‘Have to take action’: Cops to target repeat cohort

The man charged with tackling the state’s youth crime problem says he backs his officers to arrest and lock up the hardcore offenders wreaking havoc across the state.

The man charged with tackling the state’s youth crime problem says he backs his frontline officers to arrest and lock up the hardcore offenders wreaking havoc across the state.

Police Deputy Commissioner Shane Chelepy, the man who guided Queenslanders to achieve an ambitious 80 per cent vaccination rate during the pandemic, has once again been handed an incredibly difficult task – this time, navigating the youth crime crisis.

It is a battle against a growing number of serious repeat offenders, juveniles who pose a significant threat to community safety, who at September 30 numbered 461 – with 71 younger than 14, 284 aged 14-16 and 106 aged 17-18.

“There is a cohort of offenders already that police will have to continue to ... take action against,” Mr Chelepy said.

“I see them as serious recidivist offenders … we have to continue to take action on them, but we don't give up on them. When those offenders are let out on bail we have to make sure they are complying with bail and have the support services around them to comply with their bail, but if they don’t we’ve got to take action.”

Deputy Commissioner Shane Chelepy. Picture: Liam Kidston

Mr Chelepy said he supported officers on the frontline taking a tough stance on the violent and brazen behaviour of some of those offenders to keep the community safe.

“The police are out there every day trying to do their job and you’ve got these young offenders with these emboldened acts, throwing rocks, driving at police, putting police at risk,” he said. “They see that as their job and think ‘if they’re going to do that to us, what are they going to do to the community?’ and that’s why I have been really strongly saying I will back the frontline when they lock those offenders up, because that behaviour is unacceptable in any circumstances.”

Mr Chelepy admitted while a tough stance was needed on hardcore repeat offenders, a one-size-fits-all approach was not the way to go about it.

“We have to hold these serious recidivist offenders to account, but we have got to make sure we don’t treat everyone the same way, we have to make sure the young offenders that are just coming into the system, we’re doing everything in our power to divert them out of it,” he said.

Mr Chelepy said solving the youth crime problem was not just a police fight.

“It is a very complex issue and the police are dealing with the outcome of some really deep, complex societal issues, where we’re seeing young offenders totally disengaged from the education system, we’re seeing young offenders who are not employed, young offenders with serious health issues from a young age, we’re seeing drug issues within our young offenders,” he said.

“The only way we are going to address this issue is by bringing those government and non-government agencies to start diverting it at the beginning and making sure we’re engaging with the family construct, as well as the community construct.”