Sunshine Coast Police charge 203 people in Operation Whiskey Unison

Sunshine Coast police have charged more than 200 people in a year after cracking down on youth crime in the area. Here’s how they did it.

Sunshine Coast Police charge 203 people with 179 offences, Operation Whiskey Unison. Picture - file.

Sunshine Coast police have charged more than 200 people in a year after cracking down on youth crime in the area.

Police have charged 203 people with around 179 offences across the Sunshine Coast since a high visibility policing operation began in March last year.

Operation Whiskey Unison focused on preventing, disrupting, and investigating youth crime through community engagement and patrols at intelligence-driven hotspot locations.

In the past 12 months, Operation Whiskey Unison has resulted in a total of 11,023 people being arrested on 17,791 charges statewide, including drug, weapons, traffic, property crime and bail offences.

Of the people arrested, 4,149 of them were juveniles, who are facing 7,551 charges.

There have been 5,647 proactive activities in the Sunshine Coast district and 160,406 proactive activities completed by Police and Police Liaison Officers across the state, including hotspot patrols, shopping centre and business walk-throughs, bail compliance checks, community engagements and service station drop-ins.

Sunshine Coast Police charge 203 people with 179 offences, Operation Whiskey Unison. Picture – file.

Youth Crime Acting Assistant Commissioner Andrew Massingham said extra boots on the ground have been integral to supporting officers across the state over the past 12 months.

“Our officers work tirelessly to deter youth crime and we are taking steps in the right direction, but we know this is just the beginning of what will be a long road of persistent efforts,” Acting Assistant Commissioner Massingham said.

“Everyone from our Police Liaison officers who engage our multicultural and First Nations communities, to general duties patrolling shopping centres and known crime hotspots, and our district crime prevention teams working hard to assist victims of crime – our frontline does a wonderful job and the result we’ve seen from Whiskey Unison is testament to this.”

“We know high visibility is an important deterrent and it all counts towards ensuring the community feels safe.”