Youth Justice Minister Leanne Linard applauds Rocky co-responder teams

A crime prevention program has engaged with more than 4500 Rockhampton youth since its inception with its success now inspiring five more locations across Qld.

Rockhampton CIB Detective Senior Sergeant Luke Peachey , Sergeant Mary-Anne Calis, Youth co-responder team leader David Wilkes, Youth Justice Minister Leanne Linard, Rockhampton MP Barry O’Rourke, Youth co-responder Lewis Della-Bosca, The Bike Shed coordinator Paul Mitchell, Keppel MP Brittany Lauga and Selectability chief operating officer Aaron Farrell.

Rockhampton’s co-responder teams have engaged on average with more than 4500 young people at risk of crime since their inception almost three years ago.

Youth Justice and Children Minister Leanne Linard was in Rockhampton on Thursday to spread the message about the work the teams were doing across the city to help break the cycle of youth crime.

The co-responder teams were founded in May 2020 with Rockhampton picked as one of the pilot program locations.

Under the program, police and youth justice workers work together to steer young people in the right direction towards support and away from offending.

In almost three years, the eight Rockhampton teams Rockhampton have engaged with more than 4500 young people.

This success has led to the program rolling out in other sites across Queensland with Toowoomba, Hervey Bay, Mount Isa, Ipswich and South Brisbane soon to receive teams.

“Co-responder is about police and youth justice riding along together, being where they need to be, to engage with vulnerable young people, before offences are committed and to prevent anti-social behaviour,” Ms Linard said.

“It’s part of our approach as a government to ensure we are not only preventing offending, that we are reducing the cycle of offending, (and) we are intervening with young people, by getting them back into education, vocational education and training, and (partnering) with community organisations like The Bike Shed.

“It’s about early engagement … moving young people to services that are needed, whether it’s housing, drug and alcohol intervention or prosocial activities … intervening before crimes are committed.”

Selectability, a not-for-profit organisation specialising in mental health and suicide prevention, opened The Bike Shed on William Street earlier this year.

Loosely based on the men’s shed model, The Bike Shed focuses on repairing and restoring bikes and offers a space for people to come in and talk about issues they may be experiencing.

Co-ordinator Paul Mitchell said it was great to support at-risk youth by offering them a safe place to visit, and somewhere they can work on bikes.

“We talk while we are doing it, find a bit more about them, how we can help,” Mr Mitchell said.

“Sometimes youth just need a place to go where they can offload, be heard.”

The Shed also offers painting classes and drumming circles.

“It gives people a place to be creative and not getting involved in the criminal justice system,” Mr Mitchell said.

Since opening on January 3, the Shed has helped 120 people and seven to eight schools visit each week.

Every bike in the shop was donated from community members or the Queensland Police Service, and then given to those in need.

“After working on a bike for five days straight, they (the youth) finally get it, and they can ride it away … The smile on their face, it means so much,” Mr Mitchell said.

“If you don‘t have a bike, working on it, seeing the fruits of your effort, you can go for job interviews, do your check-ins, go shopping, visit friends … some of the kids we work with don’t have any means of transport.”

Rockhampton MP Barry O’Rourke applauded the The Bike Shed’s efforts.

“Having a place like this is just really good for our community, it’s an early intervention program but it’s also a safe place for people to come, seek support, have discussions, but also at the same time, rebuilding push bikes,” he said.

Selectability chief operating officer Aaron Farrell, Youth Justice Minister Leanne Linard, Detective Senior Sergeant Luke Peachey, Rockhampton MP Barry O'Rourke, The Bike Shed Co-ordinator Paul Mitchell and Keppel MP Brittany Lauga.

Keppel MP Brittany Lauga said it was great to see the co-responder teams working with local service providers like The Bike Shed to give youth a sense of purpose.

“Rocky was really the birthplace of the co responded model and it‘s wonderful to see youth justice and police working so well in partnership to help young people prevent crime and get them back on track,” she said.

“Previous to this program, police were apprehending offenders, putting them in custody and shortly afterwards they would see them back out again … without those real mechanical issues solved, so together the police and youth justice are doing a marvellous job in helping crime in our community and getting young people back on track.

“Every time our co-responded teams engage with a young person at risk of offending, it’s an opportunity to check on their welfare, connect them to the right service or support, and show them that someone cares about their choices.

“This overall approach strikes a balance between holding offenders to account, while giving young people in the early stages of offending the chance to stay out of trouble and the youth justice system.”

On the frontline of the youth crime is Rockhampton CIB Detective Acting Inspector Luke Peachey who praised the co-responded team.

“Partnering with Youth Justice allows us to engage with young people in a more positive way,” he said.

“Most young people the crews come across readily engage with them.

“Programs like (these are) the programs we want to see, so we aren‘t just dealing with just these youths in custodial issues.

“We don’t want to be dealing with youth in the justice system, we would much rather have that prevention, and anything that can help that, without us having to chase these kids around in stolen cars, breaking into cars.”

Ms Linard said while there was “no one silver bullet” to solving youth crime, the programs were making a difference and helping youth make better decisions.

The latest announcements regarding youth crime reforms are due to be debated in parliament next week and Ms Linard said she expects “robust” discussions.

“Youth crime is always something that always creates passionate debate, it’s a comprehensive sweep of initiatives, it’s about law change, increased investment,” she said.

As well as Rockhampton, co-responder teams operate across Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Moreton, Logan, Brisbane North and the Gold Coast.