Community
8 March, 2025
Thin blue line thickens
AFTER two weeks of collective panic due to youth crime, the Crisafulli government is attempting to bring more safety to the Far North with an announcement of $31.1 million in funding for high visibility police operations in crime hotspots across Queensland.
Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie was in Cairns on Monday to announce a further commitment to on-the-ground safety for Queenslanders with an extra $31.1m to go towards high visibility policing as a preventive measure to the rampant crisis of youth crime ongoing in the region.
“Crime has touched this community more than ever in recent weeks and we hear the community,” Mr Bleijie said.
“I can announce today a $31m commitment to high visibility policing in the Cairns region.
“We’ve got to make sure that these young crims and thugs know they’re not going to get away with it.
“We can ensure that our hardworking men and women in blue on the front line in Queensland, not only have the resources, but they’re out as much as possible because that is the best deterrent we can give at the moment, and of course, not only deterrent, but catching these criminals.”
Police and Emergency Services Minister Dan Purdie said the additional funding would boost police on the ground and prevent crime.
“We want to give the Chief Superintendent and senior police in Cairns and right across Queensland the ability and the funding to deploy these frontline, hardworking police officers into crime hotspots,” he said.
“$25m is for frontline, high visibility policing patrols, so they can walk the beat and patrol places like shopping centres, businesses, CBD, malls, etc, but also $6m for our police liaison officers (PLOs).
“This is on the back of other announcements we’ve already made this year, like the $30m to triple the capacity of the state Flying Squad, which is a rapid response capacity to come to places like Cairns.
“This is about deterring crime and detecting crime, and we know there is no better way to deter crime and to make people feel safe than the blue uniform.”
Far North district officer chief superintendent Kevin Fitzgibbon said the funding would bring relief to the force.
“In order to keep our community safe, proactive policing is such an important aspect of what we do. We really want to deter and disrupt crime before it happens, rather than responding to crime after it happens,” he said.
“Having the option to deploy our police proactively into shopping centres, public spaces, restaurants, precincts like we’re in now, so the community sees us, so that the criminal element sees is such an important aspect of what we do, and I really look forward to deploying our police proactively.
“They will be intelligence driven, so there’ll be significant analysis that goes on in the background, so that we ensure we have the right police in the right place at the right time, so we can make the most of this.
“A big focus will be on the CBD which is a hot area for tourism, areas like shopping centres, so the community can move about their daily lives at shopping centres, restaurants and public spaces.
“It’ll all be based on intelligence we gather at the time.”
