Commissioner Ian Stewart has congratulated Queensland Police Service (QPS) officers and staff members who received Awards for Excellence in a ceremony held at Police Headquarters yesterday.
The QPS Awards for Excellence acknowledge and reward individuals and teams for innovative, creative and outstanding initiatives, projects or systems that have been implemented across the state.
Minister for Police Mark Ryan said the award recipients demonstrated the kind of commitment and professionalism that were hallmarks of the Queensland Police Service.
“The awards today recognise officers who perform above and beyond in their commitment to keeping Queenslanders safe.
“Each recipient today, should be very proud of their dedication and achievements.
“They are a credit to the Queensland Police Service and the community,” Minister Ryan said.
Gold, silver and bronze awards were presented to 22 project teams or individuals in the categories of customer focus, innovation, leadership, performance and sustainability.
Commissioner Stewart congratulated both the winners and all finalists for their commitment to improving police practices.
“Today’s ceremony not only acknowledges outstanding projects and initiatives but identifies those officers and staff members who have sought ways to improve the service offered by the QPS,” Commissioner Stewart said.
“The projects being recognised today are an example of QPS members going above and beyond, devising new and interesting ways to address the issues faced by the community.”
The following finalists were awarded Gold:
The Customer Focus award was awarded to Business Support from the Commonwealth Games Group, which is comprised of QPS and Public Safety Business Agency staff.
The Business Support team planned and delivered support services to more than 3,700 police officers which included transport, accommodation, community systems, rostering, meals and equipment.
The second recipient for the Customer Focus award was the Online National Police Certificates Project Team from Community Contact Command, which has improved the criminal history check process for members of the public.
Every year more than 40,000 Queenslanders apply for a criminal history check for certain jobs or obtaining an overseas visa. The previous process often took up to six weeks for results. Since this project began the public can now have their results electronically within 15 minutes.
Receiving the Innovation award was Detective Sergeant Adam Riley from State Crime Command, who significantly improved the capacity of the Homicide Investigation Unit by exploiting opportunities to apply digital evidence to complex and protracted Homicide investigations.
Detective Sergeant Riley created a Digital and Telecommunications Investigation (DTI) team which focuses on the capture and interpretation of digital evidence from vehicles, mobile telephones and other electronic devices. The DTI team has now become an integral part of homicide investigations throughout Queensland.
Awarded the Leadership award was the Police Command Project from Community Contact Command, which has provided operational command training to all commanders from the rank of Superintendent to Assistant Commissioner as well as providing awareness training in operational command to all members of the Service.
The Police Command Project saw the introduction of a Queensland Police Service developed “Police Mission Command” model, a world-first policing concept that has attracted interest from national and international law enforcement.
Awarded the Performance award was the Speak Up, Be Strong, Be Heard project from the Northern Region. The project has demonstrated exceptional commitment to child protection in far north Queensland since its implementation in June 2016. This project was developed by the Queensland Police Service (QPS) Child Protection and Investigation Unit (CPIU) in Cairns.
The aim of the project is to develop an ethos of child protection through increasing community awareness of abuse, strengthening reporting obligations and improving the overarching agency interventions to these matters within the Far North District.
Receiving the Sustainability award was the IMS Digitisation Transformation Project Team from the Community Contact Command. The team recognised previous systems and processes for printing and record management within the QPS were non-sustainable mediums both financially and environmentally.
The project underwent a cultural change within the past 24 months, refocussing its entire workforce processes and systems to a digital first sustainable model. Overall, a number of digital reform initiatives resulted in a significantly reduced carbon footprint as well as approximately $200,000 savings across the QPS and other Queensland Government departments.
At the ceremony, the Commonwealth Games Group, was recognised and awarded the Commissioner’s Outstanding Award for their demonstrated achievements beyond core expectations. The award acknowledges the hard work both police and civilian staff undertook to deliver a safe and secure environment for the international athletes and officials and spectators while simultaneously ensuring service delivery to the communities of Queensland.
The Commonwealth Games Group successfully played a significant role in showcasing Queensland as a place to visit, do business and hold major events and has created a valuable sustainable legacy for the QPS in reputation, skills, experience and memories for its workforce.
