The State Flying Squad is helping make Queensland safer, charging 1,998 offenders with 5,957 offences in its first year of operation since it was significantly expanded.
Built to move fast, target and remove serious repeat offenders from the streets, the State Flying Squad is the largest police rapid response unit in Queensland’s history and provides surge capacity into crime hotspots to help restore community safety.
In its first year, the bolstered State Flying Squad has been deployed to crime hotspots 104 times and arrested 1,998 people – including 1,187 youths – on 5,957 charges.
Hotspot locations for the State Flying Squad have included 19 deployments to the Far North District, 18 to the Townsville District and 13 to the Darling Downs District.
The 58-officer specialist unit is more than triple the size of previous flying squads.
Deputy Commissioner Cheryl Scanlon commended the State Flying Squad for their commitment to community safety and reducing crime across Queensland.
“We’ve seen great results during the last 12-months of the expanded State Flying Squad, and we will continue the specialised, targeted and intelligence-led deployments to ensure we respond effectively and efficiently to crime trends,” Deputy Commissioner Scanlon said.
“The Squad amplifies the results of local police operations by boosting frontline resources and providing an investigative surge capacity.
“I applaud our highly specialised police officers who work tirelessly to reduce harm in communities and disrupt criminal activity.”
Detective Inspector Joe Nixon said he couldn’t be prouder of the State Flying Squad’s efforts to help reduce crime in Queensland communities over the past year.
“The Squad amplifies the results of local police operations by boosting frontline resources and providing an investigative surge capacity, and we’ve seen fantastic results during our first year of the enhanced Flying Squad structure,” Detective Inspector Nixon said.
“Our highly skilled officers work tirelessly every day to support local police and collaborate with other specialist teams to maintain pressure on criminal activity, ensuring we effectively reduce harm wherever we go, through targeted, intelligence-led deployments.
“We’ll continue to deploy wherever and whenever we’re needed to enhance the safety of all Queenslanders.”
