 Okay, you are ready to go. Thank you for your time, my apologies that we're a little bit late, but we need to set up top the understanding of the thing live stream back to Brisbane. Firstly, we would like to start off by again acknowledging the late Detective Senior Constable, Damien Leading, and confirm of course the arrangements that have been advised that his funeral service will fall for these honours. It will take place next Tuesday 11am at the Convention Centre here on the Gold Coast and has been indicated. It's an open funeral service and members of the public wishing to pay their respects and attend that service are welcome to do so. We would advise though that people monitor the information we'll provide in relation to that and clearly we expect there will be a very large number of people there so our advice also would be to be there well before time. I might ask Paul Wilson just to give an update in relation to the service and then we'll come back to the media release that we're putting out now in relation to a new unit here on the Gold Coast and in the region. Thank you Commissioner. Good morning ladies and gentlemen. As the Commissioner said the Police Funeral with full honours will take place at 11am next Tuesday morning the 7th of June at the Gold Coast Convention Centre on the Gold Coast Highway at Broad Beach. As the Commissioner said we do urge the members of the public and everyone else to come as early as possible prior to that. It will start at 11am. There will be a media release by my Superintendent, Superintendent Paul Zebarth who is the officer in charge of the funeral and all preparations are well underway for a police service with full honours. Normal policing events as you will understand that do take place in our community at the same time while we grieve and pay respects to our fallen colleague will still take place. So the policing response in the Gold Coast, Cuma and Logan areas will still be maintained by our other officers. Today we're continuing to provide the fellowship and the service and support to Damien's family and and loved ones. All these families now arrived and we're assisting them and providing our normal traditional support that we do do. Thank you Commissioner. Thanks very much Paul and can I thank the media on behalf of the Department as well for your support through this time and your conveying of these circumstances of Damien's courage, his heroism to the broader Queensland community and the Australian public. None of us wanted this to happen of course and we all wish we could go back to last Sunday night and avoid what happened and bring him back but we know that's not possible. All we can do is do the best we can but through the media's advising the community about what has happened it seems to have touched a nerve and the response has been really quite overwhelming really I think and that is I know a great confidence support to Sonia and Damien's family and certainly his colleagues so we thank you for that. Today we are announcing an increase in numbers here in the southeast region and the formation of a quite unique and specialist unit initially we're referring to it as task force resolve that will consist of 18 detectives headed by a detective inspector and the second in charge will be a detective senior sergeant there will be four teams of four detectives each headed by detective sergeant so it will be a group of very experienced officers and their role that will be based here in this building for the southeast region of the regional headquarters and their role will be to support detectives throughout the region in all three districts that's the Gold Coast district where we are now, Khmer district which is a new district which we established at the end of 2009 and Logan district in the investigation of serious violent crime. We want this group to start next week and to do that we have had to obviously do some creative human resource management activity so the way we've achieved that is to get the state crime operations command in Brisbane to provide 12 detectives and we are taking three state crime operations command detectives who are already down here doing other work on another operation a long-term one that's been focusing on drugs and property crime together with three detectives from the region that'll give us the 18 overtime and as soon as we can do it though we will transfer in 18 new positions so these positions that this is not cut and paste there will be when we're as soon as we're able to do it 18 additional detectives here in the southeast region to form this unit as I mentioned it is unique we haven't never done this anywhere else in Queensland it's going to be a mobile group of skilled detectives experienced officers who will as I said focus on serious violent crime in the southeast region they won't take over completely the role of the existing detectives throughout the region but they will come in and assist in support in terms of the high-end matters the work they will start with will relate to those very very serious unsolved armed robberies and obviously armed robberies will be a key part of the work they do I think there are about seven or so what we call high end of the more serious type of armed robberies that are still unsolved having said that can I say to you that the detectives here on the gold coast in my view do a magnificent job the clear-up rate for armed robbery in my view is quite high, approaching 50 percent and sometimes of course we know that if we catch someone for one armed robbery and we only have evidence for one it may will be that they're responsible for others but so I think that they're doing a fine job none of this is anyway a reflection on their performance which is outstanding what it reflects is our concern