Victorian government fails to act on ‘antiquated’ system to monitor criminals in community

Crucial upgrades to the system monitoring criminals released back into Victorian communities were never made and the “antiquated” system now poses a danger, a whistleblower says.

The state government has failed to implement critical upgrades to the “antiquated” systems used to monitor criminals the courts have released back into the community.

Inquests into the brutal family violence killings of women Kylie Cay and Simone Quinlan in 2021 recommended an overhaul of the management of Community Corrections Orders (CCO) to include electronic monitoring of compliance and automatic alerts for breaches by serious offenders.

The Herald Sun can reveal that more than two years on the CCO system is still largely “paper-based”, with little information being tracked electronically.

A source within the Department of Justice and Community Safety described the monitoring of offenders on CCOs as “alarming” and fraught with problems.

The source said the system posed a potential danger to the community.

“It’s an antiquated system,” the source said.

“The intention was for it to be electronic but the system kept collapsing and didn’t have the ability to take on notes.

“It got so bad we only put the basics in there.”

Kylie Cay was killed by a man regarded as a high-risk family violence offender subject to both a CCO and intervention order. Picture: Facebook

According to the source, noncompliance reports are still handwritten.

The management of CCOs will be placed under further strain when a Department of Justice and Community Safety staff shake-up commences this month.

Almost 300 public servants were axed last year under a department plan to combine the roles of staff including those managing high-risk offenders.

As part of the shake-up, supervisors will be required to manage entire teams of staff as well as a caseload of high-risk criminals including sex offenders, family violence and other violent offenders, drug traffickers, burglars and thieves living in the community.

Up to 100 low-risk offenders will be managed by a single caseworker under the new system, according to the source.

“History shows us that not all high-risk people are the ones that go out and hurt or kill people,” the source said.

“Low-risk people can be just as concerning.

“Unless someone is consistently monitoring the same person all the time, there are always going to be problems.

“A lot fly under the radar.”

Linda and Wayne Quinlan outside the Supreme Court after a man involved in the murder of their daughter Simone Quinlan was sentenced. Picture: Nicole Garmston

The killers of Ms Cay and Ms Quinlan were on CCOs when they took their victims’ lives.

Justin Garry Turner was a high-risk family violence offender subject to both a CCO and intervention order when he fatally attacked Ms Cay with a hammer in her Port Fairy home in June 2016.

Prior to Turner being released on CCO, Victoria Police warned Community Corrections in an email that he was “the highest risk and worst offender they (police) deal with in Port Fairy and they have major concerns when he is released”.

Turner accrued well over a dozen CCO compliance breaches which were not acted on or flagged with a magistrate in the lead-up to Ms Cay’s death.

Deputy State Coroner Caitlin English found Turner exhibited “a steady escalation of risk which should have prompted consideration of more urgent intervention”.

She recommended an overhaul of the “current paper-based system … to ensure that noncompliance does not get out of control and continue for long periods of time unchecked”.

Brendan Neil had a broad family violence history and was subject to a CCO when he murdered Ms Quinlan and dumped her body down a mineshaft in Kangaroo Flat in August 2015.

His friend and co-offender, Wayne Marmo, was also to subject to a CCO.

The inquest by State Coroner John Cain identified “significant concerns” with Neil’s CCO including that his caseworker failed to properly check his compliance.

A Department of Justice and Community Safety spokesman said it had “rigorous processes in place to manage and regularly monitor people on community orders — using electronic information systems, paper-based systems and in-person supervision of people”.

“We also regularly review our systems to ensure they are doing what they are intended to do — keeping the community safe.”