Call For The Cops, Call For A Pizza...

Queensland Police, complaining that cops themselves had to wait 12 minutes for back-up while taking a beating, have broken their own record for failing to show for a member of the public who was under attack:

A young teacher has revealed how police took an hour to respond to her desperate pleas for help as up to three men tried to break into her home to attack her.

Chris Carlile, 24, said a police emergency phone operator told her to barricade herself in her Brisbane bayside home because there was no available car and crew.

After being trailed home in her car by a group of men, the woman first rang Triple-0 - and it rang out. She had to phone a police station direct. Worse than that, when the cops finally showed, the perps were gone - only to return:

"When the police left, I was having a coffee and looked at the front window. He (the same man) was standing there again, exposing himself."

She called the police again and this time it took them 30 minutes to turn up. She said they apologised for the delay, claiming 'the whole area is incredibly under-staffed'.

One must admit there are certain aspects of the Sunday Mail story which don't hang together for me - my spidey senses suggest the tale is not quite what it seems. Nonetheless, even if the case isn't kosher, the response time is:

A Queensland police spokeswoman confirmed Ms Carlile's phone call at 10.47pm on February 11 and that officers arrived at her home at 11.45pm. She said the complaint was taken "very seriously", but a lack of police cars in the area meant they could not respond any quicker.

And, after last week's report of a Brisbane Eastside family besieged in their home after offering refuge to a bashed teenager, it's just another example of how one of the most basic public services is falling apart under government mismanagement of Queensland.

-- Nick