STORIES  Guidelines for STORIES 080524.pdf

Recently I found a memorandum addressed to ‘Cadet G. L. Early, Special Branch’ from Inspector H. F. Reinke who was then in charge of the Police Depot. It advised of my appointment as a probationary, ‘... in this Service as from and including Monday, 21^st December 1959’.

It continued:

‘You should report at the above address at 9.00 am on that date to commence your Probationary training.

During your training period, apart from your ordinary clothing, you are expected to have the following items of clothing, viz:

Two pairs of khaki trousers

Two khaki shirts (military pockets)

Two pairs of navy blue gym shorts

Two white athletic singlets

Two pairs of black socks

One pair of white sandshoes

One pair of black boots

One grey felt hat

Most cadets in those days had black boots which they bought from serving police officers. If you happened to get hold of a brown pair you made them black yourself with Raven Oil. I am sure that many former police officers will recall receiving a memorandum like this one.

When I became the Regional Superintendent of the North Coast Region based on Gympie in February 1988, I soon found that, apart from the headquarters stations of Bundaberg, Maryborough, Gympie and Maroochydore, three or four twenty-four-hour stations and the district headquarters themselves—all other stations had no clerical support. All up there would have been no more than twelve public servants in the region. None of them was above AO2 which was then the base grade public servant. With a need to work other than day shifts and with a cut back in relieving absent members, it was obvious that many stations were not open during some of the usual business days.

I knew that there was then a freeze on more public servants. But when invited to have socialise with other dignitaries at the Nambour Show in June, 1988 or 1989, I took the opportunity to raise the issue with then-Treasurer and local Member of Parliament, Brian Austin. I had known Brian previously and he was quick to confirm that there would be no more public servants in the forthcoming budget. He did, however, query whether the QPS had ever considered part-time public servants. I said that I felt that we had not, but that it was a good idea if something could be done about the suggestion.

Nothing more was thought about the matter by me until I received a telephone call at Gympie from a senior Treasury official. He indicated that the Treasurer had tasked him to explore the suggestion and he asked me to give him something in writing. This was in the middle of the Commission of Inquiry and during a period when I could not go onto the executive floor at police headquarters nor could I leave my region without the written permission of the Acting Commissioner, Ron Redmond. (This is a true statement—one not known by many people.)

I told the official that I would prepare something and send it to him with no identifying marks on it. This I did. I heard no more until after the budget was released and $500 000 was shown in the police department's allocations for part-time public servants. Brian Gallagher, who was then the Departmental Secretary and most senior public servant, contacted the Treasury about this unrequested amount. (I would say that the inclusion of an amount in a department's budget without any request was unheard of at that time.)

Brian was told that I knew about this gesture and that he should contact me which he did. I told him of my brief conversation with Brian Austin and I think I mentioned the contact from the Treasury official. The rest, as they say, is history.

Soon after, the eight regional superintendents were allocated so many hours and were asked to advise where the hours would be allocated with a maximum of twenty-four to any station or section. I quickly consulted the four district officers and forwarded my return to Brisbane. Soon afterwards—and soon after that again—I received more hours and again quickly allocated them. The additional allocations indicated to me that some of my colleagues did not accept all or part of the offer because there was some resistance to having public servants doing clerical duty which some officers in charge believed could only be done by themsselves.

There was one four-person station which resisted any assistance, but my recollection is that all two-person stations and all other four-person stations received an allocation. I have not checked the situation today but I believe that all of the allocations remain and in some cases they have been increased to full-time where the need was justified.

What this action meant and still means is that through effective rostering someone can be at most stations in the North Coast Region during business hours to attend to callers in person or on the telephone. While the public did not have any say in the matter, the
'part-timers' were well-received and soon established themselves as a valuable resource. I recall hearing regularly on the police radio, a part-timer inquiring from a police officer when he or she would be back at the station so a member of the public could see him or her.

