Behind the scenes with Townsville co-responder unit trying to reduce youth crime

Finding kids as young as eight roaming the streets of Townsville in the middle night is sadly not unheard of for a dedicated team of co-responders trying to reduce youth crime.

Finding kids as young as eight roaming the streets of Townsville in the middle of the night is sadly not unheard of for a dedicated team of co-responders trying to reduce youth crime.

On an average day, police liaison officer (PLO) and co-responder Ngaire Nogar say they can easily have more than 15 interactions with young people as they drive around the city and areas where teens often congregate.

The co-responder initiative involves youth justice staff partnering with police on shifts to provide a co-ordinated response that targets high-risk and repeat offenders.

“The night shift is often the busiest,” she said.

“We’re often getting calls in the middle of the night from young people feeling unsafe, needing to go home or needing help.

“It could even be a call from a parent telling us that their young person has left the residence against their wishes and to keep an eye out for them.”

Since the initiative began in 2020, Townsville’s two co-responder teams have had more than 9,100 interactions with young people and their families.

Co-responder ride along. Police liaison officer Ngaire Nogar and youth justice co-responder officer Jim Fitzgerald.

A key part of the team’s work has been to connect vulnerable young people to services that

can help turn their lives around – on issues such as education, domestic violence, housing

or health – so that we can intervene early and deal with the underlying causes of crime.

They’ve also been checking that young people are complying with their bail conditions.

Ms Nogar said their teams often check in with youths they see out at night and offer them a lift home, but she added peer pressure to stay out can often be a challenge.

“We’ve seen kids as young as eight out at night, often tagging around with an older sibling or cousin, but it’s usually 10-11 and above mostly,” Ms Nogar said.

“Sometimes it can be so difficult, especially when you’re working with a tight group of four, and they’re just feeding off each other.

“All you can do sometimes is try to pick someone off and break that dynamic.

“If we can get one of those kids to make a positive decision and say yes, I’m going home, that’s a win.

“We do like to celebrate the small wins here because it can be difficult, especially when you’re in a job that can be very emotional at times.”

“A lot of the kids do see us as like aunty and uncle type people in their lives.

“I’ve been working here for 13 years as a PLO and have gotten to know a lot of families, so quite often, the kids do refer to me as aunty.”

The co-responder initiative involves youth justice staff partnering with police on shifts to provide a co-ordinated response that targets high-risk and repeat offenders.

Townsville co-responder ride along story

Youth justice co-responder officer Jim Fitzgerald said fostering trust with young people was key to getting them to engage.

“There’s been a lot of wins but also a number of let-downs in trying to engage with young people, but we never shut the door on someone,” he said.

“It’s well documented that most young people who participate in anti-social behaviour and some criminal behaviour grow out of it by their mid-20s.

“Everyone has positive things about their personality, but a lot of young people hide those things out of fear and to present as having bravado.”

Mr Fitzgerald said during a recent night out on patrol, they came across a young person they knew who had spent quite a bit of time in Cleveland Youth Detention Centre.

“We just gave that young person a platform to talk about themselves in a positive way looking at their former self and their new self,” he said.

“It was a 20-minute conversation about how that person wanted to change.

“We listened, gave positive reinforcement and dug a bit deeper and said that’s great you’ve got some plans, but how is that gonna start happening? Those sorts of things.”

He said the Townsville co-responder initiative is focused on enhancing community safety and reducing and preventing youth crime.

Rather than waiting for young people to offend, the co-responder program is working to stop

crime and anti-social behaviour from happening in the first place.

There are more than nine dedicated youth justice staff in Townsville working with police on a

rotating roster 24/7.

The government initiative — which operates in Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton,

Moreton, Logan, Brisbane North and the Gold Coast — received $7.9m in funding in Queensland’s 2022-23 budget. 

Originally published as Behind the scenes with Townsville co-responder unit trying to reduce youth crime