DV workload heaps pressure on already-stretched local police

Sen Sgt Gary Brayley outlines his concerns at a special Safety Meeting called by Reimagine Nambour last month.

Nambour Senior Sergeant Police Officer in Charge Gary Brayley has provided local insight into how growing workloads around domestic and family violence, drugs and mental health are placing mounting pressure on police.

He said domestic violence was placing massive demands on manpower as the service struggled to maintain community expectations.

With increasing demand for officers to provide services above and beyond the realm of traditional policing, he pinpointed the complex work involved in and around domestic violence as a major time-demand on police nationwide.

“It's everywhere, it’s a big job, it’s a big problem, and it’s time-consuming as well,” Sen Sgt Brayley said. “It's a complex process that we're required to undertake to take action, depending on the nature of the incident that occurred.

“Out of all the crime that I review every single week, I could probably say it probably makes up 55 to 60 percent of our reports. But in terms of the labour involved, compared to taking a report of a break-and-enter or a stolen car, it far exceeds that.

“In addition to DV we have a lot of calls for service in relation to mental health, people having mental health episodes, people threatening to commit suicide, and more. As a follow-on from that, our time is involved with people in our custody that probably should be at the hospital, but the hospitals are doing their best to process patients, etc. And of course we can't let someone go who’s in a vulnerable situation.

“So now we become the custodian of that person while we wait for the hospital. It’s a difficult one to answer, but domestic violence and mental health would probably be the two biggest issues we face.”

Despite the pressures Sen Sgt Brayley told the meeting Police were doing all they could to prioritise responsibilities and keep everyone safe.

“The people that live in this town have every right to feel safe, to move about town and do business,” he said.

“It’s our job to make sure that that is achieved. It's just a matter of trying to make the best use of the resources we have to try and sustain some sort of police presence in our community.”

He said domestic violence was a problem everywhere, not just Nambour. 

“It certainly has increased over the past 10 years. I've been tracking domestic violence, for the whole time I’ve been in Nambour, and it is really climbing. It probably plateaued three or four years ago, but I’m seeing a bit of increase now.”

Sgt Brayley’s comments follow a report in the Courier-Mail last month that police were responding to about 140 calls a day from desperate Queenslanders threatening suicide, which is around a 58 per cent increase in six years. 

In addition, the Queensland Times reported last year that, on average, Queensland police respond to 295 domestic violence incidents across the state daily – an increase of 10 per cent year-on-year since 2018.

The newspaper report said a growth of domestic and family violence was occurring, but greater community confidence in policing response, and population growth were contributing factors.

Sgt Brayley’s comments come in light of a Reimagine Nambour Safety Meeting last month which discussed plans to raise $1.2 million for a leading-edge program to improve safety in the CBD and surrounds.