Gold Coast Cops attracts public tip-offs
Crime Stoppers has become a gold mine of information since Gold Coast Cops started airing, says one of the glitters strip's highest ranking officers.
Superintendent Jim Keogh says the Network Ten observational TV series has educated the public on the way tip-offs are handled and how the police carry out their operational duties.
He says since the first season went to air last September, the number of calls and the quality of tip-offs to Crime Stoppers has been staggering.
"I was overwhelmed with the response from the community and the upshot is the support in the community back into Crime Stoppers," Keogh says.
"We are certainly seeing an increase in information coming in."
Gold Coast Cops is about Superintendent Keogh's Rapid Action Patrol (RAP), which was created after a massive bikie street brawl at Broadbeach in 2013.
RAP started out with 50 officers and that number has now swelled to 100 and comprises of 10 teams of 10 officers.
The second season of Gold Coast Cops airs on Tuesday night and Keogh says the first episode captures a massive raid which was largely due to a Crime Stoppers tip-off.
"There is a raid in episode one which will go down as one of the biggest raids ever done by RAP, worth well over half a million dollars," he says.
"While we had some pieces in the puzzle, the community had other pieces which formed the puzzle."
He says the public are now seeing the result of the information they provide and they can see their calls and tips-offs are not being spoken to a tin ear.
"It's based on the belief that they can see their call is going to be taken seriously and we will look into it and they can see we are getting on top of it.
"The landscape on the Gold Coast now from what we saw in September, 2013 when the bike brawl happened is world's apart."
Keogh says even Gold Coast mayor Tommy Tate has warmed to the show since the first season went to air.
Tate had previously stated that he was "appalled" by the series.
Season 2 began filming in mid-December and takes in the festive season of Christmas, New Year and Australia Day.
The series also includes police patrolling the water canals on the Gold Coast which have become a popular way for drug couriers to make deliveries.
* Gold Coast Cops Season 2 returns Tuesday, March 17 at 7.30pm on Network Ten.
