Cairns youth crime program, the Fire Project, needs funds to keep helping kids on city streets
An emerging youth diversionary program has had success working with troubled juveniles over the past six months, but funding has now run out. Read how it’s been making a difference.
Cairns
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It’s 10pm on Thursday. Five boys, aged between 10 and 13, are skylarking about Cairns’ southern section of the Esplanade. Some have routinely met with the justice system, others are in child safety programs.
All of them are unsupervised and are looking for ways to occupy themselves until the sun rises over Cairns Harbour – a practice they call “daybreaking”.
Between the profanities and slurs they hurl at each other, in an attempt to prove who sits atop the local pecking order, they reveal glimpses into the lives they’re trying so desperately to avoid.
They don’t go to school and hate the concept of it. They have broken families; some have lost parents. And they all speak of home as a place to be avoided.
The only place they want to be, day and night, “cruisin’ with their homies” on the streets, as one put it.
But the team at the Fire Project, a Cairns youth diversionary program, have confidence they can calm the kids’ behaviour, engage them in friendly chat over a bite to eat and carefully encourage them to return home.
Kim Darby and Mitch Callander, who constitute one of the two night patrol teams, have just finished their rounds at Earlville Shopping Town where they’ve engaged with staff, including the centre manager, shop attendants and centre security. Everyone they speak with is grateful for their presence, and saddened to hear this could be the last week they’ll see the Fire Project – funding beyond the organisation’s weekend patrols is yet to be secured.
The team speaks with security about what they’ve witnessed for the day. They ask if there’s been any shoplifting, chroming or other anti-social behaviour. They then speak with shop managers, asking them the same questions.
What they discover is then reported to the team’s management, who will then pass this information onto police, Cairns Regional Council and other stakeholders so that action plans against anti-social behaviour can be formulated – a collaborative approach between relevant agencies to solving the problem of disengaged youth in Cairns who sometimes engage in criminal activities; the Fire Project is proving instrumental in this task.
“We document every single thing about our interactions and submit that information to police and other stakeholders,” Mr Callander said.
“That all gets compiled and sent off to paint a bigger picture of the issue.”
While engaging with centre staff, the team is keeping an eye out for any kids they recognise and might need some support. Previously, the team has discovered children shoplifting in other shopping centres and, with a couple of stern words, have successfully motivated them to return the stolen items.
But the night is quiet at the centre, so the team moves on to Cairns’ CBD streets. It’s here they find the five boys in a frenzy of activity.
“We do the foot patrol in the city as a team and that’s when we keep an eye out for kids who look like they need support or engagement, or the kids we’ve engaged with previously,” Ms Darby said.
“We let the kids know we can transport them home and that we have food, water and other supplies available for them.
“The kids will give us updates on their lives – if they’ve gone back to school, for example – and that’s a chance for us to continue these relationships with them.
“Some will tell us they’re ready to go back to school, or to get a job. That’s when we’ll try and connect them with the next person who will support them on the rest of their journey.”
The very second the team steers their van to the kerb, several boys immediately swarm it. They’re familiar with this team, and they know they’re carrying food in the boot.
One boy smashes a bottle he’s holding and waves its remains at the team and his peers in jest. He tosses cheap, profane insults around, as if modelling his favourite celebrity gangsta. But the team is unperturbed by his shenanigans and encourage him to eat some food and settle down. He readily obliges, with a soft grin, and begins rummaging through the boxes.
“I met one kid who told me he hadn’t eaten in three days,” Mr Callander said.
“They’re good kids. They’re not bad kids; but, without the right support, they could become bad kids.”
The boys accept an offer of a lift home from the team. In the car one boy, 13, reveals he hasn’t been at school for six months and has spent his days fare evading on buses to hop from one friend’s home to another. He resides at home with his mother; his father died when he was younger.
“School sucks. The dress code sucks, the rules suck. But, I know I need to go back because I need the education,” he said.
This self-aware comment stuns but pleases the team. It’s progress.
Another boy, 10, has remained at the Esplanade with another team. He doesn’t want to go home. He prefers walking the streets alone all night, looking for random groups of youth to “hang” with. This invariably leads him to trouble.
He asks the team to escort him about town so he “doesn’t get bashed”. The team gently refuses and waits patiently for him to accept the lift home. He has never accepted before.
“I walk around Cairns and meet bad people,” he said.
“Then we walk around doing bad things like stealing stuff.
“I’m used to the paddy wagon now. I’ve been in the paddy wagon lots of times.”
The boy lists his chosen spots to pilfer. Every shopping centre in Cairns, and some in Mareeba and Atherton, makes the list.
The team’s patience is rewarded; he relents and accepts to be driven to his home in Gordonvale.
His carers are stunned and relieved. They have rarely seen anyone successfully transport their boy, who routinely absconds from their supervision, home.
The Fire Project’s mission is completed for another night. It could be one of their last ever.
Detective Senior Sergeant Michael Gooiker, officer in charge of the Cairns District Child Protection and Investigation Unit, said an active academic review of the project was progressing.
“The Cairns Community Based Committee Against Crime has provided funding for the Fire Project to enable its operation between mid May 2021 and this weekend,” Det Snr Sgt Gooiker said.
“This funding has been in excess of $100,000 but unfortunately these funds are not infinite.
“In addition, the committee has funded an academic review of the project by James Cook University that is currently underway. The preliminary results of this project have been very positive.”
In five months, the Fire Project engaged with 1920 children. Of that number, they provided transport to 1341 out of Cairns CBD.
About 55 per cent of children engaged are male; 45 per cent were female.
Perhaps the most startling datum point is the age breakdown of the children. While children aged 13 to 17 account for almost 87 per cent, 140 children aged 12 and under had some engagement with the Fire Project in a 15-week period.
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Originally published as Cairns youth crime program, the Fire Project, needs funds to keep helping kids on city streets
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