The first Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) was formed in Queensland in 1971. It was not long after Commissioner Ray Whitrod was appointed and the Minister at the time was Max Hodges. He was also Minister for Works and Housing and in those days the word ‘police’ was not included in the title of any portfolio. (This did not occur until 1976.)

It was stated that the CIU had been set up to concentrate on gathering and disseminating intelligence on criminals. But in its early days its members concentrated on the disclosures of a prostitute named Shirley Margaret Brifman about the alleged activities of certain Queensland police officers.

Shirley had worked in Brisbane in the fifties, and went to Sydney where she worked and became known to many 'notable' persons. She then returned to Brisbane to tell all she knew to the authorities.

Prior to the formation of the CIU, Shirley had been speaking to an assistant commissioner and a police woman. Why she was handed over to the CIU was never revealed to me. Also my recollection is that any statements taken by these police officers were never given to the CIU.

I was working in the Legal Section (later to become the Administration Branch) and one day then-Superintendent Norm Gulbransen (later Assistant Commissioner and now deceased) came in and told me that, as from the following day, I would be working for him in the CIU which was to be established at the Queensland Police College at Chelmer. (In those days police officers did what they were told and went where they were posted which is quite different to what seems to occur today.)

There was a brief media release about this formation and in it the names of its members were released. They were Superintendent Gulbransen, Inspector Mick McCarthy, Detective Senior Sergeant Jim Voigt, Detective Sergeant First Class Basil Hicks and myself. We were provided with two new unmarked police vehicles and nothing else. (These vehicles had been purchased for some other section-branch but they never got to their destination.)

When we arrived at the College, Inspector Bob Matheson was in charge and unfortunately he lost his large office to Superintendent Gulbransen and myself. From memory, I think that Inspector McCarthy occupied the office as well for the couple of months he was with the unit.

In the early days of the unit, we acquired (another word for 'stole') stores and stationery as well as a large safe. This safe was so big that the joists under the floor had to be strengthened and a large crane was hired to lift it into the superintendent’s office.

Superintendent Gulbransen and I spent many days speaking with Shirley Brifman. I took extensive shorthand notes and then transcribed them into allegations that could be assessed for investigation. It was a difficult task to extract precise details from her.

After a couple of months of operations, Detective Sergeants Jack Vaudin and Norm Sprenger joined the unit. Superintendent Don (Dynes Malcomson to those who knew him well) Becker later joined the unit and pursued an allegation which resulted in a charge of perjury being preferred against a senior detective who it was alleged had contact with Shirley Brifman during the Royal Commission into the National Hotel. (While the charge went to court, it was withdrawn soon after the death of Shirley Brifman which was recorded as 'suicide'.)

Another investigation involving a working prostitute and a serving detective sergeant, Glendon Patrick Hallahan, was being pursued by all members of the unit. This resulted in the arrest of the detective for official corruption after he was intercepted with sixty dollars given to him by the prostitute at a meeting in New Farm Park. This arrest involved the use of the first official ‘bug’ by then-Queensland Police Force and this is the subject of another article.

Much sympathy was extended to both detectives who had built up reputations as most effective investigators. Members of the CIU were despised by many serving members and it was certainly not a popular posting. Members were credited with being all over the State in a variety of vehicles. But most, if not, all of these allegations were untrue.

The CIU conducted other investigations involving members of the police force but not one of the charges proffered resulted in a conviction. This situation has often been publicised as one of Mr Whitrod’s 'failures' as Commissioner.

It was an interesting and challenging seven months which I spent at the CIU. While today the investigation of fellow police officers is the norm, it certainly could not be viewed in that light in 1971.

Footnote: Glen Hallahan, Norm Gulbransen, Don Becker, Mick McCarthy, Jim Voigt and Basil Hicks have passed away.

When I became Regional Superintendent of the North Coast Police Region in 1988, there was little accountability on me in regard to correspondence and budgets. Day-to-day files went from the Commissioner’s Office direct to districts and the district officers processed overtime claims, travelling allowance claims and returns for weekend work directly to the Commissioner’s Office. The only files that came to or through me were important ministerial ones, ones dealing with personnel and departmental investigation files.

