Surfers Paradise MP John-Paul Langbroek says young offenders know how to ‘work the system’ as car thefts surge

Police are at their wits’ end, regularly seeing the kiddie crooks they arrest allowed back out on to the streets to commit more crimes, an MP says.

Police are fed up seeing the juvenile criminals they arrest back out on the streets to commit more crimes, a Gold Coast MP says.

Surfers Paradise MP John-Paul Langbroek said young offenders had learned how to “work the system” and were “ignoring” court directions, leaving officers frustrated.

“Police are tired of apprehending offenders and then finding that they’re released,” Mr Langbroek said.

“(Offenders) are given up to 15 and 20 chances, and their whole criminal record is expunged once they turn 18 anyway.”

Mr Langbroek’s comments came after the Bulletin on Thursday revealed a 12-year-old who suffered critical chest injuries after crashing a stolen car on the M1 at Gaven in December was caught by police fleeing another stolen vehicle on January 19.

He said young offenders were not facing the “full force of the law”, leading to an increase in vehicle thefts and break-ins, and called for breach of bail to be reintroduced as a criminal offence for young people.

“No one denies that children should be given more than one chance,” he said.

Police have charged a boy over a stolen car crash at Gaven, on the Gold Coast.

“The last thing you want to do is to turn a simple mistake someone makes into something that affects them their whole lives. But what we’ve had under the Labor government is chance after chance and it’s very frustrating for our local police.”

On Wednesday, a Palaszczuk government spokesman said any crime was unacceptable and police were actively targeting a small cohort of offenders.

“The presumption against bail for recidivist youth offenders is the strongest law of its type in the nation, and as a result many more offenders are being locked up more often and for longer,” the spokesperson said.

Five weeks ago he was in ICU, now he’s done it again

January 27, 2021

A 12-year-old crook is behind bars for fleeing a car taken for a joy ride to the Sunshine Coast, just five weeks after he received lifesaving CPR for crashing another stolen vehicle.

He suffered critical chest injuries and was put in an induced coma on December 7 after a Nissan X-Trail he stole clipped a truck and crashed on the M1 at Gaven – before catching alight.

It is not known when the boy was released from hospital but a warrant for his arrest was issued on January 5, it can be revealed.

Police picked up the 12-year-old and three of his mates on the Sunshine Coast on January 19. The car had been stolen from McDonald’s at Pimpama. It was driven across the southeast and abandoned on a Bruce Highway off-ramp after it was hit by tyre stingers.

The kids dumped the car and ran off into bushland.

Police say the boy has not been charged over the Sunshine Coast incident and investigations are ongoing.

He has been remanded in custody and will appear next on February 14.

The incident has again thrust juvenile crime on the Gold Coast into the spotlight, as the Youth Justice Taskforce approaches its one-year milestone.

Taskforce boss Assistant Commissioner Cheryl Scanlon told the Bulletin last year that more children were being remanded in custody and for longer, after changes to youth justice laws aimed at targeting recidivist offenders.

The government rolled out youth justice reforms early last year, giving courts the power to deploy GPS devices on 16 and 17-year-olds as a condition of bail on a trial basis. Only three have so far been issued and it is due to be reviewed in March.

The laws also created a presumption against bail for young offenders charged with serious offences.

Among the reforms were also changes to police powers enabling them to “wand” people at random in Coast party precincts following a spate of knife-related deaths.

On Wednesday, a Queensland government spokesman said any crime was unacceptable and police were actively targeting a small cohort of offenders.

“The Gold Coast has benefited from all aspects of the youth justice taskforce including the co-responded model and active case management,” the spokesman said.

“The presumption against bail for recidivist youth offenders is the strongest law of its type in the nation, and as a result many more offenders are being locked up more often and for longer.”

The spokesman said police had advised that the law changes were having the “intended effect”.

“There are now many more offenders locked up compared to a year ago.

“There is no one thing that will stop children offending. We are taking a holistic approach. Early signs are encouraging but more work is needed.”

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli declined to comment on the Gaven crash, but accused the government of having stopped listening to community concerns about youth crime.

“As a result, it’s continuing to worsen in places like the Gold Coast,” he said.

“We’ve put our solution on the table after listening to police on the frontline.

“Breach of bail must be made an offence in the Youth Justice Act.

“It’s only by having consequences for actions that we can stop repeat juvenile offenders tearing our communities apart.”

Huge leap: Stats reveal scale of car theft crisis

More cars are being stolen on the Gold Coast than any other time in the past 17 years – and most of the crooks are teens and children.

Queensland Police statistics show there were 2602 unlawful use of a motor vehicle offences in the city last year, up 10.3 per cent on the 2358 thefts in 2020. In 2004, 2709 cars were stolen on the Gold Coast.

Robina (up 21.6 per cent), Mudgeeraba (17.3 per cent), Surfers Paradise (16 per cent), Coomera (13.8 per cent), Palm Beach (9.8 per cent), Broadbeach (8.7 per cent) and Southport (8.4 per cent) were the hardest hit last year.

A suspected stolen vehicle crashes at Southport. Picture: Keith Woods

Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council data shows the 14-to-18 age bracket accounted for more than half of all car thefts between 2005-2020.

Coomera MP Michael Crandon said the imminent arrival of 36 police officers at the new Pimpama Police Station and the end of border patrols would help alleviate pressure, but the law needed to change to tackle juvenile offending.

“This is going to continue while we have a government that refuses to implement breach-of-bail laws that are going to lock these people away,” Mr Crandon said.

“They keep on letting them out.

“We continue to see the same small group of young people that are just breaking the law, that don’t give a damn about society.

“Until breach of bail becomes a priority for this government then it’s going to continue.”

Surfers Paradise MP John Paul Langbroek said the rocketing rate of car thefts was “no surprise” as it had been “happening throughout the period of Covid”.

“We need more police on the beat and more traffic police.”

The sharp increase in vehicle offences came despite overall crime rates on the Gold Coast trending downwards. The total number of offences recorded in the city last year dropped 1.1 per cent to 55,601, from 56,241 in 2020.

A Palaszczuk government spokesman previously told the Bulletin that bail for repeat juvenile offenders was being refused at higher rates following the passage of new laws last April.

“Under the LNP, just 10 per cent of applications for bail in the Children’s Court were refused,” the spokesperson said.

“Since the introduction of the tough new laws by the Palaszczuk government, 20 per cent of applications for bail have been refused – double the proportion that were refused under the LNP’s laws.

“ … There are more police on the Gold Coast than there ever has been and even more on the way as we deliver 2025 extra police personnel across Queensland over the next five years.”

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