Assistant Commissioner Cheryl Scanlon said police, youth justice staff ready to roll out new laws

Weeks of training and preparation will finally come into effect this week as police and front line staff start to enforce a brand new set of laws meant to tackle Townsville’s youth crime.

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WEEKS of training and preparation will finally come into effect this week as police and front line staff start to enforce a brand new set of laws meant to tackle Townsville’s youth crime.

Youth Justice Taskforce Assistant Commissioner Cheryl Scanlon said Townsville police were ready to roll as legislation was passed by the State Government on Thursday, months after it announced big changes to the Youth Justice Act were coming.

Ms Scanlon said hours of training and hard work had been done over the last 10 weeks to get everyone up to speed on the changes, including teaching watch house staff how to property fit GPS devices.

“That’s not a case of just flicking a switch, it takes many hours of work to put all that together and develop those things,” Ms Scanlon said.

Youth Justice Taskforce; Assistant Commissioners Cheryl Scanlon. Picture: Alix Sweeney

“I absolutely need the co-operation of everybody in the system, parents, carers, and significant others, as we start to work with those young people.”

Ms Scanlon was appointed the head of the new task force by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in February as part of a suite of changes to tackle youth crime.

Legislation changes included the addition of GPS trackers for serious offenders aged 16 and 17 years old, creating a presumption against bail and requiring the assurance from parents that their child would comply with bail conditions if it was granted.

The amendments were passed in parliament on Thursday afternoon.

On her second visit to Townsville in her new role, Ms Scanlon will be checking in with front line youth justice staff, police and prosecutors this week before meeting with regional directors of agencies with a footprint in the juvenile justice system.

She said it was important to address the current situation where high-risk offenders didn’t stay in custody.

The crash in Railway Estate involving a stolen car.

“And the reality is some very hard work has to be done to build some rigour into the system in working with that difficult cohort.

“(I am) certainly looking for some change in that 10 per cent cohort … we are in very good shape to tackle those issues.”

Joining Ms Scanlon on her trip north was Youth Justice Department senior executive director Michael Drane who was making sure that local, on the ground department staff had the resources to roll out the changes.

“There’s no silver bullets, there’s no easy fix … but we are absolutely committed to getting the results,” Mr Drane.

Originally published as Assistant Commissioner Cheryl Scanlon said police, youth justice staff ready to roll out new laws