Some time ago when I saw the equipment with which air marshals were to be issued, I noticed that in addition to handcuffs they would be issued with zip ties which  are used by tradespersons and householders to secure things together. Probably the greatest users of these are electricians to group several wires together and in some instances to secure them to a support. Now on reflection again I recall having seen pictures of American soldiers using zip ties to secure prisoners during the Iraq war.

My mind went back to about 1988 when I was Regional Superintendent in charge of the North Coast Region that was then based at Gympie. The annual Music Muster had become a well patronised event which necessitated bringing police from over the whole region to Gympie. Probably the most police officers we ever had there at one time was twenty. Initially they were assisted by State Emergency Service (SES) personnel but later on the muster employed about twelve security officers to assist the police and SES personnel. This worked well.

It was probably before the addition of the security officers that I realised the potential embarrassment which would be caused if mass arrests were necessary and the police on duty would not be able to process them. Escape from arrest worried me. Gympie Station was about three-quarters of an hour away and generally there would have been only two on duty police officers available for dispatch to the muster.

I thought of the idea of issuing a number of large zip ties to the officer in charge of police personnel at the muster so that in the event of mass arrests, several offenders could be tied together until they could be processed. I had in mind that four or five offenders could be tied together with their hands behind their backs and then tied to some fixed object.

I may have discussed the idea with the district officer, Gympie, (at the time Inspector and later Superintendent Graeme Hollands), and had a requisition issued on Frank Sauer and Sons, Gympie, for one hundred of these ties. I distinctly remember telling the officer whom I dispatched to purchase these to get the largest ties he could find. I recall that the ones he returned with were about fifty centimetres long.

At about this time we had had police on Fraser Island for some time (they were there for over twelve months dealing with the anti-loggers) and my thoughts about ‘losing’ offenders went out to them as well. I directed that fifty of the ties go to Fraser Island and fifty go to the muster. To this day I do not know if they were ever used but I felt easier knowing my officers had the necessary gear to prevent offenders getting away.

I was always putting up to the administration suggestions made by my personnel but this one I put up myself. I never heard anything for some time and I asked one of the senior public servants imported by Commissioner Newnham about it. Her initial reaction was against it on humanitarian grounds and also the need to issue side-cutters with the ties so that they could be removed easily. (This latter aspect never really entered my head because I was only interested in holding onto offenders not freeing them.)

A few months later, then-Deputy Commissioner, Bill Aldrich, rang me to tell me that he was not going to approve my suggestion; that was that a number of these ties be issued to each district for use at the discretion of the district officer. It was coincidental that the reasons he advanced for his decision were the same as those provided previously by the senior public servant. I think I countered to the one about side-cutters by saying that all major events were attended by ambulance officers who always had good cutting devices in their possession.

I was not in the North Coast Region when I was informed of the rejection of my suggestion but I never directed that the ties be withdrawn and hopefully some are still available to the police at the Music Muster.

Later, when in charge of the Metropolitan North Region, I recall attending an exercise to evacuate the Brisbane City Watch-house (the largest in the state) after having previously told Inspector Bob Dallow (he was then officer in charge) that he was to consider means of restraining the inmates even to the chain wire fence which was then on the Herschel Street boundary. Non-escapes featured in our prior conversation.

When, during the exercise the prisoners were brought out into the open near the fence, I saw that they were handcuffed by means of plastic handcuffs and that several of the prisoners had been handcuffed together. I later asked Bob about the handcuffs and he indicated that he had seen them advertised and had purchased them on requisition. Naturally I complimented him on his initiative.

While I did not tell him so, I thought that it was good that, despite the administration not endorsing the issue of zip ties for emergent use, an officer had been able to obtain them so that he and his personnel could be spared the embarrassment of losing prisoners who could have been sentenced to terms of imprisonment for major offences. (At one time the Brisbane City Watch-house accommodated eighty-seven ‘jail prisoners’ who had been sentenced to a term of imprisonment or remanded in custody—a disgraceful situation over which we had no control.)

While in my time in the Service a general issue of zip ties was not sanctioned by the administration, I have been told that one or more of the specialist units have had access to the ties for some time.