Making progress in war on youth crime

HALFWAY through his contract, Townsville’s “community champion” on Youth Crime and Development says he is tracking ahead of schedule.

Major General Stuart Smith ( ret) was appointed by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in January to report to her office about the community’s concerns regarding youth crime.

The highly regarded military leader meets with Ms Palaszczuk each month and will provide a final report next January. But he has not ruled out submitting it earlier because there has to be a “sense of urgency” with the issue.

The community champion has spent his time meeting troubled youths, concerned citizens and relevant authorities.

He held a public forum last month where the public was invited to express thoughts on what needed to be done about youth crime.

Last week he held a forum with service providers to discuss what gaps and barriers exist in addressing the issue.

“There were several values identified by the community and the first was putting more resources into early inter- vention – before children go off the rails,” Maj- Gen Smith said.

“A second would be the need to better integrate and co- ordinate youth services … a theme was the need for safe community spaces for young people.

“Speaking to service providers we see if we integrate our services better we can deliver a better outcome.”

Community Grow CEO Susan Perry said her organisation, which operates at the Upper Ross Community Centre, had been trying to close service gaps for some time but there were challenges with funding and resources.

“In an area like the Upper Ross the biggest gap is out- ofhours care and access,” she said.

Transport has also been identified as an issue.

Community Grow already offers a safe place for youth to undertake activities on a Monday night and would like to see that service expanded, potentially with the introduction of a bus service to get kids to and from the venue.

Youth justice representatives, police, social workers and indigenous elders were among those to attend the event.

Inspector Joe Kitching of Townsville police said it was good to see a broad spectrum of service providers.

“We see with the Stronger Community’s Action Group and our Rapid Action Patrol Group that working with our partner agencies to try and provide and share information will assist in closing gaps, particularly in relation to recidivist offenders and vulnerable people in our community,” Insp Kitching said.

The Townsville Crime Committee is a group of concerned locals. Secretary Wendy Ambrose said there had been no improvements to the youth crime issue since the community champion’s appointment but said Maj- Gen Smith was helping the community’s voice be heard.