over the the level of crime on the gold coast and look traditionally and you can go back 15 probably 20 years this region the southeast region has more crime than any of the other seven regions in Queensland that doesn't mean that it's I believe a bad place to live of the eight regions in Queensland there has to be one region that has more crime than the others this region also has a very high population it has a high tourist population and as we all know it's a very popular place for people to come and visit Paul Wilson and I monitor the needs here Paul has been the assistant commissioner here for some three years and we regularly monitor the needs here we have done a number of things in terms of responding to the need we've every year we've increased police numbers in the 10 years that I've been commissioner we've increased police numbers in this region by nearly 500 at the moment it's around nearly around 450 this announcement today is an additional 18 positions as well we've committed to establishing a police beat down at Burley and we've allocated six additional positions for that and we are in an ongoing sense looking continually at the needs of the region adjusting to those and doing all we can to provide the best possible policing service we can for the southeast region this is another step forward in that direction it will be a permanent unit as I said that will focus on serious violent crime and I think it will be a great support to to the detectives and all of the police in the region that's probably sufficient from me now happy to take any questions you have about this or any other matters commissioner right now are only fairly or unfairly it seems almost inevitably there's only a perception that this mission that you have announced today is a consequence of Damien Lee's death how do you respond to that? Of course Damien's tragic death had some part in the consideration of this but it is completely true to say that this is part of an ongoing body of work and last year Paul arranged for an evaluation of the needs of detectives here in the region and that evaluation is fairly consistent with what we've actually done in the last rollout of additional staff we allocated 14 extra detectives for the region this group of 18 puts into place essentially what that report recommended in the first year or so of additional detectives for the region as well as I mentioned we recognize the growth at Kumra and we established a new police district there at the end of 2009 and so this is part of an ongoing you know consideration and examination of things but it is true to say that we are extremely concerned about the increase in armed robberies the spike that's occurred in recent months if you go back over over 15 years it's quite remarkable but I just talk about that for a moment that the trend in Queensland has come down for armed robberies can I just give you some very brief figures on that back in 1999 there were 1314 armed robberies in Queensland 1314 and the rate was 37 armed robberies for every 100,000 people in Queensland in last year in 2010 that had gone down from 1314 to 789 and the rate had gone down from 37 armed robberies per 100,000 down to 17 which is better than half half reduction but that's not occurring here in this region it's occurring across the state it's not occurring here in this region what's occurring here in this region is that it's quite erratic the numbers of armed robberies in this region fluctuate between about 200 and 300 each year some years it's around 200 it's actually been as low as 180 but this year and last year and I think the year before it's around 300 so what's happening in this region is not consistent with what's happening in the rest of the state so that's something we need to be mindful of over a year there'll be some months that'll be higher than others obviously it'll be up and down but the the spike in the increase in recent times is something that's a great concern to us can I just comment on another issue the other thing we're very concerned about of course is the use of firearms in armed robberies and to us that doesn't matter whether it's a real firearm or a replica firearm for the the the traumatized victim who's had a gun pointed at them they don't know whether it's a replica or a real firearm and they suffer possibly the lifelong effects of the stress associated with that matter neither do the police if the police are quickly on a scene and someone's got a handgun they don't know whether it's a real or a replica firearm but and I'll prepare it if you wish anyone who wants statistics please ask us for them and if we're able to provide them we will and I do have statistics on the percentage of weapons used in armed robberies throughout the state and back in 15 years ago in 1997 40 percent of the armed robberies in the southeast region involved a firearm in recent years that's come down to about 20 percent and fairly consistently and it's running at 19 percent at the moment so approximately one fifth of the armed robberies here in the southeast region involved the use of a firearm but there is clearly a concern about the increasing use of firearms and I talk to Paul regularly with several times a week about crime here in this area and we both have a concern about the you know the public perception about firearms involved in crime and what we think is in fact an alarming and concerning trend towards firearm related crime so all of these things have had a bearing on it but to answer your question and come back to it and initially again yes it sadly Damien's death was a factor in this consideration but it wasn't the only factor Commissioner can you just clarify the 18 extra detectives are they going to be over and above for 14 years it's already been announced yes