It was possible for officers in charge and district officers to issue requisitions for goods or services, to sign off on telephone usage and the like without reference to me, the regional superintendent. That all changed in about July 1988 and continued to change until full regionalisation in 1990. When the change occurred I received an allocation for overtime, for Saturday and Sunday penalty rate units, for travelling allowance and for telephone usage. This was based on the combined amounts used by the districts in the previous year. (The Region then comprised Sunshine Coast, Gympie, Maryborough and Bundaberg Districts with Redcliffe being added later.)

The only direction I received was one to try to gain equity between districts and that there would be no more allocations for these items. It was a very difficult task because some of the district officers had been quite generous with their overtime allocations and for the travelling allowance they had approved.

Up until this change, district officers were able to relieve all absences from their one and two person stations with the knowledge, ‘She’s right; Brisbane pays’. But with an allocation from myself and a stipulation that there was no more for the year, they had to start thinking about their relief and that is when ‘drive-out relieving’ became fashionable. (For example a Murgon officer would drive-out each day to Proston and return in the afternoon rather than incur travelling allowance.)

I have noticed in recent years—and probably some readers have too—that little or no relief for one- and two-person stations has become quite fashionable. I am positive that it is caused by one factor—accountability by senior officers of their budget allocation.

The telephone usage was another one that showed some very large Telstra bills. I remember one such bill at a two-person station being extremely high due to the wife of the constable being an Avon agent. That type of account had been going through unchecked and was only found when the district officer had to start adding up his bills against his yearly allocation.

This article indicates the shift of accountability onto regional superintendents-assistant commissioners and some of the effects that that shift created.

Recently I was preparing to go to a rodeo with a friend who mentioned to me that I really should wear a pair of boots to be ‘with it’. As most police officers always had a fairly good stock of uniform items, I went in search of a pair of police boots and found a pair among my hoardings.

On reflection, these boots—while never worn—would have to be about twelve-years old at least. They could be much older because I do not recall wearing boots as a commissioned officer although my recollection is that it was optional because as a commissioned officer—until about 1989—we purchased our own footwear with our uniform allowance. Again from recollection, the Newnham Administration introduced a policy to supply uniform to all members and I believe that that policy remains today.

When I retrieved this pair of police boots, my memory went back to 1956 when I became a police cadet and the emphasis then placed on police boots. That is really what I am going to write about anyway.

Initially I worked in the Records Section of the old Roma Street Police Station (some of our members will not realise that it was in between the current Mayfair Crest Hotel and the Suncorp-Metway Building). The ‘in thing’ among cadets (there were about a hundred of us) was to wear police boots with our civilian attire. We all worked with uniformed police officers and most if not all of them would part with a pair of boots for a price.

City police had black boots while country police had tan ones. Quite often you could get a pair of tan boots and you then made them black with raven oil. I think that my first boots were tan and were even second-hand. The boots in 1956 and for many years thereafter, were made by Co-operative. Later on the contract went to Leslie Shoes.

While I wore police boots for many years as a cadet and a police officer, I know that many others in the community also wore police boots. For example my late father was a carpenter and he—through my efforts in purchasing or exchanging boots (you could always exchange sizes at the Police Store)—wore them for probably twenty-years at work and later in his retirement.

You could always tell a Queensland police boot by its appearance generally and particularly its height (much the same as the current army boot). They always seemed to be very comfortable and protective of one's feet.

While I never broke with tradition and wore them, later on the elastic-sided boot became available and many of my colleagues turned to them probably because they were easier to get on and off. I imagine they would have been popular with country police particularly who had to then—and no doubt still do—on occasions turn out to duty as quickly as possible.

