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The fatal shooting of two police officers on Queensland's Western Downs is the second deadly ambush of officers in the state in five years.
Key points:
- There have been four police fatalities in the state in the past five years
- Brett Forte was shot dead in 2017 following a pursuit
- A criminology expert says the latest tragedy will have a lasting impact on police
Queensland Police officers Constable Rachel McCrow, 29, and Constable Matthew Arnold, 26, were attending a rural property as part of a missing person's report when they were ambushed and killed on Monday at Wieambilla, near Chinchilla.
They are the third and fourth fatalities in the Queensland Police ranks in the past five years.
On May 29, 2017, less than 250 kilometres east from this week's incident, Senior Constable Brett Forte was shot and killed near Gatton, west of Brisbane.
Senior Constable Forte had worked with the Toowoomba tactical unit with previous stints in Chinchilla and Cunnamulla.
The father of three was gunned down by a man who would later be killed by police after a lengthy siege.
The gunman, Ricky Maddison, was known to police and had been spotted in Toowoomba before he led officers on a chase through the Lockyer Valley.
After stopping at a closed gate on Wallers Road, the 40-year-old got out of his car and started firing at police.
A coronial inquest was opened into the incident last year.
Senior Constable Catherine Nielsen, who was Brett Forte's police partner on the day he was killed, said his actions had saved her life.
"It was so quick — [Maddison] swung around and started firing," she told the court.
Senior Sergeant Alexander McBroom, from the Incident Command Training Section, told the inquest the police training curriculum needed "a full overhaul".
There were no police deaths in the state for four years until the early hours of June 26, 2021 when Senior Constable David Masters, 53, was hit and killed on the Bruce Highway at Burpengary, north of Brisbane.
The officer, who was attached to the Deception Bay Police Station, was deploying road spikes to stop a stolen vehicle when the driver allegedly swerved to hit him.
Two women were charged over his death in June 2021.
'No predictions'
Ambushes in particular have a lasting mental impact on police, according to University of Griffith criminology and criminal justice senior lecturer Jacqueline Drew.
"Every incident that an officer faces, they have to acknowledge that it is a dangerous circumstance — but quite often they have a warning," she said.
"The scariest and most confronting aspect of ambushes is … [there are] no predictions, any red flags."
Dr Drew said the rarity of ambushes also added to the psychological impact.
She compared Australian officers to their counterparts in the United States, where police were ambushed 79 times in the past year.
"[For them], you're turning up to a routine job, and there's a possibility it could be an ambush," Dr Drew said.
"That will now definitely play on the minds of our officers for the next weeks and months — and their families."
Out of the 15 police deaths in the past five years across Australia, 10 have occurred since early 2020.
"There's a chance that society is becoming more violent and individuals in our community may be more inclined to use force than previously against police," Dr Drew said.
"A trend, if we were to see it, particularly around ambushes of our police, would be very disturbing.
"It would certainly have a significant impact on how officers see their roles as they police the community every day."