Toolies – be like Schoolies

POLICE say the city’s older generation partying in Surfers Paradise – dubbed Toolies – need to take a leaf out of the playbook of the 2021 Schoolies cohort.

Out of 15,000 Schoolies attendees, during the seven-day rite-of-passage celebrations, 28 school leavers were arrested, just half the amount of previous years. But Toolies accounted for 88 arrests in the past week.

Gold Coast District Acting Chief Superintendent Rhys Wildman said the level of respect from the teens to the officers on the ground was something to be proud of.

“It’s often said our young people are our future leaders of our community and if this cohort is an indication of what our future looks like – then it is very bright,” he said.

Mr Wildman said the Gold Coast’s no tolerance for poor behaviour was exercised during Schoolies with three-times more non-school leavers being arrested.

“Just because you are a little bit older doesn’t make you smarter when it comes to choices on how you behave in public places,” he said.

“Have a look at this cohort and change your behaviour,” he advised Toolies.

Mr Wildman said he believed the annual Schoolies education campaign on the Coast was the reason recent years were better behaved.

“The challenges this particular cohort have had gave them a disruptive schooling period, however they have still managed to maintain a high level of respect,” he said.

“I think we are starting to see positive affects from that campaign.”

School leaver Layne Foster shared a video to Tiktok captioning it “appreciation to the Gold Coast schoolies Police”.

It features video clips put together of police officers on duty during Schoolies smiling to the camera.

A follower commented: “They’re so sweet. One time, three of them walked me home because my phone died and I didn’t know how to get back to my hotel.”