Another positive with the police boot was the ability to go to the place where they were made and exchange a new pair for a new pair of shoes. Many police officers did this over the years and probably some of our readers may be saying, ‘I didn’t know about that little lurk’.

I will relate how the badge was changed on two occasions. Former commissioned officers particularly will recall that for probably the whole of the twentieth century until about 1990 the badge had remained unchanged. Evidence of this is the photograph of each Commissioner in this period which hangs in the Executive Conference Room on the seventh floor of QPS Headquarters.

It had been suggested that following the Commission of Inquiry, we needed a new motto to get away from the words, ‘firmness with courtesy’. But I have never been privy to why we needed a new badge. Whatever the reason was, Commissioner Noel Newnham in about 1990 championed a competition for a new motto, and at the same time, the new badge was considered. The competition winner with the motto—with honour we serve— was announced as was the layout-design of a new badge.

As a serving member at the time, I anticipated that the badge would be for constables to
senior sergeants—as had been the case for many years—with the commissioned officer’s badge remaining untouched. But a decision was made by someone or by a senior group to have one badge for all grades and ranks. This duly happened with most commissioned officers having to accept the change like many others and say little or nothing.

I knew that Jim O’Sullivan—as a Commander-Assistant Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner—was not happy about the change away from the traditional commissioned officer’s badge. Soon after he took over as Commissioner in November 1992, this matter somehow got on the agenda and/or was raised at a Senior Executive Conference. At least two acting assistant commissioners were attending that Conference—Peter Freestone and myself—and after some discussion, a resolution to revert to the old badge was carried by one vote.

This was the first time under Commissioner O’Sullivan that acting assistant commissioners were permitted to attend the Senior Executive Conference. I know this full well because when I was Acting Assistant Commissioner of the North Coast Region for several months following the promotion to Deputy Commissioner of Jim O'Sullivan, I had to rely on a couple of people who attended the Senior Executive Conferences to provide me with information which I could relay to personnel in the North Coast Region.

My recollection is that the discussion at the conference about the badge did not extend to shoulder boards worn by commissioned officers on their uniform or mess kit. The words ‘Queensland Police’ had been omitted during the Newnham administration and those words had never appeared as part of the mess kit. (Members of the public would always have had difficulty in knowing what organisation a person wearing this kit was from, because of no clear identification being visible.)

The Commissioner, however, agreed that the words ‘Queensland Police’ should be restored to the shoulder boards of commissioned officers and included on the boards worn as part of the commissioned officer’s mess kit. This was done and remains unchanged today. While the restoration of the badge was known to a few, the background to the placement of the words ‘Queensland Police’ on the shoulder boards as mentioned above probably was known only to Commissioner O’Sullivan, former Superintendent Ivan Fels and myself.

A little bit of trivia not widely known or previously published.

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.

While unofficial ‘bugs’ may have been used in then Queensland Police Force, it was not until 1971 when the first official one was made and used. (‘Bug’ is my term for a listening device placed on a telephone or on a person so that conversations can be recorded for evidentiary purposes.)

The use of this device occurred soon after the Crime Intelligence Unit was formed in 1971.  It had been disclosed that a certain detective sergeant met a prostitute regularly in New Farm Park where she gave him money in return for non-prosecution of her activities and it was decided to record the ensuing conversation during one of these meetings.

Inspector Tom Noonan, who was then in charge of the Radio and Electronics Section, was entrusted with the task of producing a so-named bug which could be placed on the prostitute. He did this after much effort and it was contained in a match box. It could have been a Bryant and May box but it was definitely a match box. A couple of wires came out of the box and that was 'it'.

The CIU did not have a battery operated tape-recorder and used one owned by the late Detective Senior Sergeant (later Chief Superintendent) Jim Voigt. It was resolved to use his father’s caravan which had to be towed by Jim’s vehicle (An EH-Holden station wagon) because the CIU vehicles did not have a tow bar and would have been easily recognised anyway. Probably in 1971 no QPF vehicle had a tow bar on it anyway.)

