A crime prevention initiative that has brought together a dedicated team of police and youth justice workers to patrol the streets of Logan this week marked two years of operation.
The city’s co responder team works to improve community safety by engaging with at-risk youth and young people on court orders.
Member for Logan, Linus Power said their work includes checking on young offenders to ensure they’re complying with their bail conditions.
“The program is an opportunity to build relationship with at-risk young people and support them and their families.
Minister for Children and Youth Justice, Leanne Linard, said since the team started in Logan in May 2020, the co-responders had engaged young people nearly 4,200 times.
“We know that stopping crime before it occurs is the most effective way to break the cycle of youth offending, which is why the co-responder teams are so important,” Ms Linard said.
“This is why they speak with young people at the local park or shopping centre, on the street and in their homes, so they don’t have to meet them in the courthouse or the watchhouse.
“The Queensland Government began rolling out the joint police and youth justice co-responder program in May 2020 as part of a commitment to reduce youth crime.”
“In all, we have eight co-responder teams in the state, connecting and communicating with young people.”
“Ultimately, anything we do to tackle youth crime also needs to consider the causes of crime, which is exactly what the co-responders are doing.”
Logan youth co-responder Bec Jarman said the initiative had enabled a collaboration between police and youth justice.
“It means we can identify young people at risk of offending and implement interventions earlier in their offending trajectory, diverting them away from crime,” she said. “We’re able to use the expertise of both agencies and enhance partnerships with government and non-government agencies to collectively respond to youth crime.
“Examples of this have included partnering with the PCYC to develop programs that keep young people occupied and positively participating in the community.”
The 2021–22 budget allocated $11.9 million for the co-responder initiative.
Co-responder teams also operate in Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton, Brisbane North, Moreton, and the Gold Coast.
