Latest news with #QueenslandPoliceService
ABC News
3 days ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Queensland police officers involved in weekend fatal shooting weren't equipped with latest taser model
Police officers involved in a fatal shooting in Townsville were not equipped with the latest model of taser, the Queensland premier has confirmed. Police were called to a North Ward street on Saturday morning to reports a man was armed with a machete and a knife. It's alleged the man advanced towards officers while armed. After what the union has described as a "failed taser deployment", three officers fired multiple shots into the man's chest and legs. Authorities said he was provided immediate medical assistance but died at the scene. More than $47 million in funding was allocated in the state government's most recent budget for the purchase of 6,500 new taser models, known as Taser 10s. But Premier David Crisafulli said the officers in Townsville did not yet have the new equipment. "The first thing we did in our first budget was to fund the rollout of the Taser 10s that police have been crying (out) for, for a few years," Mr Crisafulli said. "It gives the officers the protection they need, but it also helps save the life of individuals as well, it works both ways. The former Labor government committed funding for 1,000 of the updated tasers last year after a trial in 2023. The Queensland Police Service (QPS) did not give an update on the progress of the rollout when contacted for comment. Instead, a police spokesperson said officers were trained to use "ongoing threat assessment and communication strategies aimed at reducing the risk of harm to the community". "Officer and community safety is paramount when police are responding to dangerous situations, with officers trained to conduct threat assessments to use the minimum force necessary to resolve an incident, with the focus on de-escalation of the situation," they said. Queensland Police Union president Shane Prior said he understood the new tasers would be available across the state from 2026, and would be safer for officers. "We're going to have the ability to stand at greater lengths, we're going to have more shots and better accuracy,' Mr Prior said. "The Queensland Police Union advocated and has continued to advocate heavily for the complete rollout of Taser 10s, that's why at the last election we lobbied both Liberal and Labor party to commit to a full rollout." 'We are very appreciative of that ... but we have to acknowledge that the delay has and may very well cost lives in Queensland.' Mr Prior said a taser was an essential piece of equipment for officers and he was looking forward to every single officer being equipped with one. He said it was particularly important given the "increasing violence" police officers were facing on the frontline. 'Never has it been as dangerous as it is right now for police in Queensland," Mr Prior said. QPS said the shooting would be investigated by the Ethical Standards Command, with oversight from the Crime and Corruption Commission. That would include examination of the officers' body-cam footage as well as CCTV.
ABC News
4 days ago
- Automotive
- ABC News
Four dead after horror crash on Central Queensland highway
Four people have died in a horror crash in Central Queensland on Sunday morning, adding to the statewide toll of nine deaths since Friday. The crash happened about 10:50am on the Capricorn Highway, between Blackwater and Comet in the Central Highlands, 230 kilometres west of Rockhampton. One vehicle carrying four passengers and the second carrying two passengers crashed and caught fire. Queensland Ambulance Service treated four people, however they died at the scene. Emergency services could not provide their ages or gender. A further two men in their 20s were taken to Emerald Hospital with life-threatening injuries, including chest and abdominal injuries. Five ambulance crews attended with two Queensland Fire and Emergency Services vehicles. The RACQ Capricorn Rescue Service helicopter was called but was stood down. Queensland Police Service said it could not provide more details "due to the complexity of the incident". The Capricorn Highway between Comet and Blackwater remained closed on Sunday afternoon with a 50-kilometre detour in place through Rileys Crossing Road and Blackwater Cooroorah Road past Bedford Weir. The detour is not suitable for heavy vehicles. Police investigations are continuing. Nine people have been killed on Queensland roads since Friday, including three people in a head-on collision in Mackay on Friday night.
Daily Mail
16-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Heartbroken beauty mogul breaks her silence after her husband of 20 years was found stabbed to death outside their beachfront home - as tragic new details emerge
A skincare mogul has paid tribute to her husband after he was found stabbed to death outside their luxury home, as police reveal he may have lain undiscovered for nearly an entire day. A neighbour found Zdravko Bilic, 57, dead in the front yard of his home on Queensland 's Sunshine Coast in the suburb of Warana about 7.35pm on Monday. In her first public statement since her husband's death, Gry Susann Tomte - the couple were set to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary in August - has remembered him as the 'kindest, gentlest person I have ever known'. He was 'loved by everyone who ever had the fortune of meeting him,' she told Nine News. It is understood Ms Tomte asked the neighbour to check on her husband after not hearing from him for some time. Police said the 57-year-old was found with multiple stab wounds and officers were entertaining a number of lines of inquiry as part of a homicide investigation. A heartbroken Ms Tomte, who founded the luxury beauty clinic, HÜD, was interstate at the time and is not accused of any wrongdoing. Police have revealed Mr Bilic may have been killed as early as 11pm on Sunday night, some 20 hours before he was found. A Queensland Police Service spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia no arrests had yet been made as of Wednesday night. Sunshine Coast Detective Inspector Chris Toohey said police were entertaining a number of lines of inquiry including that Mr Bilic had disturbed a break-and-enter. He said Mr Bilic was a 'valued member of the community' and his death has left neighbours of the relatively safe Queensland suburb 'shocked'. 'As you can imagine it is an extremely [distressing] time for [Ms Tomte], but the community are coming around her and doing as much as they can for her,' he said. Ms Tomte moved to Australia at the age of 28 and founded her clinic later in life in 2017 after undergoing training in Toronto, Canada. HÜD opened with its first location in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda and has since opened a second in the nearby suburb of Northcote. According to her Instagram page, Ms Tomte also works as a high-performance coach and was due to present at the Brisbane Aesthetic Summit on July 21. She has been described as an 'incredible entrepreneur', responsible for a multi-million dollar business with star-studded clientele. The couple bought the five-bedroom, three-bathroom home in March 2022 for $2.5million. The couple often depicted their lavish lifestyle on social media, including frequent jaunts to Sydney and New York. Mr Bilic was featured in a video on HÜD's Instagram page in September last year in which he was filmed applying a skincare mask. 'Here's to our fathers and father figures who raise us, support us and love us,' the caption read. 'Mr HÜD is the most incredible man and fur father I could ever ask for'. In a profile piece for Jasmine Alexa, Ms Tomte described her husband as the 'most supportive human I could ever ask for. 'It's not easy living with a perfectionist who lives and breathes work… But he is the yin to my yang. The calm to my storm. 'Especially being that we have no family here, the two of us have always been a strong unit.' Police continue to appeal to anyone with information or CCTV vision of the area between 11pm Sunday 13 July and 7.35pm Monday 14 July to contact police.