On the morning when the meeting was arranged for New Farm Park, I received a telephone call at my home to get ready for a quick pick up by Jim Voigt. We then went to New Farm Park where the late Superintendent (later Assistant Commissioner) Norm Gulbransen, Inspector Noonan, Detective Sergeants Jack Vaudin and Norm Sprenger entered the caravan. Later Detective Senior Sergeant Voigt and I joined them in the van when it was positioned on the driveway in the park near the river. (It was known which seat the prostitute usually occupied prior to the detective sergeant’s arrival and the caravan and vehicle were parked near that seat. (The bug had been taped to the upper body of the prostitute by Detective Sergeant Basil Hicks.)

The target detective sergeant duly arrived and parked his vehicle near the caravan. He was observed going to the seat and sitting beside the prostitute. At about this time it was noticed that the Council had decided to mow the lawn with a tractor towing several mowers. The racket these made was clearly detectable by us inside the van. It was known that the prostitute would be giving the detective sergeant sixty dollars but I cannot recall if that transaction was seen from the van.

When the sergeant got up and commenced to return to his vehicle, Superintendent Gulbransen and I got out of the van and intercepted him very close to his car. Superintendent Gulbransen recovered the sixty-dollars from the sergeant and my task was to record in shorthand the conversation between the two police officers.

The detective sergeant was duly arrested that day for official corruption (the first ever in the Queensland Police Force) and subsequently appeared in court. He was also suspended from duty and later appeared for a summary trial. The case was later withdrawn, however, and his resignation took effect at about the same time. He has since died.

When the tape-recording was played, its content was not very clear. As expected, much interference was caused by the mowing operations which took place at the same time and it was soon realised that the batteries in the tape-recorder were not one hundred percent. The police force never had any officer able to enhance the tape, so with the assistance of a television station, a method to slow down or speed up the motor was devised as a way of enhancing its content. I did this for hours with a screw driver in a hole made in the casing so that a transcript of the conversation between the prostitute and the officer could be made.

No doubt the Queensland Police Force, and of late Service, acquired more sophisticated bugs after the one I have described was used in 1971. I am certain they would not have been contained in a matchbox.

The Public Order Squad arose from Commissioner Ray Whitrod being somewhat embarrassed at the inability of the force to assemble, at short notice, a large number of police officers who had been trained in crowd control. This was in the early 1970s when students were 'sitting-in' at the University of Queensland and when it was found that for this type of offence police officers could do little to quell the situations that were occurring on rather a regular basis.

I distinctly recall seeing a legal opinion from the Solicitor General to the effect that, unless an amendment were made to the now-repealed Vagrants, Gaming, and Other Offences Act, police officers could only go onto the campus in pursuit of an offender who had committed a criminal offence by invitation of management or to investigate a criminal offence. (I remember spending much time and effort with the late Superintendent Bob Matheson, one of our members, on bringing about the insertion of section 4A in the abovementioned Act which gave police the power to deal with sit-ins.)

Mr Whitrod was impressed by the manner in which police motorcyclists, who were called to the university, were able to handle these students and this was because of their helmets and leggings which gave them some means of protection. He decided to form the Public Order Squad which he did by assembling about one hundred uniformed police clerks from the various offices at Police Headquarters, and I am pretty sure, Fortitude Valley and Woolloongabba. Helmets with visors were purchased for use by this squad. Later, long batons were obtained.

We trained hard once a week at the Lang Park Police Youth Club and initially a bombardier-cum drill instructor from the army was our instructor. Mr Whitrod and former Superintendent Kev McMahon, were fairly regular attendees at training. We used to go to and from Lang Park in the police bus.

On several occasions I recall going out on a Friday or Saturday night in a group of Public Order Squad members to enforce, in particular, the Traffic Regulations in areas where hoons were allegedly out of control. This was on overtime and caused some unrest among the police officers in the areas where we worked. They thought that they should get any overtime on offer.

