New push on juvenile crime

DO you know anyone whose home has been broken into recently?

It’s not hard – thieves gained unlawful entry into approximately 3600 properties across Cairns last financial year, according to the Queensland Police Service.

These statistics show this is not just bad luck faced by a select few residents, it is a crime epidemic.

The Greater Cairns Taskforce, which will be launched in the New Year, aims to prevent crime trends such as property, assault and sex offences from climbing any further.

Far North District Chief Superintendent Brian Huxley admits they’ve got their work cut out for them, with nearly 1000 people charged with unlawful entry offences in the Cairns region thus far.

It’s great to see this new taskforce being headed up by one of the Far North’s most senior officers, Senior Sergeant Kevin Gleeson, who will be lending his decade of experience as officer-in-charge of the Cairns Police Station to help target problem areas.

He says having police patrols out on the streets will make a difference interrupting crime before it can happen. But what makes this taskforce apparently different from previous crime-combating efforts is that police are also seeking to address the root cause.

The group will be linked in with strategies such as working with community groups to redirect kids away from entering a life of crime.

Ultimately, it does not matter how harsh penalties become, nor the amount of police resources thrown at the problem of youth crime, unless there is a legitimate reason for these young offenders to no longer follow the bad examples of their peers. A co-ordinated approach will hopefully reverse the trend. Daniel Bateman daniel.bateman@news.com.au