QLD:Gold Coast no 'crime capital': minister

AAP General News (Australia)
12-06-2010
QLD:Gold Coast no 'crime capital': minister

By Tony Bartlett and Jessica Marszalek

GOLD COAST, Dec 6 AAP - The Queensland government has brushed aside a claim by the
state's police union that the Gold Coast has become Australia's new crime capital as detectives
investigate a third shooting incident in 48 hours.

In the most serious attack a father was gunned down in the heart of Surfers Paradise
on Saturday night in an apparent random shooting.

The Queensland Police Union (QPU) has demanded an immediate "massive injection" of
extra officers.

QPU president Ian Leavers said he's very concerned about the shootings.

"I have long said that the Gold Coast is the new crime capital of Australia and police
are vastly under-resourced on the Gold Coast," he told AAP on Monday.

"The CMC (Crime and Misconduct Commission) and internal police reports all agree that
a massive injection of extra police numbers on the Gold Coast is needed.

"I have called for an additional 100 police both in general duties and plainclothes
detectives to tackle the growing crime on the coast."

However Police Minister Neil Roberts said police were throwing tremendous resources
at solving the shootings.

Mr Roberts said statistics don't support the claim that the Gold Coast is becoming
a "crime capital", with offences falling in several areas from break and enters to assaults.

"The Gold Coast is well serviced by the Queensland Police Service in terms of police
numbers," he said.

"They're putting a lot of resources into solving crime and getting results."

Premier Anna Bligh said the shootings were shocking.

"And one of the reasons they're so shocking is that they are so unusual," she told
reporters in Brisbane.

"It is not usual for us to see in any part of Australia three gunshot incidents like
this in such a short space of time."

She said until police had completed their investigations, it was hard to understand
the incidents fully.

"Here in Queensland we have some of the toughest gun laws in Australia but if in this
investigation we find anything that suggests we should be revisiting them then we won't
hesitate," she said.

AAP bart/crh/jh

KEYWORD: DRIVEBY GOVERNMENT

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