Townsville POLAIR has welcomed Sergeant Dean Hanrahan as the first full time team leader for the region since the unit became fully operational in April.
POLAIR was first established in Townsville in September 2024 however only became fully operational on 1 April 2026, bringing it in line with the rest of the state, with an identical aircraft and mission role equipment as the existing POLAIR aircraft in South East Queensland.
POLAIR Townsville provides operational support on a full range of policing jobs including drug investigations, traffic matters, stolen car incidents, major and organised crime, public orders, missing persons and search and rescues.
Sergeant Hanrahan said he has been part of the POLAIR team since September 2024 and he was excited to continue to support the Townsville community with stronger than ever air support as the new team leader.
“Being a part of the POLAIR team in Townsville is a great job and I don’t see myself going anywhere else anytime soon,” Sergeant Hanrahan said.
“The roll out of POLAIR has given police on the front-line enhanced capability through the provision of situational awareness and eyes in the sky to assist with tactical planning and help officers on the ground do their job safely and efficiently.
“Every day is different. There is no job like it. During a deployment we could be responding to a large number of active jobs occurring or be tasked to respond to one major incident like a high risk siege situation or tracking a stolen vehicle.”
Sergeant Hanrahan said POLAIR provides a unique aerial observation capability that helps ground crews and supervisors develop a clearer understanding of incidents from a safe, elevated perspective.
“We can deliver live situational awareness where we can provide crews on the ground time and space, where they don’t have to engage or have eyes on a target because we can do that for them.
“It allows them to disengage and plan to resolve an incident in the most tactical, safe and efficient manner.”
While every day is different, there is one job that has really stuck with Sergeant Hanrahan.
He said he was part of the crew who were tasked to help locate a the missing 5-year-old boy as having a development medical condition who had become lost at Alligator Creek, just south of Townsville. The boy’s family called emergency services and POLAIR was able to deploy into the valley and conduct a search over a large geographical area.
After about a 45-minute search, they were able to locate the boy in waters a fair way up Alligator Creek.
From there, they were able to successfully and safely lead crews to the location, and the boy was returned to his parents, safe and well.
“An airborne capability is able to scan large areas in a matter of minutes due to the elevation and equipment we have on board. Ground crews would require hours, and in some cases days, to cover the same area and terrain.
“There really is no job like being part of POLAIR and there is nothing I would rather be doing than this role,” he said.