that was a separate group they were out of the previous years look what what I do is this every year the government gives me a number of additional police and we have 16 areas in the service that compete for those officers the southeast region is one of those 16 areas it's my job in consultation with others to carve those numbers up and allocate them as fairly and equitably and sensibly depending on demand as I can across the state through all of those areas those 14 extra detectives were out of the last allocation what we're talking about now is next year's allocation and we've indicated that we'll provide 18 additional detectives and we've also committed to six extra police for the early week so that's 24 and we're examining ways that we can provide other officers to of the 31 districts in Queensland Kermah district in my view is the district of greatest need and we're mindful of that that's why we created it as a district the growth there is phenomenal and 50 000 additional people in the next five years so of the 31 districts we see Kermah as the the most important of the 31 in terms of need and we've done all we can we'll continue to do to meet to meet that need but but we think that this unit will provide is the best way forward in that space because serious violent crime can occur anyway we've had three armed robberies overnight one was in this region at Daisy Hill one was at Townsville one was at East Brisbane so serious violent crime obviously can occur anywhere so we think to have a mobile regional resource that can go and help local detectives whether that's in at the bottom end of the coast at Kirland Gatter or up at Logan or at Kermah it's the best way forward no consideration for a CERT unit down here at all no no we have a CERT unit in Cairns I think we're one of the few police departments in the western world who has two emergency units one in Brisbane the main one and one in Cairns and I think we're one of the few police departments in the western world in Paul Wilson's previous region that has two police academies we have on at Townsville so we see north Queensland you know as an area of need because of the great distance but CERT are based on the south side of Brisbane and they can be here very quickly if they're needed and they were in fact used in the investigations that followed the tragic shooting of Damien last Sunday night is there any concern you're going to leave yourself short somewhere else until the full-time positions are filled? That's part of our job in terms of being senior managers to find that balance and might I say that you know we have 22 people in our senior executive everyone has a very corporate view of the world and I think all of our you know senior executive recognize that this region at the moment has the greatest need of any of the A3. You said that this region has the greatest need Is there something you can attribute that to? Is there a reason how this region has a greater need? It's always been so and you know I mean I'm happy to discuss statistics over and over the realities are though that the if you look at the rate of violence in other words what we call offences against the person sadly the worst areas of the state are not here sadly the worst areas of the state are isolated communities in far north Queensland in far western Queensland places like Mount Isa in that broad area there are there are long term established reasons as to why that is so and I'm happy to provide you the statistical data that backs up that claim of mine so and if anyone would like to please contact our police media people afterwards any request you have but but for as long as I can remember this area but it relates to population and it's in my view something that there has to be one area obviously it has more crime than other areas but this is in my view a very very good place to live most of our police you don't want to leave you know the whilst they have a high workload very few of them are saying to us to us and if they did we would listen to them very few if any are saying to us look we want to move to somewhere like Bundaberg or Meribara or somewhere where it's a bit quieter Commissioner are you confident this task was that you've announced that I can stop the the rock that's been carrying down here look I wish I could give you a guarantee that there'll be no more serious violent crime and serious violent arm robberies of the type that occurred particularly on Sunday night I can't do that all I can say is that we will do our very best to both investigate and solve serious violent crime and of course you're quite right prevention is a key factor as well none of us want these offenses to occur and I've heard and I'm we are very focused as well on trying to prevent them occurring and I wish I could say to you we'll eliminate all serious violent crime I can't do that I don't think any police commissioner any we could do that I also wish that I could say to you that we will eliminate and prevent serious violence against police but I can't do that either again all we can do is try to minimize the risk in that regard because as I've mentioned previously you cannot do a job which essentially is to provide for the safety and security of the public without putting your own safety and security at risk and one of the finest examples of courage and heroism that you would have seen in that regard was the work of Damian Leading last Sunday night because he knew what he was going into it wasn't as though he went to a job where he had no idea what was happening that he was just going to make an inquiry and someone shot him through the door as he approached the door as has happened in the past he knew that it was an arm robbery in progress and I believe he knew that the probability that hostages