DV incidents left almost a month without police response in Queensland city

Wednesday, 19 March 2025 12:41

Leaked internal police records show domestic violence incidents dating as far back as February 20 had not been responded to as of yesterday.

EXCLUSIVE: Queensland's Police Minister, Dan Purdie, and Police Union Boss Shane Prior are sounding the alarm after a 9News investigation revealed that some domestic violence incidents in Logan are going almost a month without being responded to.

Leaked internal police records show domestic violence incidents dating as far back as February 20 had not been responded to as of yesterday, March 18.

Additional records obtained at the beginning of March reveal jobs as early as February 13 have not been attended to.

DV incidents left almost a month without police response in Queensland city

Some jobs have been left unresourced for almost a month.

According to multiple police sources, the backlog is the result of significant staff shortages and legislation that they argue slows down response.

Police Minister Dan Purdie said the situation is "unacceptable".

"Victims of domestic violence need a rapid response, they should get a rapid response," he said.

"I fully accept that police, particularly in Logan and some of those high crime areas, are at crisis point."

9News can reveal the number of unresourced jobs in Logan last Monday at 8pm was 242.

On Tuesday morning at 6.00am, there were 208 unresourced jobs.

"Everyone in the community should be outraged at these figures," Police Union boss Shane Prior told 9News.

"We have victims in Logan that are going unanswered because we do not have enough police or resources to go to these jobs.

"If there is a job that is unresourced, that is one victim police aren't getting to but to have 242 jobs that police cannot get to, that exposes victims to a lot of risk and we need to do better."

Police whistleblowers are warning the backlog is impacting the response to all crime across the district.

"It impacts first response to everything," one officer said.

"Jobs are getting triaged to the point where some incidents aren't being attended to without repeated (triple-zero) calls."

During the recent response to ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred, the Logan district had an additional 22 police cars in operation.

Frontline police said with the temporary additional resources, they were able to start getting on top of the backlog

"The number of staff across Logan, Crestmead and Beenleigh would need to double to get on top of the backlog," another senior officer said.

Purdie said the government is committed to adding 1600 new officers to the Queensland Police Service over the next four years, but where the additional resources are stationed is a decision for the police commissioner.

"I am committed to ensuring our police at Logan and everywhere across Queensland have the backup they need, coupled with the laws and policies and procedures around domestic violence to better protect victims of domestic violence and all victims of crime," Purdie said.

Queensland Police declined a request for an interview, providing a statement.

However, the question about whether more staff are needed for the Logan district was left unresponded.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).