Tough stance

Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll’s proposed youth crime fix has merit

The ineffectiveness of the GPS tracker program is hardly a new issue, but making it work is a key step in solving the state’s youth crime crisis. Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll was scheduled to brief Cabinet on Monday at the invitation of Premier Steven Miles on steps that could be taken to clamp down on the issue.

Ms Carroll was expected to use it to call for an expansion of police wanding powers, and to urge the state government to revisit the use of GPS tracking devices.

Last week, she asked the government to revisit the trial of GPS trackers for teen criminals on bail, saying only 33 devices had been issued, with five now in use.

Ms Carroll described the electronic monitoring devices as a “very, very powerful tool”.

A trial of electronic monitoring for juvenile offenders began in 2021 and was recently extended to April 30, 2025. The devices are fitted to the ankle as part of bail conditions and provide real-time alerts of any unauthorised movements. There are strict conditions on who is eligible to be fitted with the devices, including that the young person must be at least 15, live in specific geographical areas and undergo a suitability assessment.

But as the Bulletin revealed back in 2022, a key reason juveniles avoided being fitted was their “unwillingness to comply”.

It was revealed at the time juveniles were deemed not suitable as part of the trial because of a lack of support from a parent or other adult, an unwillingness to comply, a lack of capacity to understand a condition, and withdrawal of request from the legal representative.

A greater rollout of these devices and mandatory use on repeat offenders would surely have an impact on reducing instances of theft, or indeed would contribute to tracking and ensuring conviction of those who reoffend. Also worth considering is the expansion of knife wanding outside party precincts.

Introduced in the wake of Jack Beasley’s death on the streets of Surfers Paradise in 2019, this measure has had an appreciable difference in reducing knife crime.

It would be just as valuable in Surfers Paradise as in Helensvale.