‘No more crime’: Police Minister warns youth as boys graduate from PCYC program
Youth bail houses and the number of additional police on the beat were not on the agenda when Police Minister Mark Ryan made a pre-election visit to one of the southside’s busiest police districts on Thursday to congratulate eight boys.
Logan
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Youth bail houses and the number of additional police on the beat were not on the agenda when Police Minister Mark Ryan made a pre-election visit to one of the southside’s busiest police districts on Thursday.
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Mr Ryan, who was in Logan to sanction $4.13 million for Project Booyah, a program for troubled youths, said he was unable to comment on the government’s plans for two juvenile bail houses at secret locations in Logan.
However, he said the government had a Five Point Plan to tackle youth crime including tougher action on bail including refusing bail for offenders who pose a risk to the community.
He also said police prosecutions have had a 100per cent strike rate with bail appeals since introduced.
The youth bail houses were topical after the Opposition stated it would instigate tougher penalties for youths breaching bail conditions and scrap the bail houses, known as Supervised Community Accommodation, at Carbrook and Logan Reserve if it won the October election.
Mr Ryan said youth justice was not his portfolio and he could not comment on government strategies for bail houses, such as those at Carbrook and Logan Reserve.
Last month, a teen was charged with attempted murder after a night of mayhem in Beenleigh.
But Mr Ryan said Project Booyah was helping reduce youth crime in the area and had become a national success story after deterring 74 per cent of the young participants from taking up crime after the program.
He congratulated eight boys, some of whom had been on the wrong side of the law, after they completed the intensive 16-week course based out of a PCYC at Tudor Park in Logan.
Graduate Jacob spoke of the benefits of gaining life skills from the course and the feelings of empowerment.
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“Booyah is a great experience for anyone no matter what the issue is — there is always hope,” he said.
Mr Ryan was in the audience at the Tudor Park PCYC when mum Tenille Birkett told how the course had brought her son Aiden back from the brink after being suicidal at the age of 10 following intensive bullying at school.
“We have had our ups and our downs and it was never easy but this has helped my son see that he can be part of society and to feel happy about himself.”
Her heart-wrenching story was one of three told to highlight how the program had helped the boys cut away from drugs, crime, violent behaviour or the depths of despair.
The program’s success has also led to a school-based derivative being set up in regional areas and funding for an extension course to keep graduates on the straight and narrow.
Project Booyah is also on offer in Townsville, which the LNP claimed was in the grip of a youth crime wave and needed greater punitive measures for offending juveniles.
Council for Civil Liberties slammed the state Opposition’s plans for tougher youth justice but supported bail houses, which it said would keep children out of youth detention.
However, it supported the LNP’s plan to fund a restorative justice program.
Data released last year showed bail houses cost Queensland taxpayers about $2600 a day per teenager — double that of regular jails.
Griffith University also found community and police-based juvenile programs had higher success in cutting reoffending rates.
Mr Ryan said a recent Griffith University evaluation found that for every dollar invested in Project Booyah, there was a saving to the taxpayer of $2.55.