 This weekend was the first operational weekend for our mobile deployment unit. The unit consists of 15 experienced police officers. They're local police officers, so they've all got a good understanding of local policing issues and also two crime issues on the Gold Coast. The unit has three crews over two ships on a 24-hour basis, so they're on the road, sorry, 16 hours a day. They're mainly focused on a rapid response capability to address our more serious crime and also to saturation policing where we do have offences occurring in a particular location. The patrols are based upon intelligence and also to information we get from such organisations as crime stoppers and also to information from the public from time to time. They're a support role. They support our existing police and they respond to the more serious jobs, what we call our Code 1 and Code 2 jobs. They'll go in, make an initial assessment of the job and then hand it over to divisional police or detectives for follow-up. At the moment we're looking at high-risk offenders and we're targeting those with a view to taking them off the streets as quickly as we can. We're also looking at targeted traffic enforcement, that is the more serious traffic offences that are being committed on the Gold Coast. We're also looking at intelligence gathering at the moment, particularly in relation to OMCG members who are on the Gold Coast. And the unit also to embrace the concept of borders policing, that is it can be rapidly deployed to locations within the Gold Coast District and the Gold Coast District now extends from Jacobswell down to the border with New South Wales. You said 16 hours a day, is that seven days a week? Seven days a week, 16 hours a day and so there's three crews on weekends. That's right, on weekends we're working as well. There's been a bit of suggestions that they're just being drawn from existing police on the coast and it's basically just a wee deployment of resources but how do you... Well, what they are, they're 15 experienced police officers who have drawn together but they are actually being backfilled by less experienced officers. Some officers going to their second year are replacing these officers so we've got officers on the road with plenty of experience and of course the more junior officers, they're subject to training that's occurring back at their stations. So are they technically extra police then? That's right, since about the 1st of April last year we've had an additional 60 police on the Gold Coast in terms of our allocation so they are new numbers in terms of an allocation. Steve, what sort of reception did they get on Friday night walking through the city? Well, obviously probably not a good reception from the bikeies but from our point of view I think it was very worthwhile as an intelligence gathering exercise. Did you get anything from them in the clubhouses? Well, I haven't had a look at the specific outcome of that particular operation just yet. We had a few incidents over night where they were involved, did they respond to those? We had an arson at Manmade Beach, do you know if any of the members went to that at all? What time was the arson? That was three this morning, wasn't it? Look, I think their latest shift on Sunday was probably four to twelve. What we're trying to do is to roster them during peak calls for service periods and then during our quieter times of the week, which is sort of Tuesday, probably through to Thursday, sorry, Monday through to Thursday, they'll probably work day shift and that type of thing. What were some of the more significant things they were involved in on the weekend? There were some saturation patrols of Coomer, we did an operation up there called Operation Northern Borders. There were saturation patrols at Broad Beach, we've had some breaking itters around that area there. Also to Coomer and Gatta, we were doing some work down there for armed robbery offences and also to, we conducted an operation called Operation Caval and Victoria, which was in the surface paradise area with respect to liquor enforcement. And of course there was the patrols over the school holidays, holiday periods as well and that's an operation we have called Operation Emblem. And this is a sort of similar to the operation scene, isn't it, but the only difference being it's permanent? That's right, yes it is. And so this squad will, yeah, it is completely permanent, it will remain in place. That's right, yes, they're actually working from this building here and they'll remain in place and probably with the effluxion of time, they'll increase the numbers. How many bikers? How many others do they have? We haven't got that figure I'm saying. I'll just tell you, there were two taskings for bikers. One was at the southern end of the Gold Coast and one was on the middle end of the Gold Coast. However, what I must say is that there will be ongoing operations with respect to bikers and I'll be looking at offences committed by bikers and also to clubhouses gathering intelligence and also to targeted operations as it relates to bikers. You've never touched on it before, but how do you respond to claims that this is just a public city stunt because of all the drums that you might have made then? Well, it's certainly not from my point of view. It's a new unit, we've set up a rapid response unit and it's a very effective safer and obviously with time we'll evaluate it and see how they go, but it's certainly not a public city stunt. Are they receiving any specialised training or anything different or out of the normal? Well, they come to us with their existing operational skills training and an orientation was conducted here in terms of their tasks and duties and from here they'll go about doing their job. There's been no specific training at this point in time. It's general duties police who have a particular interest in rapid response policing and also to particularly, I guess, productive in terms of their work output. So they were chosen for this specific purpose based upon their skills base, based upon their knowledge of local policing issues on the gold past and based upon their work ethic and also to their integrity as well. In relation to something like flypies that they would be handling is there not some benefit to giving them some guidance or something? Well, they're working with their intelligence cells so the intelligence cells feed that information into this particular unit and then they respond and act upon that intelligence. Can we say which bike or five hours did they actually make do with which games? I'd rather not specify the particular games if that's okay, but we are certainly focusing on bikies at the moment. So it's basically, are cooks being put on notice for this new sport? Well, certainly. And also too, we'll be looking at people who will want a long return to prison rights and also to people who are absconding on bail, the more serious offenders in that regard as well. I appreciate it just to have that visibility. Do you think that that does deter a lot of things? Well, it's very important that it acts as a deterrent and also to hopefully reassure the public that the police are out there doing their job and focusing on the people that need to be focused upon. Do they have a minimum amount of experience? Well, most of them are senior constables so they could have anywhere between 7 and 15 to 20 years service. Some of them are police officers who have been in other police services elsewhere so they bring those skills with them. Some of them have had detective training but generally they've got a very sound background in operational uniform policing on the gulfast here which makes them certainly an asset to a unit like this. They responded to reports of an assault at Shugun on Saturday night. Can you tell us anything about that? Well, I don't have the specifics in relation to that. We have been conducting operations down there in relation to a number of assaults and we're getting some very good information so far in relation to those particular assaults anyway. And we've been working in association with the New South Wales Police in that particular job. In best case scenario, what can you hope that they will help to achieve? Can you give some statistics of figures of... Well, obviously I can't make any projections at this point in time but just to give you an example over the weekend there were four people arrested on five charges. A warrant was executed. Drink drivers were apprehended. 31 traffic tickets were issued. There were 160 odd street checks. That is speaking to people who were behaving in a disruptive way. They handed over drink drivers. They've apprehended a couple of property offenders and also to a reportable offender, that is an offender who's on bail. They also provided assistance to police within the divisions in relation to suicides. There were two mental health interventions. They attended three disturbances. First response to three domestic violence related incidents. There were two traffic crashes. A move on direction and a search wire as well. Probably one of the most notable things was on the 4th July when they actually detained some suspects for offences down at Broad Beach Waters and those persons were interviewed in relation to breaking of offences down there. Is this based on a certain model where increased police force has proven to bring rates down or is it something where is the initiative sprung from? Well, the initiative was sprung from within the district here and also to, you know, at a regional level and it's all part of the, I guess, the new organisational structure within the QBS to put more police back on the road. And based on It's based upon past intelligence and also to what we see as being needed in the community to address some of the key crime issues out there. It's a bit annoying that you try and do something like set up a unit like this and you've got a bit of criticism from different people on the police unit and so forth. Look, it's obviously we're going to get criticism from time to time but I guess that comes with the territory and we're doing the best we can with what we've got. We've got a message to the bikey gangs and to the people doing these offences now that we've got this new squad in place. We'll get you. I'm just thinking of something. I'd say beyond your very best behaviour and if you intend to commit crime on a girl case you certainly will be caught. And you're being watched very carefully and you're being profiled. We're building up profiles on people and we're certainly going to act against them if they're breaching the law.