Rochedale South residents call for tougher bail for juvenile offenders
A southside community is begging the state government to crackdown on youth crime after two Logan teens were charged with murder on Friday. The push comes despite last week’s state government tough line stance on juvenile offenders.
Logan
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A SOUTHSIDE community is begging the state government to crackdown on youth crime after a series of break-ins, shop assaults, car chases and gun incidents.
Residents of Rochedale South and Springwood said they were fed up with being terrorised by youths calling themselves The Southside Gang.
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Youth crime was in the spotlight on Sunday when two 14-year-old boys from Logan were charged with murder after a 15-year-old boy died from stab wounds in Redcliffe on Friday night.
This month, southside residents took action and launched a petition calling on the state government to introduce tougher penalties for repeat juvenile offenders including mandatory DNA testing and ankle bracelets.
The group was angry that there are no penalties for juveniles breaking bail and community orders are not enforced.
It is the second Logan community to call on police to increase patrols of their suburbs, after residents at Bethania successfully protested about community disruption from two Department of Housing houses in January.
Rochedale South residents also held meetings with police and politicians to discuss why crime was spiralling out of control in their suburb and overhauling youth “bail” houses at Carbrook and Logan Reserve.
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They also raised concerns about tenants at a private rental house in Esma St, Rochedale South.
Their anger was heard with the state government last week announcing a five-point action plan to crack down on youth crime.
Part of that strategy was to roll out 10 community-based crime action committees, including one in Logan, which will be run in conjunction with Logan Together.
It also included tougher penalties for those breaching bail conditions, allowing police to contest inappropriate bail decisions and setting up a Police Strike Team of youth justice workers for high-risk offenders.
Those new penalties hit a nerve in the community.
Residents said they were not tough enough but Griffith University Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice Ross Homel said his evidence showed incarceration and harsher bail conditions led to a 12 per cent hike in crime.
Professor Homel called for a holistic treatment process, where the offending child would not be incarcerated or kept in a “bail house”.
“I have no faith in the youth justice system as a deterrent,” Professor Homel said. “What I do have faith in is treatment to focus on the risk factors which lead to the crime – locking a child up is not the answer.”
He suggested a child justice hub where offenders would be admitted for intensive treatment with police, mentors, mental health professionals, teachers and doctors all under the one roof.
Parents, home and family life would also be investigated as part of the treatment.
His comments followed last week’s revelation by the State Opposition that 121 of the 145 offenders who were part of the bail house program had committed more crime after leaving.
Since 2017, there has been 36 young people living at the Supervised Community Accommodation at Carbrook and 21 at the house at Logan Reserve.
Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington said if elected in October, she would scrap bail houses.
“It’s disappointing that Logan residents have been terrorised by youth gangs for several months, but nothing has been done about it,” she said.
“Behind every crime statistic is a victim of crime who has had their house broken into and property stolen and they are the people who deserve justice.
“We will bring back breach of bail as an offence and scrap Labor’s catch and release laws.”
Springwood residents Vivian McDermott and Janine Grey, both said they had crimes committed against them by youths out on bail or already known to police.
Ms Grey, whose Springwood house was broken into and her car stolen in December, helped organise the community petition for tougher bail conditions.
“The kids who broke into my house were already out on bail but according to the law minors can’t be prosecuted for breaching bail conditions,” she said.
“If these kids were locked up I would still have my car and feel safe in my own house.
“These kids know the youth justice system and are using and abusing it.
“Our police are frustrated that they dealing with the same youths over and over again.
“We believe juvenile crime statistics, which police use to allocate resources, are not accurate.”
Ms McDermott believed she was attacked by members of the gang, which has become notorious for documenting their exploits on social media.
Members brazenly share selfies on Instagram inside stolen prestige cars, speedos hitting 200km/h, or with illicit drugs and wads of cash.
The youths, some as young as 11, hide behind clown masks or smiley faces, often tagging their posts with “FTP”, or “f**k the police”.
Ms McDermott, a psychiatric nurse and an early childhood educator, said she was hit over the head after she chased a group of young boys who stole from the Woodridge opportunity shop she was working at.
“I followed them, wanting to teach them they could not just come in and take things,” she said.
“I grabbed the item out of his hand, told him he could have his small bum bag back, when he came in to the shop and apologised.
“I walked back to the entrance and he came after me on his old, metal scooter and I had no idea he was following me.
“He hit me over the temple with it, and I fell to the ground, sustaining a cardiac event.”
She was taken to Logan Hospital in an ambulance and has since resigned from her volunteer job.
Child Protection Detectives who attended said they could not hold the boys responsible because of their ages and said the judicial system could not do anything until they were older.
The incident was not one of the posts on the Southside Gang’s Instagram but Ms McDermott said gang members, who are well known around Woodridge, later threatened other staff.
One of the juveniles has been banned from the shopping centre after he allegedly robbed the local laundromat, where they started a fire in January and the local Woolworths, where police said he tackled a trolley boy for his phone.
Police were also called to investigate a break-in at the Woodridge Post Office and confiscated three stolen passports from a Woodridge address.
Police welcomed last week’s new state government measures but would not comment further.
Springwood Superintendent Melissa Adams and officer-in-charge at Springwood Station Matt Scott met with residents on March 5.
Springwood MP Mick de Brenni also attended the community meeting and has written to the real estate agent of the Springwood rental property about removing tenants who break the law.
He said the government had committed to re-evaluate the program at the end of this year.
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