The Torres Strait is an acknowledged route for low-level drug and gun smuggling and has been a very occasional landing point for asylum seekers.
The federal government has identified this region as a priority when it launched the new Border Force agency to replace Immigration and Customs.
The main role of the Torres Strait Island Police Support Officers (TSIPSOs) is expected to involve domestic disputes, drink driving, assisting during natural disasters or other incidents.
They will also have a broader role.
“We have not seen a large number of drug or firearm detections in those areas, but we're not naive to think that these matters are not occurring,” said Queensland police minister Jack Dempsey.
The minster met TSIPSOs while they received their first training this week at the Police Academy in Brisbane.
“I just say to anyone thinking of bringing drugs or illegal items into the Torres Strait, you will be caught, the local community, the Torres Strait community will catch you.”
The ABC’s The Straits television series portrayed the region rife with Papua New Guinea gangsters, drug and gun smuggling and an entry point for asylum seekers.
“No, no … The Straits, it's not like that, drugs are coming into the Torres Strait but people don't fire with guns, you know.” said Honorary TSIPSO Inspector Ned Mosby from Yorke Island.
Mr Mosby was a council community police officer for about 23 years.
The TSIPSOs are a unique branch of the Queensland Police Service but are not full police officers and go unarmed.
“Some day we’re feeling like we need to have a gun,” Inspector Mosby jokes. “For my 23 years, my gun is my voice, and my action, talk to people, and praise God.”
Immigration minister Scott Morrison visited the Torres Strait about three weeks ago and has promised three high-powered patrol boats as part of the Border Force agency.
“You see these things on a map, and you see them here from the sky, it brings home to you the proximity and porous nature of this border,” he told journalists.
“People smuggling is not the main focus here, in fact it’s a minor minor threat.”
Authorities are concerned about the emergence organised crime groups.
Tens of thousands of visitors cross this border legally, every year under a traditional inhabitant treaty between Australia and Papua New Guinea.
The 31 officers will be stationed back to more than a dozen inhabited islands.
They will be considered Australia's “eyes and ears” in the north, covering 40,000 square kilometres of water between Cape York and Papua New Guinea.
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