Another regular duty for the Public Order Squad was to go to Coolangatta on new year’s eve where prior to this there had been quite a degree of lawlessness particularly from revelers who had celebrated the new year in Tweed Heads and then crossed the border to have another celebration on Queensland time.

I distinctly recall being either in charge or second in charge of a bus full of Public Order Squad members at Coolangatta on a new year’s eve. The Police Minister, the Honourable Max Hodges, and Commissioner Whitrod, were hovering around the streets and the Public Order Squad, when near to midnight, was held in the bus behind the  police station.

The Minister and the Commissioner returned to the police station (the old one and not the current one) and soon afterwards rocks were hurled at the station. This went on for a little while and then it was decided to release the Public Order Squad along with its members' helmets and long batons.

These batons were pieces of round timber about one metre long. They were just that— long and straight—and we kept them in a sugar bag in the front of the bus. We had trained with them but they had never been used in public before.  (My recollection is that these batons were made in the former Boggo Road Jail).

We lined up in the side street beside the station and someone gave the order to advance which we did in a pretty straight line at the start. The hoons took off followed in some instances by pursuing police officers who did not hold the line. I distinctly recall seeing Constable Lindsay Ross Dickson chasing a male down to the water’s edge. Many thongs were left on the roadway by the fleeing hoons. I do not recall many arrests being made but I do remember being involved in a bit of police history—the first time long batons were used to disperse a crowd in Queensland.

I have decided to tell this story probably because I know that few people remain who can take it from start to finish. It commences in 1956 when I was a fifteen-year-old police cadet at Roma Street Police Station. My recollection is that there was parking inside the station’s grounds for about three police cars and a few bikes although the Traffic Branch was on the next floor up with pedestrian access being available from Turbot Street.

One day there appeared to my young and naive eyes about twenty-five brand new gleaming police motorbikes. They could have been BSAs or Triumphs and they really were a sight. They were everywhere in the parking area and near the entrance to the Roma Street Station.

I do not know how long this lasted but Inspector Cecil Edgar Risch (aka The Duke or The Count) was the District Superintendent of Traffic and he put up a case to the Commissioner that because there was inadequate covered parking for these bikes their riders should be allowed to take them home provided they cleaned the bikes in their own time. Obviously the request was granted and this practice existed all over Queensland until about 1994 when a close look at what vehicles were going home at night resulted in motor bikes being left at stations.

I am not sure if this edict flowed from a Senior Executive Conference or whether it was one decreed by former Deputy Commissioner Bill Aldrich.  But its effect was well-known and often spoken about by traffic personnel.

As the assistant commissioner in charge of Metropolitan North Region, I was at Sandgate Station one day in about 1995 when the traffic sergeant there raised the issue with me at a general meeting. He indicated that the bike he rode was exposed to the salt air; that it was parked near the footway of the road beside the police station and that the police radio was repeatedly out of action due probably to the salt air effect. I asked him to put his comments in writing which he did.

I put up, as a Senior Executive Conference item, the possible reinstatement of the previous privilege. At the conference there was lively debate. I had done a bit of lobbying before it came up and I soon found out that some of my colleagues were not going to support me. But the vote was close and the privilege was reinstated forthwith.

There was a limitation put on the distance that could be travelled—I think it was forty-two kilometres—but I know of one traffic sergeant who used to travel a few kilometers past the limit and book people when traveling from and to his home. He was still doing that until the day he retired at the age limit.

The main thrust of my argument for this to be done was that the example at Sandgate— of poor accommodation for the bikes there—was in vogue elsewhere in the state and that it was only a matter of time before someone would interfere with a bike and thereby threaten the life of one of our officers. While the fact remains that the QPS only gets ten shifts a fortnight out of a police bike, and a possible forty-two out of a police car, the accommodation aspect regained this privilege for traffic officers just as it did in 1956.

Also, on reflection, it was a case of a subordinate being able to raise something with a senior officer in the hope that it would be considered on its merits.