Queensland Police report reveals stunning success rates of ESuarve on Gold Coast
The Gold Coast’s top cop has praised the work of a northern Gold Coast group achieving stunning results rescuing young people from a life of crime. Read what he said.
Police & Courts
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The Gold Coast’s top cop has praised the work of a northern Gold Coast group in rescuing young people from a life of crime.
On Monday the Bulletin exclusively revealed results of a Queensland Police study had shown 83 per cent of recidivist offenders who joined ESuarve’s 10-week Big Brother program either eased or reduced offending in the 12 months after they graduated.
Chief Superintendent Craig Hanlon said police were “very appreciative” of the group’s work.
“Programs like ESuarve are very important to us. Our aim is to divert children who have been in the justice system or who may we believe, through a number of circumstances, fall into or become a subject of the justice system,” he said.
“We work very hard with restorative justice, with finding alternate ways to divert people away from the justice system.
“ESuarve is a good example of the success in that. The state government has funded that in its work and it continues to show really good results diverting people away, showing young kids there’s a different life rather than a life of crime and that you can be a positive, contributing member of society, and that you can be happy when you’re doing that.”
ESuarve founder Joseph Te Puni-Fromont said the program was ready to expand its work and take in more young people at its new premises in Pimpama, which had been provided to it by Gold Coast City Council.
However while it was supported by grants from the state government, police and corporate donors – including $85,000 from The Courier-Mail Children’s Fund – it needed further funding to expand.
“We’ve got commitment from lots of organisations to continue to back us. Now we want just even more support from the government so we can help them with youth crime. We want to work with the serious repeat offenders. We purposely want to target this area.”
AMAZEMENT OVER YOUTH CRIME BREAKTHROUGH
A Queensland Police report has concluded a northern Gold Coast program is achieving stunning results turning recidivist young offenders away from a life of crime – likely saving taxpayers millions in the process.
The Crime and Intelligence Command Report showed that of participants who had an offending history when they joined Pimpama-based ESuarve’s Big Brother program, 83 per cent had either ceased or reduced offending in the 12 months after they graduated.
The report also found that of the 50 participants included in the study, 74 per cent gained full or part time employment, 13 per cent returned to school and only one was again incarcerated.
The study, which used data from the police QPrime system to monitor the offending rates of participants, concluded that the 10-week program demonstrated a “high degree of effectiveness” and a “unique, successful approach” that might be replicated in other parts of Queensland.
Program founder Joseph Te Puni-Fromont said he and his team were ready to scale up the “tough love” program to get greater numbers of teenagers away from crime, but needed more support from the state government to do so.
“With so much youth crime around, we see lots of ideas being thrown around about what can happen with youth crime, or how we are going to stop it,” Mr Te Puni-Fromont said.
“We have got something that is tangible and working. And it has helped over 200 young people in a very short amount of four years.
“And we’re not talking about changing one life here, we’re talking about 200 young people that are the high end offenders, who are the serious repeat offenders, that many struggle with. This is our specialty. We are working with that cohort of kids and we are completely changing their lives around.”
The Queensland Police report noted that the cost of ESuarve’s 10-week program was estimated to be $9,434 per participant, against data showing the annual cost of Community Supervision was $138,339 per offender and detention was $738,644 per offender.
Mr Te Puni-Fromont said ESuarve had received huge support from corporate donors and the Gold Coast City Council, which had provided a property for it to operate from.
The group also receives support from state bodies including Skilling Queenslanders for Work.
“We are so thankful that we do get funding through Skilling Queenslanders for Work, but unfortunately it’s just not enough,” he said.
“With this report it gives a very clear breakdown of what it costs to lock up a young person. It’s over $700,000. But ESuarve currently is getting about $6000 a year per kid.
“ ... We’ve got commitment from lots of organisations to continue to back us. I guess now we want just even more support from the government so that we can help them with youth crime. We want to work with the serious repeat offenders. We purposely want to target this area.”
SON’S LIFE TURNED AROUND
The father of a teenage boy in trouble for stealing cars and driving on motorways at frightening speeds says the ESuarve program has saved his son’s life.
The man, who the Bulletin cannot name for legal reasons, said he would spend days searching the streets for the 15-year-old, fearing he would be killed while getting up to no good with a cohort of young offenders.
The man said the pair’s lives were transformed after he enrolled his son in ESuarve’s Big Brother program.
“He was always a good kid but coming into his teenage years he started to get into a lot of trouble, stealing cars, smoking marijuana,” he said.
“We tried to get help through different organisations. They would build us up with promises, but when it came to the crunch they would disappear. (My son) was in the ‘too hard’ basket. They wanted nothing to do with him.
“Just before Christmas last year he went to juvie for a week and a half. I could tell he had given up.
“He’d keep going to court and get a tap on the hand and then do it again.”
The man said he sent his son to ESuarve after his partner heard how it had helped transform the life of another child, but did not have high hopes.
To his father’s surprise the 15-year-old quickly took to the Big Brother program and has since graduated. He is now studying for construction certificates.
“He recognised through ESuarve what he was doing wrong, who his friends really were and really weren’t,” the man said.
“After three weeks I could see him change. It’s been amazing.”
The father added that a prosecutor involved in outstanding cases against his son had been stunned to hear about his progress.
“He can’t believe it,” he said. “He’s like, ‘what the hell are they doing up there?’ ”
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