Ph 3259 1900 (24 hours) - Queensland Police Union

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Far Northern Region Roundup MARTY BRISTOW WATCHHOUSE WOES Back in June this year, staff at Cairns Watchhouse were thrown under the microscope yet again with a death in custody. I won’t go into details as the matter is pending coronial inquiry, but I will say the staff who were in attendance at the Watchhouse that evening acted in a very prompt, professional manner. As I have written previously, Cairns Watchhouse is probably one of the busiest in the state. It frequently holds more prisoners than even Brisbane Watchhouse, and more often than not with less than half the staff. Things appear to have improved only slightly since my last rant on Watchhouses, because on the night in question, there were in the vicinity of 40 persons in custody, and I believe the majority were corrective services prisoners. system installed over the past 18 months (which cost in the vicinity of $1.5 million) does not have the ability to download audio files to accompany the digital CCTV footage. I have heard whispers that during the install of the system, there were a number of disputes. Some disputes were apparently so minor that you really have to wonder. One issue that Properties and Facilities (P&F) complained about was the “It seems to be the norm for corrective services to deliver prisoners to the Watchhouse on a Friday afternoon, because they have to attend court on Monday morning.” This was done as it would seemingly have caused a significant delay in the system becoming operational had the installer waited for blue to be available. In any case, it was the same cable other than colour, but apparently P&F demanded it be changed. Then there are the covers required for the in-cell CCTV cameras to ensure they are not damaged by the undesirable persons being held in the cells. Originally, these covers were made locally (in Queensland, anyway), by a company in Brisbane who charged in the vicinity of $150 per cover. For some reason, the new system requires covers that are imported from the USA that cost approximately $1200 per cover. It seems to be the norm for corrective services to deliver prisoners to the Watchhouse on a Friday afternoon, because they have to attend court on Monday morning. This leaves police with the responsibility of managing these prisoners over some of our busiest periods. Apart from the fact that we are looking after corrective services prisoners (we often have other agencies dump their ‘too hard basket’ cases on us, especially over a weekend), there is another very worrying factor that was brought to light during the investigation. It has been discovered that the Watchhouse digital camera monitoring 12 Queensland Police Union Journal August 2012 screws used in holding on the face plates for the intercom call buttons in the cells. The installer used longer, better quality screws than what was allocated in the plan, explaining that they would be better. P&F demanded they be removed and the original screws used. During the first week, two call button face plates were ripped off the walls by prisoners with their bare hands, and both were thrown at staff members. Luckily, the face plates missed them. Then there was a dispute over the colour of the cable used. The plan called for blue cable, but green was installed instead, allegedly because blue was not available in Australia. “First response general duties crews are constantly taken away from responding to urgent calls from members of the public so they can act as security guards for the Courts.” The list of issues continues: racks for the hard drives, hard drives that are continually failing and not recording, lack of an alarm or warning
Far Northern Region Roundup mechanism when the hard drive is not recording, and the fact that if a hard drive doesn’t record, it is not known until an attempt is made to download and save to disk. Then we have the continual staffing problems. First response general duties crews are constantly taken away from responding to urgent calls from members of the public so they can act as security guards for the Courts. makes the decision to hand over the responsibility of persons in custody to corrective services, the better. Police will thus be freed up to better serve the public. I’m contactable 24/7. Marty BRISTOW Regional Representative Far Northern Region 0438 767 839 There are not enough supervisors on the roster to cover all the supervisor shifts for a year. Five supervisors cannot cover every shift of the year for a 24/7 rotational position when you take all factors into account, because we must have our leave under 250 hours. I have serious concerns for the welfare of the staff, and persons in custody. The sooner someone Queensland Police Union Journal August 2012 13
Page 1 and 2: AUGUST 2012 OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF
Page 3 and 4: Contents COVER STORY Page 28 THE CO
Page 5 and 6: General President & CEO Our Central
Page 7 and 8: General Secretary CPIU offices and
Page 9 and 10: Metro North Region Roundup SHAYNE M
Page 11 and 12: Southern Region Roundup DARREN LEES
Page 13: Southern Region Roundup their old-s
Page 17 and 18: Northern Region Roundup After discu
Page 19 and 20: Central Region Roundup BILL FELDMAN
Page 21 and 22: North Coast Region Roundup DES HANS
Page 23 and 24: Metro South Region Roundup TONY COL
Page 25 and 26: South East Region Roundup BOB SMITH
Page 27 and 28: CHANGE OF ADDRESS OR STATION Please
Page 29 and 30: INTERNATIONAL POLICE ASSOCIATION Au
Page 31 and 32: The Coldest Case - The 60th Anniver
Page 39 and 40: potential tax savings. SAVE ON •
Page 41 and 42: The Kokoda Challenge Hutchinson (SE
Page 43 and 44: The Kokoda Challenge nervous people
Page 45 and 46: The Kokoda Challenge the top ridge
Page 47 and 48: Your dream home now has a dream rat
Page 49 and 50: Nationwide POLICE ASSOCIATION OF VI
Page 51 and 52: Nationwide The Northern Territory P
Page 53 and 54: QPCU started by police for police F
Page 55 and 56: Day in the Life of Lorraine Van Dul
Page 57 and 58: Day in the Life of Lorraine Van Dul
Page 59 and 60: Police Living Police Living GUIDE 6
Page 61 and 62: From the Archives From the Archives
Page 63 and 64: The most popular health cover among
Page 65 and 66:
85 YEARS AND BEYOND Current Ipswich
Page 67 and 68:
Australasian Police and Emergency S
Page 69 and 70:
Letters to the Editor Letters to th
Page 72 and 73:
Police Health Police Health by Pete
Page 74 and 75:
QRPA QRPA NEWS - AUGUST 2012 State
Page 76 and 77:
QRPA NEW MEMBERS & ASSOCIATES Welco
Page 78:
QRPA the vehicle is an Old Classic,
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Ph 3259 1900 (24 hours) - Queensland Police Union

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