were taken and knowing that knowing that he went in and confronted that situation Commissioner you've had discussions with the Premier is there anything more the government could be offering you in the way of resources look every year every year I compete with the other government departments the health department the education department the transport department who want to build roads for a a piece of the Queensland Government budget now having received that and every year in the 10 years that I've been privileged to do this job the government has given us extra numbers of police it's my job then with my colleagues to use that that money and those extra resources and distribute them fairly and equitably and as best we can across the state we could always use more and we could always but we also recognize that we put up our hands to do these jobs and doing these jobs means that you manage within what you're given you know because you have to you have to do you think the formation of this squad though will send some sort of message to the crooks out there that you guys are serious about stopping what's been happening we always have been and I'm hopeful that that the establishment of this this unit will reinforce that message Commissioner would it be fair to say that public Damien leading's legacy is quite a task force result? If again it is true absolutely true that Damien's tragic death in terms of our consideration of issues contributed towards this decision that is equally true to say that the increases and needs of this area have been well and truly under consideration for some time and a lot has happened on a regular basis in that regards and I want that to continue to happen into the future now if people and we are certainly willing to take that on board as well as part of our organizational culture and it's not now is not the time but we will formally pay tribute to Damien in some way into the future now that might be that we name a building after him it might be we name a police vessel after him but certainly he will never be forgotten and in a formal sense there will be some official recognition as well at an appropriate time in the future. Do you think this squad they would have been established without what happened last week? I think that is highly likely because we have been looking at the best ways that we could put into place you know to provide the best policing response here and this is we've never done this before we've had what's called tactical crime squads which we've established throughout the state which are uniformed officers who go and do street public order type work but we've not done this is fairly different and innovative but because of just the sheer volume of activity in this region that's spread of it and in a social sense it's very different I mean you have Logan which it's characteristics to hear with this is what people call the glitter strip of course the hard observers down a curl and a gatter out of the desert it's quite a large and comprehensive region so we felt the best way to provide support for the high-end serious violent activity is to have this mobile unit of experienced detectives and obviously we will monitor the effectiveness of it over time. I'm a little late team we're based here at Service Paradox? Yes right here in this building yes they will yeah and as I've said we've had to do some innovative you know cut and pasting to establish this script to get it up and running next week but in the fullness of time there will be 18 additional positions and we're going to try and achieve that within 12 months. Just on that 18 additional people so you've got 18 and you're bringing here to form this yeah what are you going to replace those within your 18 or will they stay there and then leave 30 things? Yeah it could be either or we're bringing 12 down from State Crime Ops we're finding three from a group here that have been working on drug and property crime a group of 12 three from State Crime Ops and let me go back over this if it doesn't you know make sense and we're finding three from the region who've been working in that project team it's called Project Alliance so we're taking six from the 12 from Brisbane from State Crime that gives us the 18 and we'll establish that next week then we'll start to go through the human resource management process of creating the positions advertising them letting people apply for them on merit compete for them now it could well be that some of the people from Brisbane you know that come to work here want to apply for those jobs and stay here and if they do and they compete on merit as we all have to do for a job then that's fine. So it could end up being 36 in this course? No no no the 18 that we're establishing next week are temporary people and in the fullness of time we'll replace them with 18 permanent positions okay? So with the 18 that are being put in in the next week obviously there's a sense of urgency with this one can we at least attribute your action now to the events of the last few days? I think and I'm happy to go over it again but I hope that I have tried to cover that I do not reside from the fact that the tragic death of Damien Leading was a consideration in the urgency of what we've done together with the spike robberies in recent times and we are hopeful that spike will go down and that will even out but we can't sit around hoping together with the work we have done in recent times the review here of the detective strength needs the recognition of the need for extra detectives I believe this would have happened but certainly this tragedy has brought it forward perhaps earlier than it might have and look I I hope you see that as being responsive to emerging situations can I say though in addition to that that