‘We can’t do that’: Top cop slams kids in watch houses plan

The state’s top cop says the state’s most “modern” watch house could become a standalone facility to house all the state’s juvenile criminals. But question marks remain over just how those children would be moved to the complex.

Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll has provided new details on how the state’s most “modern” watch house could become a standalone facility to house all the state’s juvenile criminals.

But a question mark hangs over just how juvenile criminals would be moved to such a complex.

Ms Carrol said it was possible that one watch house would be taken “offline” to become a separate facility just for children.

“My view is that we will take a watch house offline, the most modern watch house and the newest watch house that we would do at this stage would be Caboolture,” she said.

“The reason why I say that is - it is the newest watchhouse in our suite of watch houses. It is modern and I can actually carve away children from having anything to do with adults.”

A concept image of the Caboolture Watch House, which was completed in 2021.

When asked whether children would be transported from other regions to the South East Queensland facility, Ms Carroll said it was still early days.

“We have a priority list where we work with youth justice to move those children through very quickly. And that is happening at the moment,” she said.

“So this is really that contingency, that if... we don’t have enough capacity that we put one area aside and the reason why we need to do that is I need all of the services that support those children to come to one area.

“That’s health, that’s education, you know, mental health for those areas. So at this stage, it would be picking up those areas in the southeast corner and we’ll work on further contingencies into the future.”

Her comments about the Caboolture complex came aftet she doubled down on her stance that children shouldn’t be in watch houses,.

Ahead of a media conference with Police Minister Mark Ryan on Friday morning, the Commissioner sent a memo to all of her staff today saying that, in her opinion, “children should not be held in watch houses unless absolutely necessary and for the shortest time possible”.

Police Union President Ian Leavers in front of Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll. Picture: Steve Pohlner

But Police Union president Ian Leavers said he disagrees with the Commissioner and that young criminals who commit murder, home invasions and rapes “need to be locked up”.

Mr Leavers, who was speaking at the same press conference said: “I have a great deal of respect for the Commissioner but I have a very different view”.

“My view is if they are committing murders, home invasions and rapes they need to be locked up,” he said.

“And if it’s in a detention centre or a watch house, I don’t particularly care because public safety is my number one priority.

“And my colleagues on the front line, they are dealing with victims day in and day out as well as being victims themselves. And if these people do the wrong thing they need to be locked up.”

After his comments Ms Carroll then said “I agree with Ian, these people need to be locked up”.

“My view is a watch house is a temporary situation until they get to a detention centre,” she said.

“But in a perfect agreement, we’re talking about children who are serious offenders and that is why they are in a watch house in the first place. But certainly watch houses are temporary facilities and we need to get them into a detention centre.”

It comes as Queensland Human Rights Commission Scott McDougall confirmed he was in line to meet with Premier after her office got in touch — the first meeting between the pair in nearly five years.

Emergency laws rushed through state parliament in recent weeks allow the government to hold children indefinitely in watch houses and to declare those facilities official youth detention centres — with human rights law overridden to make this happen.

Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll. Picture David Clark

But there isn’t capacity to turn more than one watch house into a makeshift youth prison Ms Carroll said, asserting children shouldn’t be in police holding cells anyway.

“It is my view into the future that if there is a capacity with watch houses with detention centres, that only one watch house is dedicated, a modern watch house and all the services come to the watch house to address the needs of those children,” Ms Carroll said.

“We can’t do that across all of Queensland.

“I’ve always been upfront about this, that the least amount of time a child spends in the watch house the better you know, watch houses are not for children.”

The Courier-Mail has reported the Youth Justice Minister Di Farmer has previously indicated the newly constructed Caboolture watch-house could be used to hold children.

“Last month, an application was recently heard in the Supreme Court for a writ of habeas corpus (a common law principle that demands a person incarcerated be brought before a court to determine there is lawful authority to detain the person) seeking the immediate transfer of particular children from watch houses to a youth detention centre,” Ms Carroll wrote to staff today.

“The applicant’s argument was that a child was required to be transferred to a detention centre as soon as the QPS could practically do so, without any regard for the capacity of a youth detention centre to receive the child.

“Whilst the issue was not ultimately decided in that case, concerns about the interpretation of the relevant provisions in the Youth Justice Act 1992 (the Act) led to the government taking steps to amend the Act to clarify that the existing arrangements regarding the transfer of children from watch houses is lawful.

“These amendments recognise that the capacity of a youth detention centre to receive a child is a relevant factor in the timing of any transfer and the government introduced a detailed framework under which these decisions are to be made. I would like to clarify, that the government’s decision, is not to house more children in watch houses.”

Ms Carroll said the challenge was that “future immediate transfers of children from watch houses to a youth detention centre may not be possible”.

Youth Justice Minister Di Farmer. Picture: NcaNewsWire/Glenn Campbelll

“It is still the QPS position that children should not be held in watch houses unless absolutely necessary and for the shortest time possible,” she wrote, using bold and underlined text in the memo.

“We all know that watch houses are not designed to detain people for lengthy periods of time. They are constructed only for temporary detention. If the need arises whereby a watch-house is needed to hold youth offenders for an extended period, a watch-house will be selected that has the best facilities to do so.

“This will include the provision of access to external providers such as education and mental health services. I am very conscious of the capacity issues impacting watch houses and the subsequent strain on our workforce. The work you do to ensure that community safety is maintained despite watch houses exceeding capacity is nothing short of exceptional.

“The QPS remains committed to working with government and key stakeholders to consider and implement alternative interim and longer-term solutions to provide better alternatives to children being housed in watch houses. I sincerely thank you for your ongoing hard work and commitment to our community, in what has been a challenging environment in terms of demand, the QPS continues to excel, and I couldn’t be prouder of each and every one of you.”

Mr McDougall had previously blasted the government for the “mockery” of the parliamentary process and revealed he hadn’t met with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in nearly five years despite numerous attempts.

He confirmed on Thursday Ms Palaszczuk’s office had recently been in touch to arrange a meeting.

“We’re not just talking about the right to humane treatment, we’re now talking about the right to life of these children,” Mr McDougall said.

“I’m looking forward to that meeting to discuss some of the urgent actions I think are required to ensure that we avoid what I can see being a human rights disaster occurring this summer.”

The state government, including Acting Premier Steven Miles most recently, have defended the rushed laws as necessary amid a nearly successful Supreme Court challenge which could have forced children in watch houses to be transferred to youth jail immediately.

The recent strengthening of youth justice laws such as making breach of bail an offence has led to child detention rates skyrocketing in Queensland, with the three youth prisons operating at near-capacity constantly.

Two new youth detention centres are being built, one in Woodford and another in Cairns, but they won’t be ready until 2026.