Member for Maroochydore Fiona Simpson has slammed the Palaszczuk Government for going soft on crime with new figures showing a drop in front line police officers across the Sunshine Coast since Labor took office.
In response to a question Ms Simpson asked in Parliament, the Police Minister confirmed that the number of police officers employed locally had fallen under Labor.
Ms Simpson said that 346 police officers were employed in the Sunshine Coast Police District in July 2014 under the LNP Government. But the number of police on the beat has dropped to 331 in August 2016 under this Labor Government.
“The number of police officers in the Maroochydore Division has fallen from 109 in 2014 to 100 in 2016 and the head count in the Coolum Division has fallen from 27 in 2014 to 25 in 2016,” Ms Simpson said.
“Our police do such a fantastic job,” Ms Simpson said. “We want to help them by making sure we have enough police resources.”
“The Police Minister attributes the numbers to ‘the normal transfer of officers from time to time’,” Ms Simpson said. “But I disagree!”
“This drop in local police numbers comes at the same time that the Palaszczuk Government is winding back the LNP’s tough criminal gang laws.
“The LNP’s tough stance on crime was working and we had the overwhelming support of Queenslanders, so why is this Labor Government taking two years to wind them back?
“This soft-on-crime Palaszczuk Government needs to explain to Queenslanders why it is unravelling the very laws that are working so well to protect them and why we are seeing less police on the beat.”
