Special Emergency Response Team officers will be deployed among the schoolies revellers in Surfers Paradise this weekend.
Following the Paris attacks of November 13, police commandos as well as bomb squad officers and sniffer dogs will be patrolling the busy beachside area, which is expected to cater for tens of thousands of party-goers.
Schoolies will also be subjected to bag checks as they enter the main party hub.
Queensland Police’s South Eastern Region police assistant commissioner Brian Codd said no specific terror threats had been received.
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“We’ve revisited our plans and redirected our resources to harden and strengthen our presence, purely as a precaution,” he told Channel Nine.
“We’ll have some additional high-visibility policing in Surfers during schoolies and we’ve also made arrangements to fast-track the response from some of our specialist areas.”
On top of dealing with the usual drunk and disorderly school leavers, police said they would be able to respond quickly to any terror threat that should arise.
“We’ll have some additional high-visibility policing in Surfers during schoolies and we’ve also made arrangements to fast-track the response from some of our specialist areas,” Mr Codd said.
Mr Codd was not able to say if special forces would also be deployed on the Gold Coast – the second-most popular Schoolies site.
The deadly attacks in Paris put many parts of the western world on terror alert last week.
Just 48 hours before parts of Queensland was due to be flooded with excited school leavers, Gold Coast schoolies advisory group chairman Mark Reaburn delivered a blunt message to those with security concerns: “You don’t have to come to schoolies.”
“The schoolies message is the same this year as it has always been – be safe, watch your mates.”
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