“We want to get in before it gets too bad and divert young people from the criminal justice system”: Youth Co-Responder Team to kick off in South West

South West police are continuing to tackle youth crime with the introduction of a Youth Co-Responder Team. Find out more.

The South West has become the final district in Queensland to receive a Youth Co-Responder Team in what is expected to be another step towards tackling youth crime.

The specialised teams consist of police officers and youth justice workers and will work to reduce offending and increase community safety.

Western Downs police recently told the Dalby Herald a ‘local solutions for local problems approach’ to youth crime had led to a significant decrease in juvenile offending across the region and this new team was just another way they could enforce it.

Detective Chief Inspector Garry Watts said they were excited to have the team up and running.

“We are the final district across the state to get a Youth Co-Responder Team, we have been working with our youth justice partners for the last couple of months to get that running,” he said.

“We are very excited, we think it is going to be a really enhanced response to youth crime across the district.

“They will work across the whole continuum of youth offending, provide timely support to youth offenders, divert young people from custody, provide support to facilitate custodial arrangement, provide diversional strategy as an alternative to court and proactively engage with young people at risk with a view of preventing reoffending.

“The team will be based in Dalby and will deal with Dalby, Chinchilla, Miles and Tara.”

Chief Inspector Detective Garry Watts held a press conference at Dalby police station in relation to the murder of Miles man, Jonathan Martin. Picture: Emily Devon

A report released in February this year showed the Darling Downs Police District had recorded a 16 per cent decrease in youth offending in 2023 compared to the previous year and Inspector Watts said the team would help continue the positive downward trend.

“We have had a fairly significant reduction of youth crime offending over the South West district and it is timely the youth co-responder team gets implemented now because we want that to continue,” he said.

“We want to continue to monitor our youth offending and where appropriate intervene and divert young people from the system, so it is another area where we can enhance our response to youth crime.”

Inspector Watts said it was important to get to kids before they reached the point of courts and prison.

“Our Youth Co-Responder team is working with our child protection investigation unit, working with our school support officers and working with the PCYC and other organisations to break the youth offending cycle,” he said.

“We want to get in before it gets too bad and divert young people from the criminal justice system.

“It is vitally important, we have seen through programs where police engage with young people outside of the official part of their duty that the interaction becomes quite productive.

“You take away the official part of being the officer and that could be through sport or through social activities and it breaks down the barriers between the police and young people and we aren't seen as the enemy, but as a valuable member of the community who can help them through my problems.”