1979 started on a fonder note for the Queensland policemen and policewomen than usual. In December, 1978 a Kiss-A-Cop campaign was launched by the Queensland Police Force to foster public relations. The promotion was deemed a success, for in 1980, the second year in a row, the behaviour of crowds gathered at the Gold Coast and on the Redcliffe peninsula for New Year’s celebrations showed a marked improvement. No serious incidents were reported. “Most members of the public seemed to have accepted this campaign with a happy holiday spirit.” (Queensland Police Annual Report, 1980) The Superintendent for South Eastern Region reported the almost traditional bitter confrontations between revellers and the police were in the past. He observed, revellers in Surfers Paradise and Coolangatta, the areas known for the most boisterous New Year’s Eve celebrations, were more intent on celebrating with the officers of police than in having ‘fun’ at the expense of authority.
Kiss-A-Cop, mentioned in the Queensland Police Annual Report, 1980, page 43.
Over the next few years, this successful campaign went State-wide:
By inviting the public to join in the spirit of celebration with police officers during the celebrations, the Department is delighted to record that no serious incidents of crowd misbehaviour were experienced at any centre for the third year in succession. The small number of arrests which occurred on New Year’s Eve were not as a result of confrontation but because of minor street offences. (QP AR, 1982)
Soon after, amidst the fears of communicably transmitted diseases, including AIDS, which was first clinically observed in 1981 and was still little understood especially by the general public, the Queensland Police Department dropped its Kiss-A-Cop campaign. The Police Union President warned Gold Coast police over affectionate New Year’s revellers. He “has advised his members to be wary of people who insist on kissing police officers as 1986 starts. ‘We don’t like our members being kissed by strangers…’, he continued, ‘If anyone sees someone who is about to give them a kiss, I advise to turn tail and head for the hills’.”(Daily Sun, 4 Dec 1985)
In order to quash these fears, the Deputy Director of the Health and Medical Service, and a member of the national AIDS Task Force, Dr Ken Donald, stated on record that the chances of AIDS transmission through saliva were negligible:
To be at risk of contracting the disease, people kissing an AIDS carrier would need to swallow a milk bottle of that carrier’s saliva. If I’m asked about AIDS tonight during New Year’s celebrations, I will be giving a demonstration to show there are no problems… (Telegraph, 31 Dec 1985)
Police Commissioner Terry Lewis, warned as thousands of people were expected to flock to the city: “while we want people to enjoy themselves, revellers shouldn’t think that New Year’s Eve is a licence for excess.”
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This information has been provided by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available. The article was written by Museum Volunteer and Crime and Policing Historian Dr Anastasia Dukova.
The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au
“FROM the VAULT – Kiss-A-Cop” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence.
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