Schoolies 2024: Police praise ‘clean living’ attendees of Gold Coast event

Police have praised the “very respectful” behaviour of Queensland school-leavers after the first week of Schoolies wrapped up on the Gold Coast, with just 30 arrests made.

Schoolies have been praised by police for their behaviour at this year’s event on the Gold Coast. Picture: NewsWire/ Richard Gosling

Police have praised the “very respectful” behaviour of Queensland school-leavers after the first week of Schoolies wrapped up on the Gold Coast.

A total of 95 people were arrested on 136 charges during the week but Coast police Superintendent Peter Miles said only 30 of these were schoolies.

He said while there were a handful of arrests for drug offences and one assault, most were for public order offences.

“They’ve been a very good cohort … it’s been a pretty positive week considering Mother Nature didn’t turn on the best week for us and they probably got a little bit of cabin fever,” he said.

Schoolies have been praised for their overall good behaviour. Picture: James Weir/news.com.au

Supt Miles said today’s school-leavers were much more “clean living”, in stark contrast to past Schoolies celebrations which were marred by teens getting drunk, fighting and “carrying on like idiots, lunatics”.

“We’re not seeing any of that anymore and it’s really good to see,” he said.

“They’re just more aware of what’s good for you and what’s not. The future’s looking pretty bright for this cohort.”

Supt Miles said a “wanding” blitz at Schoolies, where police used metal detectors to scan revellers for weapons, had helped officers engage with the Year 12 graduates.

Police scanned more than 1100 people during the week and detected and seized three knives, two of them being carried by non-schoolies.

Police targeting street drinking also performed 536 liquor tip-outs and issued eight liquor infringement notices.

Queensland Ambulance Service Gold Coast district director Justin Payne said paramedics treated about 350 patients during the first week of Schoolies with “only” about 50 taken to hospital.

Cops sang the praises of this year’s cohort. Picture: James Weir/news.com.au

“It was extremely positive to see – it means we believe the schoolies’ behaviours are much better and they’re not engaging in such high-risk behaviours as we’ve seen in the past,” he said.

“Alcohol consumption does appear to be down and it was really good to see that everyone seemed to have a sober friend with them.”

Mr Payne said it was “really difficult” to tell if controversial pill-testing at this year’s Schoolies had made a difference but there were no drug overdoses reported.

“We did see consumption of illicit substances,” he said.

“There is no such thing as a safe drug and we would still encourage everyone to participate in other activities.”

Mr Payne said there had been a “shift” in the behaviour of interstate schoolies in recent years, resulting in an “increased workload” for paramedics dealing with “a lot of intoxication” and assaults.

Interstate school-leavers began arriving in Surfers Paradise on Saturday.