LOCK ’EM UP
MP EYES OFF 50 YOUNG CROOKS
FIFTY hardened young crooks from Logan and the Gold Coast are responsible for a shocking crime wave of break-ins and stolen cars – and “they should be locked up”.
Mermaid Beach MP Ray Stevens has accused the Labor government of ignoring the plight of residents at Miami and north Burleigh along the coastal strip in his electorate.
Residents have contacted the Bulletin to voice their fears about personal safety ahead of a Neighbourhood Watch meeting at Nobby Beach on March 3.
Mr Stevens told parliament late on Tuesday: “The police advise me that 50 or so hardened youth criminals who are creating the problem – and they are aware of those young thugs – must be locked away from law-abiding society until their behaviour can be corrected. The police are aware and are working tirelessly for the community, but it is not their responsibility.”
Outside the parliament, Mr Stevens told the Bulletin the young offenders were “hardened kids” from Logan and the Coast who were arrested for crimes and then released back on the streets by the courts.
Police officers had told him “if you lock them away you fix the problem”.
He told parliament the influx of troubled people with drug, alcohol and mental conditions in short-term accommodation in older Coast motels, in an unsupervised and unsupported capacity, had led to the residents feeling threatened, intimidated and unsafe.
After the state poll in October last year, Mr Stevens wrote to Housing Minister Leeanne Enoch and received what he considered was “an attacking political response” that failed to address the concerns of residents.
“We understand that troubled folk need care and attention, but to throw them into unsupervised and unsupported inappropriate accommodation because of a lack of proper alternatives provided by the Palaszczuk Labor government is a sad indictment of that government’s housing policy,” he told parliament.
Police were aware that some motel accommodation residents were repeat offenders unable to control their behaviour.
“They have increased their patrols to those areas in an effort to contain the issues. However, with the increased demand on police resources to man border closures and hotel quarantine duty, policing has become a case of satisfying those statewide health concerns first and other complaint issues are dealt with on a when-can-do basis,” Mr Stevens said.
The veteran MP is circulating a petition in the community calling on the government to take action and redirect government clients using the motel accommodation into supervised and supported accommodation.
“The combination of those troubled people and the youth crime outbreak on the Gold Coast has left residents feeling abandoned, forgotten and disillusioned about why they cannot feel safe in their own homes,” Mr Stevens said.
“One young woman, whom I cannot name, is so terrified that young vandals will return to attack her after stealing her car keys from her bedside table that she lives in a constant state of fear and sleeplessness. That criminal behaviour has to be curtailed.”
Nobby Beach Neighborhood Watch Community Group convener Luke Henderson told members in an email that the group’s next meeting would address “the rise in local crime of late”.
“I intend to focus on this at the meeting to come up with ideas to protect the local residents and gain some comfort on how we might be able to take a bit more control of this situation before it gets out of hand,” he wrote.