Police have shot four people in Townsville in the past year, but the state’s police union is resisting calls for a review into the way shootings are investigated.
A 29-year-old man remains in a critical condition after being shot by officers in a shopping centre loading dock in the western Townsville suburb of Thuringowa Central on Sunday.
Police said officers from the Special Emergency Response Team were called in as the man was wanted for alleged “serious criminal offences”.
The man shot by police on Sunday is in a critical but stable condition at Townsville University Hospital. (ABC News: Meghan Dansie)
However, Queensland Police did not share what those alleged offences were or the circumstances leading up to Sunday’s shooting, as a police ethical standards investigation was underway.
It comes after an officer shot and killed an armed man in the Townsville suburb of North Ward two weeks ago.
Police also shot a 17-year-old girl in the abdomen after she allegedly threatened them with a knife in June, and a first-year police officer shot a man “experiencing a mental health episode” three times in January.
Review demand
The Queensland Council for Civil Liberties has repeated calls for a systematic review into police shootings.
President Michael Cope said it was “simply not good enough” for the shootings to be referred to the Ethical Standards Command, which only reviewed individual incidents.
Michael Cope has repeated calls for an inquiry into police-involved shootings. (ABC Radio Brisbane: Kenji Sato)
“We accept that there unfortunately are circumstances in which police have to use their guns,” he said.
“But when you have such a large number of police shootings, we think it’s time for there to be some sort of inquiry that looks into all the issues — a systematic review of what’s going on here.”
Mr Cope said a royal commission or the Crime and Corruption Commission could conduct such a review.
“This may not be anything to do with police conduct, we just simply don’t know what the causes are,” he said.
“It seems to me that any member of the public would want to know why police shootings in Queensland the last few years seem to have been extraordinarily high in comparison with the rest of the country.”
Queensland Police Union president Shane Prior said every police-involved shooting should be examined individually.
Shane Prior says he is confident officers acted appropriately. (ABC News: Curtis Rodda)
“This just demonstrates that police are operating in a work environment that has never been as dangerous as it is right now,” he said.
“You need to look at each individual incident on its own merits.
“Yes there has been an increase in the prevalence of firearm-related incidents in Townsville but on each one of those occasions police have acted appropriately and this is no different.”
The fatal shooting in Townsville last week will be referred to the Queensland Coroner.
In recent years, multiple people experiencing a mental health episode have been fatally shot by Townsville police, including the case of Steven Angus, who was shot dead hours after hospital discharge.
A spokesperson for the Coroners Court of Queensland told the ABC last week it was in discussions with the Queensland Mental Health Commission and the Queensland Police Service about ways to examine systemic issues associated with police-related deaths.
The Ethical Standards Command will review the actions of police. (ABC News: Meghan Dansie)
Questions over Sunday shooting
Queensland Police would not comment on whether the man shot in Townsville on Sunday was armed.
But Mr Prior said the man shot did threaten officers.
“I understand that he was hiding underneath a stairwell,” he said.
“It will be alleged that he made certain threats towards police when he was confronted.”
Mr Prior added that the male officer who fired the shot had five years’ experience in the Special Emergency Response Team.
“They are highly trained individuals and they know when they can use their firearms and under what conditions,”
he said.
Queensland Police media also declined to comment on the circumstances of the shooting.
The Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission will have oversight of the Ethical Standards Command investigation.