Police To Increase Presence In Home Hill

Home Hill Police officers established a Mobile Police Beat at Home Hill IGA on Sunday, November 26 following a recent spike in crime in the area.

Senior Constable Dean Wellington of Home Hill Police Station said the police aim to increase their presence and engagement in the town.

“Due to recent break and enters in the Home Hill area, we decided to do some proactive work in the community giving information about home security, business security, personal security, answering any questions that people had, clearing up any misconceptions and identifying any issues that community members have,” he said.

“We were sitting in the centre of town basically to show any would-be offenders that we are there.”

Snr Const Wellington was joined by Senior Constable Jason Robertson and Sargeant Joel Little of Home Hill Police Station, Officer in Charge of the Criminal Investigation Branch Lisa Shields, Constable Faith Nelson and Constable Kieran Halley of Ayr Police Station and Senior Constable Brett Elton of Ayr Highway Patrol.

He said the response from the community on the day was very positive.

“People were asking questions, and we were answering them which is closing the gap,” Snr Const Wellington said.

“Some people have ideas of what police do from their own experiences in life and social media, so we were putting a face to police and giving them and insight into what we do on a day-to-day basis.

“Home Hill Police would like to thank the community for their ongoing support and interaction at IGA over the weekend.”

Snr Const Wellington said Home Hill Police plan to set up the Mobile Police Beat regularly in the future.

The police’s presence at Home Hill IGA came after an incident on Saturday, November 18 and a subsequent meeting between local business owners and Townsville’s Inspector Roger Whyte.

Karl Vass, who was the victim of vehicle theft in July and is part of a community led action group, invited Insp Whyte to the Burdekin for the meeting last Thursday.

“I voiced a few complaints with the local police and didn’t really feel like they were doing much about it,” Mr Vass said.

“I think it was a really positive meeting.

“We expressed our frustrations; we didn’t feel like there was much presence from the local police and he gave us his word that certain things would be implemented, and we’d see more police presence in the streets.”

Mr Vass said he was happy to see local police establish a presence at the IGA on Sunday.

“I truly hope it’s not just a one-off, but Roger did assure us that it would be ongoing,” he said.

“We were very grateful for Roger to make the trip down here and have this discussion.”

To request the Mobile Police Beat deployment in a particular location, email your name and contact details, location for deployment, preferred days and times and reason for deployment to TownsvilleMPBdeploymentrequest@police.qld.gov.au.

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Home Hill and Ayr police officers manned a Mobile Police Beat in Home Hill on the weekend. Photos supplied