With youth crime a hot-button political issue in Queensland, the state’s police embarked on a highly visible operation over the summer holidays, arresting 574 children on more than 1400 charges.
But despite Operation Theta and the state government rolling out proposed measures to combat the phenomenon, many in the community feel unsafe.
A man was labelled a hero for fighting off armed robbers on Boxing Day on the Gold Coast. Credit: Nine News
Now vigilante groups are forming, in affluent suburbs as well as lower socioeconomic areas.
Some are listening in to radios and patrolling their neighbourhoods according to a community roster.
Others are posting videos or photos online of potential offenders in a bid to stop crime.
The fear youth crime is growing is not limited to the streets of Queensland.
In late 2022, NSW police announced a youth crime taskforce to focus on increasing gang activity and juvenile knife crime, while vigilante patrols have continued to form in Melbourne.
Experts believe several factors are behind the rising trend of people “taking the law into their own hands”.
“I think there are two reasons for this: one is because the offenders are juveniles, so it seems like they’re people we can take on, they look like our kids,” University of Queensland senior research fellow Renee Zahnow says.
“Second, there is chatter that is egging people on, on social media, so the public discourse and the normative response is quite positive.”
On Boxing Day, a Gold Coast dad was heralded a hero after fighting off armed robbers in his underwear.
“Instead of it being a frightening experience like it used to be when we didn’t have social media, people are like, ‘Yeah, good on you! You did a really great job’,” Zahnow says.
But Griffith University criminology professor Ross Homel says people dealing out their own version of justice is “just a recipe for disaster”.
“This is where the police need to communicate really clearly with the public [about] what they’re doing in the local area to try to prevent the upsurge of vigilantism,” he says.
“If police chase someone in a car around the streets they know the rules, whereas vigilantes are a law unto themselves, effectively.
“I don’t know of any evidence that vigilantism does anything more than exacerbate the problem. I don’t know of any evidence that shows its effectiveness as a policing alternative.”
He says while he can understand people wanting to protect their communities, police would need to crack down on vigilantes as soon as possible, and this would put pressure on officers to be seen to be out patrolling.
“Police will always complain about the court system and letting kids off and it’s not the case.
“Queensland imprisons twice as many children under the age of 18 as NSW and Victoria already and we’re ratcheting it up by the day by tightening up bail,” he says.
“Eighty-eight per cent of children in detention in Queensland are currently unsentenced; they’re on remand.”
‘What will happen is people who are legitimate upstanding citizens will get charged with offences.’
Renee Zahnow
Recently, the Queensland Police Service reiterated to the community that police did not encourage vigilantism, urging residents to call triple-0 in emergencies.
Assistant Commissioner Cheryl Scanlon, speaking at a press conference after the alleged murder of mother Emma Lovell by teenagers, discouraged concerned community groups from forming vigilante patrols.
Emma Lovell, pictured in a photo posted to Facebook, died after a violent encounter with armed teens at her home.Credit: Facebook
Lovell died of stab wounds after two 17-year-olds allegedly broke into her house north of Brisbane and confronted her and her husband.
At the time, Scanlon was asked about the police message to members of the community who considered becoming vigilantes.
“Ring triple-0. Ring the police, that’s what we’re there for,” she said.
“We’ve seen tragic events occur from vigilantism. Part of the reason this taskforce began resulted from a particular scenario in Townsville where that occurred and caused a terrible tragedy.”
Zahnow says the increase in youth offending appears to be a national issue.
“I think COVID-19 caused a disruption in routine and disengagement with school that has not yet been repaired for some young people.”
Homel says research shows youth crime is also exacerbated by economic stress.
“We’ve had low inflation for so long and now we’ve got a situation where a lot of ordinary people are struggling to put food on the table.”
Zahnow says one of the biggest problems policymakers face is people, particularly teenagers, carrying weapons.
“The carrying of knives has become very prevalent. Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to control because how do we stop people buying knives?”
Both Homel and Zahnow agree youth curfews, such as those introduced in the US and Britain, will have little effect and are only temporary solutions. Both say intervention from a young school age help prevent future problems.
Children who offend are often from problematic homes, they say, with a range of health and mental issues, including suffering from fetal alcohol syndrome and physical abuse at the hands of their parents.
Zahnow says a possible expansion of the wanding trial which began on the Gold Coast after the death of Jack Beasley for up to 12 months to allow police to check unsupervised children after a certain time at night could work.
“When you put them in a detention centre all that does is put them with the only belonging they’ve ever had – which is with other delinquents - so essentially you’re creating gangs,” Zahnow says.
“What we’re creating is these big warehouses of people who never have a job, who will never be a participant in society in a proactive way.
“What we need to do is provide them mentors, apprenticeships; we need to show them that they do have capacity to be a valued member of society.”