Easter Road Safety
In the lead up to the Easter weekend as well as the impending end of the Easter School Holiday period North Tamborine Police have been involved in an Easter Road Safety state-wide operation targeting offences on our roads which cause fatal and serious traffic incidents.I am pleased to say that so far we have been extremely pleased with the motorists in our area of concern in and around Tamborine Mountain. We have only had cause to charge one low level drink driver despite having performed hundreds of RBTs both stationary and during our patrols. We continue to issue infringement notices for speeding, mobile phones and poor driving behaviours like overtaking on double lines as well as lazy tourists and local drivers who seem to just park anywhere they want despite being a hindrance or danger to other motorists.
However, I would have to say there doesn’t appear to have been any increases linked to this particularly busy time of the year. In saying all that we still have the Easter long weekend break to survive despite you reading this article after the Easter weekend so our fingers are crossed. You have to be responsible for your own actions on the road especially when the roads are very busy and not commit any offences. The Qld Police Service are always very pro-active out there on the roads to try and prevent any problems from occurring.
The Fatal Five offences are drink driving, speeding, not wearing seat belts, driving whilst fatigued and there is also a new focus on driver inattention which includes using your mobile phone whilst driving.
New faces in the station
We now have our 8th permanent officer here at North Tamborine station, Const Ben McAnany up from Coolangatta Station. He has lived on the mountain for a while with his wife and children so is familiar with the area and looking forward to NOT travelling to Coolangatta each day. Ben has been in the QPS for a few years already and we look forward to him being part of our crew.We will also have a regular First Year Constable coming through from the Logan District on a rotation to experience a more country environment, so you will see fresh faces out and about with us old blokes.
How to contact Police
We are still baffled by comments that the Police station isn't open at night time and that we can't be contacted by phone.POLICELINK 131444
Please take note of the above phone number and keep it beside the phone at home. This is the phone number that members of the public should now be using to contact Police 24hrs a day to report offences or request Police.
We often hear from members of this community that they don't bother calling us because they get diverted to another number (The Police Communication Centre (PCC) at Beenleigh) or they can't get hold of us at the Police station so give up. This is because we don't stay in the Police station all the time and there is often nobody here to answer your call, or we are already on the phone and the call gets diverted.
Here is the best way for you to report matters and request Police if you need us to respond to jobs.
Reporting Offences:
If you need to report an incident or an offence that has occurred for example a Break and Enter, Stealing, Lost or Found property, Damage to Property and the offenders are no longer committing the offence, that is they have left and there is no need for Police to attend urgently you should call Policelink on 131444 to give them all the details for the report. They then arrange for Police, including Scenes of Crime if need be, to attend the scene for further investigation. This will create a job that gets detailed to us to attend in due course.
Requesting Police:
If you want to report a Noisy party, a Traffic Incident, or any like offences whereby you believe Police are required to attend a job or assist further then you can also call Policelink on 131444 to report these matters and again they will create a job and send it to the Police Communications Centre (PCC) who then give the job details to us via the Police radio or telephone and we will attend.
In the past you would try to ring us, get diverted to the Communications centre (PCC) and speak to them. This is now what Policelink is for. In future Policelink will be the first point of contact for the public so that the PCC staff can attend to 000 calls and manage the Police crews attending jobs.
Advice and information:
If you want to speak with a Police officer here or any other Police station about a situation or an investigation or you want advice, information or to discuss a non urgent matter then you can always come to the Police station or phone us here at the Police station OR you can also call Policelink on 131444 and they may also be able to assist or pass on a message.
Emergencies:
If the matter is an emergency, and I stress 'an emergency' which means a life and death situation and nothing else, then call '000' and request Police, Fire Service or Ambulance.
In summary, if the situation you wish to report is not an offence that is occurring at that time with an offender currently inside your house, robbing a bank, assaulting someone or whereby you are actually witnessing the offender commit a crime then you can call Policelink on 131444. If these examples were happening then call 000.
Apparently 95% of 000 calls are not emergencies!! Can you believe that? These calls are a waste of resources and tie up phone lines for people in danger. Our Communication rooms are also extremely busy and if you call here and get diverted it can take a long time to get through.
Please call Policelink on 131444 as they are well staffed, available 24hrs a day to assist you and they will also facilitate for Police to be utilised when necessary.
Brendan Edwards
A/Sgt 8348
