February 17, 2022
Cherbourg Mayor Elvie Sandow has queried crime statistics presented to her Council at a meeting with senior police on Thursday.
The Mayor and councillors were briefed by Acting Superintendent Danny Shaw (Darling Downs District) and Acting Inspector Scott Stahlhut.
The meeting was called by Cherbourg Council after community complaints about the number of stolen cars being driven around the community by juveniles, and the fact residents were not feeling safe in their homes.
Councillors were told the car thieves quite often do not live in Cherbourg and the vehicles were being stolen from places such as Brisbane.
Police also had a “pursuit policy” which took into account the safety of the youths involved.
The police officers tabled crime statistics for Cherbourg dating back to 2018 which they said showed crime was down significantly.
The figures showed assaults had risen from 104 in 2017-18 to 133 in 2020-21 with 90 so far this financial year.
However, robberies had fallen from four to one, and break and enters from 45 to 35.
Applications for domestic violence orders had fallen from 93 to 35; and contraventions of DVOs had fallen from 183 to 137.
The statistics also showed motor vehicle thefts had actually fallen from 28 to seven.
Speaking to Radio Cherbourg after the meeting, Mayor Sandow said Council had to work with police but she questioned the statistics which had been presented.
“I don’t agree with them, to be honest with you,” she said.
“If you put those stats out into community, they’ll have a different view on it.
“We just have to have some law and order in our community and we need our police to be out and about, being visual in our community.
“Our community is not feeling safe … I really expressed that today and hopefully we can come up with some solutions to deal with it.
“If I don’t get anywhere with these guys, it leaves me no option (but) to go to the Police Minister.
“All we want as community and Council is law and order in our community.”
The councillors and Mayor called for a greater police presence in Cherbourg, more engagement with the community, a 24-hour manned police station to improve response times; and for the four vacant Police Liaison Officer roles to be filled.
