Police call-outs to Gympie region schools

Police have handled 114 incidents - some involving weapons at primary schools - in two years at schools across Gympie, the Cooloola Coast and the Mary Valley, new data shows, as the schools responsible for the most call-outs are revealed.

Police were called out to the region’s high schools more than four dozen times in the past two years, with the two biggest high schools unsurprisingly recording the highest number of call-outs.

Data from online police records reveal Gympie State High School was the site of 28 alleged crimes in the two years since September 2020, with almost half of those involving assaults.

Property damage and trespassing and vagrancy were other common offences reported on school grounds.

James Nash State School was not far behind, with officers responding to 23 alleged crimes on the school’s grounds, including six reports of unlawful entry and five of assault.

Jones Hill State School was the most common destination for police out of all the region’s primary schools.

Arson (like this alleged instance at Amamoor State School in August), weapon crimes and drug offences are among more than 100 crimes reported at Gympie region school grounds in the past two years. Photo: Contributed

Twenty-one alleged offences had been committed on its grounds in the past two years, almost half of which were for trespassing and vagrancy.

Drug offences, Weapons Act crimes and property damage were also recorded on the school grounds.

Gympie Central and Gympie South were the only two other schools in the region to have double figure offence figures reported on their premises.

The figures paint a grim picture of an ongoing problem across the region were school grounds continue to be the site of alleged criminal mischief, particularly after hours.

In August 2022, a shed at Amamoor State School was gutted by a fire police called suspicious.

More than 100 crimes have been reported on Gympie region school grounds in the past two years.

Two lawnmowers and a whipper snipper were among the items destroyed in the blaze.

No charges have been laid.

Glenwood State School, Gympie Special State School, Gympie East State School, Kilkivan State School, Mary Valley State College, Rainbow Beach State School, Wolvi State School and Victory College have not had any crimes reported on their grounds since September 2020.

Read the full list of recorded offences

Amamoor State School: One other property damage, one arson, one unlawful entry in the past two years; the arson was in the past six months.

Chatsworth State School: One unlawful entry in the past two years

Cooloola Christian College: Two assaults, one miscellaneous offence, one unlawful entry, one other offence against a person in the past two years; one of other theft excluding unlawful entry in past six months.

Gunalda State School: Five unlawful entry, and one property damage in the past two years.

Glenwood State School: No offences recorded.

Goomeri State School: One assault in the past two years.

Gympie Central State School: Three unlawful entry, two drug offences, one traffic offence, one good order offence, one weapons act offence, one trespassing, one vagrancy, and one other theft in past two years; one of the unlawful entries, two drug offences and one weapons offence were in the six months.

Assault and unlawful entry were among the five offences committed on Cooloola Christian College’s grounds since September 2020, police data shows.

Gympie East State School: No offences recorded.

Gympie South State School: Four other property damage, five unlawful entry, two trespassing and vagrancy, one good order offence in past two years; the good order offence was in the past six months.

Gympie Special School: No offences recorded.

Gympie State High School: Twelve assault, six other property damage, three trespassing and vagrancy, three drug offences, two traffic related offences, one other theft and one other offence against a person in the past two years; four assaults, one traffic related offence, one drug offence and one other offence against the person were in the past six months

Gympie West State School: Two unlawful entry, one good order offence, one drug offence, one assault in past two years

James Nash State School: Six unlawful entry, five assault, four other property damage, three drug offences, two good order offences, one miscellaneous, one weapons act, one handling stolen goods in two years; four unlawful entry, two other property damage, and one assault were past six months.

Jones Hill State School: Nine trespassing and vagrancy, four drug offences, three weapon act offences, three other property damage, one traffic and related offences, one liquor offence (excluding drunkenness) in past two years; two drug offences, one traffic and related offence, one weapons act offence and one other property damage offence were in the past six months.

Kilkivan State School: No offences recorded.

Mary Valley State College: No offences recorded.

Monkland State School: Two unlawful entry in past two years.

One Mile State School: Three other property damage in past two years; two of these were in the past six months.

Rainbow Beach State School: No offences recorded.

St Patrick’s College and Primary schools: One other theft in past two years.

Tin Can Bay State School: Two assault, one drug offence, one other property offence in past two years.

Two Mile State School: One unlawful entry in past two years; the unlawful entry was in the past six months.

Victory College: No offences recorded.

Widgee State School: One traffic related offence in past two years.

Wolvi State School: No offences recorded.

Originally published as Police call-outs to Gympie region schools