Council hires muscle to protect staff and library users
Groups of teens stealing, threatening other children and intimidating council staff has resulted in the hiring of security guards to patrol four Cairns libraries on an ongoing basis.
Cairns
Don't miss out on the headlines from Cairns. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Groups of teens stealing, threatening other children and intimidating council staff has resulted in the hiring of security guards to patrol four Cairns libraries on an ongoing basis.
Warnings on social media have circulated alerting parents to a group of kids aged between 12 and 15 alleged to be running amok assaulting, threatening and stealing from other children on the Northern Beaches.
The same group is understood to have intimidated staff at the Cairns Regional Council-operated Smithfield Library.
A security guard employed by Heightened Security Solutions was at his new post outside the Smithfield Library last week.
Council director of lifestyle and community Destry Puia said council was committed to providing a safe and secure work environment and ensuring the safety of library users.
“Following careful consideration of incidents of anti-social behaviour at some locations, Council has engaged contractors to provide security at the City, Earlville, Manunda and Smithfield libraries on an ongoing basis,” she said.
“Security at other libraries will continue to be managed on an ‘as needed’ basis.”
According to latest police data the 45 assault offences were logged within the Smithfield police division during the past quarter, a modest reduction on the 50 offences recorded during the previous quarter.
The most prevalent offence in the division, bordered by Wangetti in the north and the Barron River in the south, was unlawful entry of which 87 offences were logged in the last quarter.
Council has previously toyed with the idea of a full-scale ratepayer funded security service but a proposal in the early 1990s failed to be supported amid a rebuke from the state treasurer at the time for meddling in state issues.
Three decades on, in a deviation from the usual remit of local government council has begun to foster closer ties with a network of organisations working within the youth justice space.
“Council has also been working with schools and has raised concerns about anti-social behaviours with the Cairns Safer Streets program, which has initiated stronger collaborations with QPS, Youth Justice and Child Safety to find ongoing strategies to tackle these issues,” Ms Puia said.
Originally published as Council hires muscle to protect staff and library users
Explained: Youth leadership six-month program
Six new youth leaders in Cairns have embarked on six-month leadership program aimed at empowering young people with disabilities and complex conditions in rural and regional areas. Application are still open.
‘What a disgrace’: Four teens charged over rock attack against 5yo
Detectives have charged four teens accused of throwing tennis ball-sized rocks at the head of a five-year-old boy, fracturing his skull, while he was a passenger on a Kuranda train.