Toowoomba youth crime increases, David Crisafulli and David Janetzki call for change
In the last 12 months 90 young offenders have wreaked havoc on Toowoomba. Now, calls are being made to strengthen laws to stop these ‘young thugs’ causing more damage.
Police & Courts
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UPDATE: Toowoomba’s youth crime woes have no “silver bullet” and instead require a nuanced government response of rehabilitation and punishment, according to the state’s youth justice minister.
Leanne Linard again backed the government’s efforts to rehabilitate at-risk youth and deter then from entering a life of crime, pointing to the successes of the local Transition 2 Success program that is run with the help of the Toowoomba PCYC, local Indigenous artists and health organisations, and Queensland Fire and Emergency Service.
The program has reportedly supported 13 young people in Toowoomba towards further education or employment in a year.
But it comes just a day after Opposition Leader David Crisafulli lashed the state government for its handling of the issues, using a local couple’s theft of their car by five teens last year as an example of the problem.
In the past financial year there has been a 78 per cent increase in unlawful use of motor vehicle charges and a 67 per cent increase in unlawful entry charges compared to the previous period.
But Ms Linard was adamant the government’s legislative changes last year had struck the right balance, noting it was a small percentage of youths who were doing most of the crime.
“There isn’t any one approach to deal with crime, there is no silver bullet, so you have to do many things,” she said.
“These programs are about intervening and turning young people’s lives around so they stop offending, but we also have to have the strong approach we have as a government, where we see young people be remanded when they need to be.”
Toowoomba PCYC club manager Sergeant Cam Crisp said a lifetime in crime prevention had shown him programs like Transition 2 Success needed to be expanded.
“It’s a great program, we’re offering these young people chances to set them up for life and get a job,” he said.
“I’ve got many stories where I’ve had kids come through the program who were ultimately employed.
“I think the more we can do for these folks, the better.”
Teenager Shyann Dray, who hopes to secure work in retail soon, said the program had given her a fresh start, noting she would likely be in juvenile detention without intervention.
EARLIER: While police were quick to recover Ken and Luanne Cunliffe’s LandCruiser after it was stolen, the couple said there was one thing they would never get back – their privacy.
Mr Cunliffe said five teens, aged 12-16, entered his Rangeville home about 2am on October 25 and made off with his vehicle.
He came downstairs to find his front door open.
“The vehicle was recovered two kilometres down the road but the engine was completely broken, we had to replace it,” Mr Cunliffe said.
“At 5pm the police informed us that they had five youths in custody. One of them had 11 pages of (criminal history).”
The couple made several attempts to speak with the teens.
They wanted to know why they were targeted but also what they could do to break the cycle of poverty and abuses that fuelled the offending.
“They cannot possibly come from happy, safe homes to be doing that,” Mrs Cunliffe said.
“It is so sad that they have those backgrounds that they cannot do anything else, that they need the adrenaline, that they don’t care if they are incarcerated because it is better than being at home.
“Having said that, there needs to be consequences.”
Toowoomba has seen a consistent rise in vehicles left in the past 12 months according to data supplied by the State Opposition.
Speaking at a press conference at Cunliffe’s home, Leader of the Opposition David Crisafulli said that in the past financial year there had been a 78 per cent increase in unlawful use of motor vehicle changes, a 67 per cent increase in unlawful entry charges and a 46 per cent increase in the number of vehicles that were broken into, the compared to the previous year. He called on the State Government to act by introducing bail breaches as an offence for minors, like it is for adults.
“In the past year we have had 90 young offenders that have committed 30 or more offences,” he said.
“Part of the journey is about making sure you properly resource people early on in their life of crime to give them an opportunity to be educated, to be able to turn their life around, but you also need consequences for repeat offenders.”
He added that the Garden City’s residents had a right to feel safe in their homes.
“Toowoomba is a beautiful city that has been hijacked by young thugs who are laughing at Labor’s soft laws.”
Member for Toowoomba South David Janetzki echoed the comments and said a breach of bail offence would give authorities the power to intervene sooner.
“The State Government must strengthen our laws to get these young offenders off the streets of Toowoomba.