Darling Downs top detective gives update on plan to tackle youth crime

Huge numbers of young offenders have been rounded up and held in custody but the region’s leading detective says police can’t ‘arrest our way out’ of the challenges posed by youth crime. Read the police plan here.

Darling Downs police are cautiously optimistic that a new youth crime strategy is paying off with large numbers of arrests followed by an increase in the rate of teens either held in custody or pleading guilty on the first offence.

Detective Inspector Heath McQueen said the strategy backed up traditional enforcement with a specialised youth justice prosecutor in the courtroom and a panel of social services to intensively manage hardened offenders.

The strategy is paying off with a steady decrease in the number of cars stolen in the area since February.

Unlawful use of motor vehicle offices halved from 143 in February to 77 in June but the cyclic nature of crime means residents must take steps to lock up their property.

“We ask the community to continue to work with local police as we focus on preventing and disrupting crime across the Darling Downs,” Insp McQueen said.

“While Darling Downs has experienced a higher than usual level of activity in youth property crime recently, there is a lot of work happening in the background to make long-term change.

“There is a small cohort of young offenders who are responsible for a large proportion of property crime.

Detective Inspector Heath McQueen. Picture: Nev Madsen.

“We are focusing on this small group of offenders, holding them to account and doing our best to protect the community from their dangerous behaviour”

From April 30, 2021 to July 31, 2022, 305 teens were arrested in the Darling Downs District, which covers Toowoomba, Warwick, Goondiwindi and the South Burnett.

About 65 per cent of these were either remanded in custody or plead guilty when they were first brought before the Childrens Court.

About 163 were in a show cause situation for bail while 142 were not in a show cause situation but still had their bail refused by police

“Put simply, this means we are seeing a substantial proportion of high-risk young people being kept in detention to protect the community as a result of the new show cause provisions,” Insp McQueen said.

“However, we know we cannot arrest our way out of these challenges and detention is not a long-term solution for these young people.”

Insp McQueen said Darling Downs police are working with other government agencies to address the underlying health and social issues that drive young people to commit crimes.

This includes supporting their families housing, drug and alcohol and mental health services.

“Across government and community agencies, we must intervene early, keep kids out of court, keep kids out of custody and reduce reoffending to change the direction of youth offenders.

This is being driven by a panel of representatives from Youth Justice, the QPS, Darling Downs Health, Queensland Education and the Department of Communities and Housing.

“One-by-one, the panel looks at every young person in the serious cohort of local offenders to understand why they are offending and explore solutions for them,” Insp McQueen said.

“We know this level of reform will not fix issues overnight and it will take time to see long-term results.