the tragedy of violence towards police is not confined to here when I think back over my own career and where police officers have been shot and killed on duty I can think of only one place where where it's happened more than once and that's Rockhampton and now Rockhampton is not a high crime area they have their promise but it's not a high crime area and when I think back over the course of my career of the colleagues I have known have been shot and killed that's happened all over the state Commissioner do you think that that something needs to be done in terms of or more needs to be done in terms of stopping the drug problem because that seems to be contributing the most to the crimes that we see I think you're exactly right and one of the things we've seen in the ages of trending in recent times is the use of amphetamines there is no good illegal drug there is no good illegal drug and for some time now people who've committed armed robberies in many cases have had a drug addiction and one of our great concerns is when they commit those armed robberies that they are irrational and their behaviour you know is dysfunctional because of that drug addiction and that craving for money to buy drugs however I think that amphetamines take it to another level because amphetamines appear to be a drug that make people elevated angry and aggressive and so that's added another dimension in terms of the risk our people face when they deal with people who are using amphetamines and we have had examples of incredibly frighteningly strong aggressive violent behaviour from people who are using excessive amounts of amphetamines and I've had police officers relate to me the almost superhuman physical strength of these people and officers with 15 and 20 year service telling me that in their entire service they had never encountered anything like it just you know almost unbelievable physical strength and almost impervious and that's one of the reasons why we brought in tasers because a taser will disable someone no matter how strong they are it will actually disable them as it affects the central nervous system so the physical strength is irrelevant if the taser is used appropriately. Commissioner out at Kuma police station the floral tributes are only leading a lot of members of the public are going up there writing in the condolence registry and things like that and just some of the comments there that people repeatedly make like they say you know enough's enough and it's almost you get the sense that they want to reclaim their community I mean are you getting that sense? Yes we are yes we are we're deeply as everyone is moved by what is happening here and as I mentioned at the outset I think the media is bringing what has happened here to the notice of the public seems to have touched a nerve and we've always been of the view and I mean with respect we've been police officers for a long time we've always been of the view that we do have the support of the majority of the community and I don't mean a vocal minority group but the quiet silent block of the community we do think we've had their support but but what this tragedy seems to have done it is somehow or other ignite that support and we are grateful for that I'm sure and I know the Damien's family are grateful for that and his colleagues are grateful for that as well and that support is not something we take cheaply we are very very appreciative of the significance of that and we just grateful and acknowledge everyone in terms of I guess identifying and bringing it forward in the way it has there's been some renewed calls for police helicopter call things do you think we need anyone here in this staff? Look happy to debate that to debate that obviously any resource like a helicopter would be a nice thing to have I'm on record as saying that our aerial needs firstly are for the really isolated areas and at the moment we need to I can we have six aircraft and we actually have one of the biggest aerial fleets of any police department in Australia we have a jet we have a large aircraft called a Beechcraft B19 that goes back and forward from Brisbane to Cairns three days a week and we have a plane called a Britain or an Ireland or in the Torres Strait and we have several Cessna caravans what we need a couple more of those Cessna caravans in the bush for your officers in places like Charleville and Longleach and in those isolated areas once we achieve that then I'd like to move into the space of helicopters which you have to do it in sequence and in priority to know and happy to discuss that separately at any time. You mentioned that drug trade has been a big part of this you've been used for a year looking at that as part of what they do. Yeah where that's relevant here clearly but the but the primary work will be serious violent crime and within that space their priority will be the higher end armed robberies and despite the outstanding work of the local detectives here there's a number that involve licensed premises that still remain unsolved and they'll start when they start work that'll be the starting point and together sadly with any others that occur as well but as you know armed robberies involve a whole range of activity and in some cases they're all serious they're all absolutely serious but extraordinarily on the very first night after this on Monday night at Coombrant around 7 30 at a bottle shop two offenders went in there with a hammer committed an armed robbery I think you know I mean that gives you an example of the scale and scope of not that that's not serious but I don't think anyone would argue it's as serious as the offense that occurred at on Sunday night at a sitting point okay no other questions okay thank you for your time today I greatly appreciate it