description of the vehicle, what it was doing, the registration plates, the time and where the vehicle was, can go a long way to help police locate these offenders.”

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How secure is your home - really?

The burglary of a house at Regatta Waters in the last week highlighted a security ‘flaw’ of many modern homes, automatic garage door openers. Criminals know this and will either break into cars looking for garage door openers (which they did in this instance) or will drive around with a number of garage door openers, to find a house they can get into.  The problem is compounded by the fact there are only a small number of electronic signal combinations and garage door opener manufacturers. There are a couple of relatively simple methods of improving your household security: Install a double sided deadlock (keyed on both sides) on the doorway between the living area of your house and the garage.  The doorway should be locked at night and when the house is vacant.  There are two advantages to this, it will slow or stop a criminal from getting from the garage to the house easily and it will make it harder for them to carry your property to the garage if they have broken in whilst the house is vacant.  If your house has a sliding door between the garage and house, you may need to consider a security screen or another type of deadlock. Turn off the automatic garage door mechanism when you are going to be away.  If you are going away on holidays, or even a weekend away, turn off the garage door mechanism before you leave.  It will mean that a criminal can’t use a garage door opener to get into your house. Secure your garage door opener.  If you have a car which is kept outside, don’t leave the garage door opener in it.  Whilst it makes getting into your house easier for you, it also makes it easier for a criminal to get access to the door opener. The suggestions won’t stop the risk of your house being burgled through the garage, but by following the steps above you have ‘target hardened’ your home. Acting Senior Sergeant Andrew LAKE 6695 Service Operational Procedures, Police Headquarters, Brisbane.

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Saturday 29 September 2012

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Willow Vale NHW

Last night we had a very successful meeting and learnt a lot about snakes, their habits and what to do when you have them on your properties.  Tony Harrison bought an Eastern Brown and a Red Bellied Black with him.  

Below is an alert from Oxenford Neighbourhood Watch I thought may be of interest.  The garage remote is being used a lot in robberies lately. 

BURGLARY RUSHCUTTER AVENUE REGATTA WATERS A family at Oxenford was broken into last night (sometime after 11pm and before 5am - Mon 24th/25th Sept) while at home. Their  car was parked at the front of the property  and its  window smashed.  The offenders used the garage door remote to open the garage - from that and stole their red HSV - V8 Commodore.   The offenders also ran-sacked the downstairs of the house while 2 parents and 4 children aged between 6 and 17 slept upstairs. The thieves took   a laptop, GPS, iPod  and other equipment. If you saw or heard anything, please call Crimestoppers 1800 333 000.

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TURNING THE SCREWS ON CRIME

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FRAUD

WILL YOU BE THE NEXT VICTIM?  KEEP UP TO DATE OF KNOWN SCAMS AND OTHER FRAUD ALERTS.   GO TO -

http://www.police.qld.gov.au/programs/crimeprevention/fraud/alerts.htm

Article from - Gold Coast Crime Prevention Unit

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Fog Lights

A driver can only use front or rear fog lights if it is difficult to see other vehicles or objects due to poor weather conditions (for example, heavy rain or fog). Fog lights cannot be used in clear weather conditions, whether it is day or night.

Section 217 of the Queensland Road Rules apply.

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DID YOU KNOW !!!!!

Police Officers & Liquor Inspectors can issue on the spot fines for a wide variety of offences including:

PUBLIC PLACE

Drinking in a public place (18yrs & over) :           $100
Minor possess/consume liquor in a public place :  $225
Supply liquor to a minor in a public place :           $750

LICENSED PREMISES
Sell or Supply liquor to a minor on licensed premises :  Fine $1000 

 Minor on a licensed premises :  Fine $300 

Minor consume/possess liquor premises :  Fine $300

IDENTIFICATION

Don’t Fake It!

It’s Illegal to use someone else’s Id

or Make a Fake Id 

All Fake ID's will be Confiscated

Give evidence of age document to another person :  Fine $500

Minor falsely represent self as over 18 :  Fine $300 

Use and false/fake ID :  Fine $600

Give evidence of age document to another person :  Fine $500 

Minor falsely represent self as over 18 :  $300
Use a false/fake ID : Fine $600   

NAME, ADDRESS, AGE

Fail to State Details : $300 

State False Details  :  $300 

Give False Evidence : $300 

WHAT IS A PUBLIC NUISANCE OFFENCE  

A person commits a public nuisance offence if–

(a) the person behaves in any of the following ways;

      disorderly way;  an offensive way;  a threatening way;  or a violent way. and
 (b) the person's behaviour interferes, or is likely to interfere, with the peaceful passage through, or enjoyment of, a public place by a member of the public.
SUPPLY ALCOHOL TO MINOR    
Penalties are high - get caught providing alcohol to an underage child for consumption without responsible supervision and you can face penalties of up to $8,000.  These penalties don't just apply to parents - older friends and siblings are liable too!

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HAVE YOU SEEN THIS CAR

Stolen from Upper Coomera in February

Tasmanian plate:  Z * 84 ER

It has been seen (and heard) “Hooning” around Willow Vale regularly, driven by two youths.

Please notify Coomera Police if you know anything about this vehicle - 5519 5555

 or call  POLICELINK – non urgent incidents - 131 444

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