The Guardian
15-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Domestic violence case management not ‘core business' of police, Queensland's top cop says
Domestic violence case management is not the 'core business' of policing, and other agencies should take on greater roles in this, Queensland's acting police commissioner says. The Queensland police service on Tuesday released a 100-day review of its operations and structure, finding that the police have been the victim of 'significant mission creep', with officers increasingly tasked with non-core functions such as mental health response, domestic and family violence case management, and prisoner transport. At a press conference on Tuesday morning – before the report was made public – the acting police commissioner, Shane Chelepy, said the state had seen the 'fundamental role of policing changing to [addressing] societal issues'. 'If you look at domestic and family violence and mental health issues and other social issues, our role of policing has expanded into those societal and social issues. What this report says is that's very important, but police are not the ones who are trained to do that,' he said. Chelepy said the police force needed to better define where its role starts and stops. Asked if parts of the response to domestic violence or mental health crises were outside 'core business', he said that police would still attend callouts, but would seek a clearer referral process to other agencies 'once we've done our job and kept the community safe'. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email He said there should be a greater role for 'wraparound services to reduce that repeat calls for service that we see'. 'The reality is, police are there to do policing. We're there to keep the community safe … there's a time in that response where the best support to be provided to the member of the public is through a specialist of another organisation, not a police officer.' The police minister, Dan Purdie, a former cop, said shifting resources back to crime detection and prevention would help QPS 'refocus on their core priorities of fighting crime'. 'I look forward to working with the other ministers and those departments through cabinet, and likewise, to build better systems to help our police refocus their attention on fighting crime,' he said. 'We need to build that capacity.' Purdie said the government was already making investments in other agencies to pick up the slack. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion 'Whether it's child safety issues or mental health issues our police cannot arrest their way out of that problem,' he said. The government recently introduced legislation into parliament to reduce the paperwork burden on police responding to domestic violence incidents – which are widely understood to represent a large proportion of their time on duty. If passed the laws would permit police to issue an on-the-spot order to an alleged domestic violence offender, a proposal that some experts fear could put vulnerable women at greater risk of harm. Queensland police commissioned officers union president, Kerry Johnson, and Queensland police union president, Shane Prior, welcomed the findings of the report, at the Tuesday morning press conference. 'I want to see places like child safety actually doing a 24/7 roster, much like police do,' Prior said. 'I want the Department of Health to actually start dealing with this mental health issue that we've got in society and not be left at the feet of police. Things have got to change.' The report makes 65 recommendations. Chelepy said they include reducing the size of the police executive leadership team from 44 to 26 and a reduction of the senior executive. No jobs would be lost in the change, he said. In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Mental health support is available at Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and at MensLine on 1300 789 978. Other international helplines can be found via
Sky News AU
15-07-2025
- Sky News AU
Queensland Police declare crime scene after man found dead in high-end Sunshine Coast neighbourhood of Warana
An upmarket suburb on the Sunshine Coast is the centre of a police investigation following the unexplained death of a man on Monday night. Authorities responded to a property on Napalle Street in the Warana neighbourhood just after 7:30pm after receiving reports of a collapsed man. Emergency responders arrived to find the 57-year-old unresponsive. He was declared deceased at the scene. A two-storey residence on the street was cordoned off with crime scene tape. Two vehicles, one of them a luxury BMW convertible, remained parked in the driveway as forensic teams began combing the area for evidence. Police say they are still working to determine how the man died. 'The man was found non-responsive and declared dead at the scene,' a Queensland Police Service spokesperson said in a statement. 'A crime scene has been declared as investigations into the circumstances of his death continue. 'Anyone with information is urged to contact police.' The news has rattled the coastal community of Warana, a suburb within the Kawana Waters region known for its pristine beaches and modern homes. With a population of under 4,000 and a median property value sitting around $1.5 million, the area is widely regarded as one of the safest and most desirable parts of the Sunshine Coast. Recent years have seen older properties in the suburb demolished to make way for multimillion-dollar buildings. According to national crime mapping data, Warana records low rates of violent crime, making this latest development all the more shocking for locals. Queensland Police are continuing to investigate the incident. Anyone who may have seen or heard anything unusual on Monday is urged to come forward.
