Lockdown to lock-up: But are we ready for it
The Coast is set for a post-covid crime wave, but Bond University criminologist Dr Terry Goldsworthy warns that our police force may not be ready for the challenge
FROM lockdown to lock-up, the Coast is bracing for a postCovid crime wave.
But Bond University criminologist Dr Terry Goldsworthy is not convinced that our police force is ready for the challenge.
While the associate professor admits it’s easy to point out the problems with policing, he’s just as invested in sourcing solutions. Because when it comes to the thin blue line, he’s been on both sides.
Despite a disappointing end to the final days of his 28-year career with the Queensland Police Service, Dr Goldsworthy is always advocating for the law enforcement agency.
But he’s worried by what he’s seeing – whether that’s on the streets or in police data. “Due to Covid and lockdowns, we saw criminal activity decline … but now that we’re getting back to normal, those rates will go right back up,” says Dr Goldsworthy.
“The Queensland government has been very slow to release data, and I think when we eventually get updated figures it will make for some unpleasant reading.”
Dr Goldsworthy says the most recent Queensland Crime report, released in April 2020, showed a 2 per cent rise in all reported crimes, but that it was distorted by the pandemic effects.
In fact, he says more recent data showed that sexual assault increased by 22 per cent in the 2020/21 financial year.
“We’re coming out of a relatively quiet time, and I’m not sure we have the most effective policing ready for an increase in crime,” he says.
“There have been some questionable decisions made during the pandemic. For example, police were told to stop attending break and enters, which just doesn’t make sense. That was then paused for six months, but it makes you wonder why that decision was made at all.
“It feels like they’re losing their way – and you can see it even with police out in public. It may seem superficial but I’m really
quite surprised at how they are presenting themselves.
“Scruffy beards, visible tattoos, not adhering to their professional dress code … part of the job is showing that respectable face of the force. It may seem old-fashioned
but it seems symptomatic of a larger problem.” For Dr Goldsworthy, it’s a problem that he can trace back to his last days on the force.
He says a restructuring under former Commissioner Ian Stewart meant an end to both his police career and effective policing.
While the changes are now being reversed by Stewart’s replacement, Commissioner Katarina Carroll, Dr Goldsworthy says she faces an uphill battle.
“Back in 2013, commissioned officers were being offered a redundancy so that the police could cut their costs, as directed by then-premier Campbell Newman,” he says.
“I was working in Ethical Standards and it just wasn’t what I wanted to be doing, so I put my hand up. Yet as the date grew closer, I wasn’t sure if I had made the right decision. I saw Ian Stewart at a medal ceremony and told him I was reconsidering.
“He just looked at me and said ‘your first decision is your best decision’. I explained that I didn’t have to be based on the Gold Coast, I could go to Logan, that I was adaptable, and he said ‘sometimes you have to let the suited blue go’.
“And that was it, he was more than happy to let someone with huge experience and drive go, because it would save money. There were guys who were six months away from retirement being given redundancies, even they couldn’t believe it. A huge payout when they were about to leave anyway, but it was this culture of a numbers game – they had to fill the quota of redundancies. There was no logic to it.
“It just opened my eyes to how many poor decisions were being made. When the Greenfield Review (an independent strategic report initiated in 2019) came out, it was all there in black and white. I felt vindicated, but they could have saved a lot of money by just clicking on my Linkedin profile, I had all the same stats and data right there.
“The problem is that now Commissioner Carroll is still trying to clean up the mistakes but she has a lot of unhappy personnel. And a key factor in driving down crime is an effective police service.”
After leaving the police, Dr Goldsworthy took up the position of criminologist and associate professor at Bond University, a perfect fit for the academic cop who had already completed a Bachelor of Laws, Bachelor of Commerce, Master of Criminology and Doctor of Philosophy.
Next year he’ll oversee the introduction of a new Bachelor of Criminal Justice and Criminology undergraduate degree at Bond University.
In his tertiary position, his analysis of crime and policing has seen him give hundreds of interviews and become one of the country’s most quoted criminologists. But he says his commentary is not always embraced by the constabulary.
“I’m not trying to give a popular opinion, I’m commenting based on evidence only,” he says. “And that’s exactly why I think the ‘anti-bikie’ VLAD laws were a waste of time and why consorting charges are a waste of time.
“When you take a deep dive into the data, the truth is that we are far better to follow the criminal activity than a group of people.
“Many bikies are not criminals. There may be a higher element of criminal activity within bikie gangs, but focusing so single-mindedly on these groups is a waste of resources. Consorting charges are the biggest waste, practically speaking, it’s no more than a speeding ticket … and only nine people over three years have been charged with consorting in Queensland between 2017-20 under the current laws. And certainly no one was convicted under the anti-association laws (VLAD) of the Newman government.
“Australia has actually become very attractive to overseas criminal groups, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission says about 70 per cent of our organised crime is based internationally.
“We have the mafia, Asian and Eastern European crime groups now operating in Australia’s criminal markets.
The problem is that now Commissioner Carroll is still trying to clean up the mistakes but she has a lot of unhappy personnel
Mexican drug cartels are also moving into our methamphetamine market.
“So when it comes to organised crime, we need to look beyond simple generic responses, like consorting laws.”
In fact, one of the biggest concerns for Dr Goldsworthy is not bikie gangs, but youth crime.
He says he is increasingly concerned by the high number, and low age, of children committing serious crimes.
He says while he rejects the notion that the minimum age of criminal responsibility should be lowered from 14 to 10, he says the government needs to impart real consequences.
“We need to bring back breach of bail for children.
“That offence was removed by the current government in 2015, so you can now have a child who gets bail, breaches it, and then goes back … and there’s no punishment for the breach itself.
“There needs to be consequences for children who don’t do right thing.
“We are not talking about first-time offenders here, we are talking about that 10 per cent who commit 44 per cent of the crime, the hardcore of juvenile offenders who are already criminalised.
“We need to break the cycle, we need to put them in detention, we can’t have a policy of detention of youth being the last resort.”
And don’t even get him started on Schoolies. Or Splendour in the Grass.
Or pill testing.
“These are unpopular comments, but I don’t support Schoolies,” he says.
“I hate it. It’s a festival of kids getting drunk and having sex. There’s nothing good about it.
“We say that by setting up supports we’re making it safer, but I’m not sure about that. It’s the same as pilltesting. We say that it’s saving lives, but is it really?
“When you look at the Groovin’ the Moo Festival in 2018, where pill testing was trialled, of the 21,000 or so patrons who attended, only 83 patrons had their drugs tested – less than 0.4 per cent.
“Young people getting their drugs tested at the festival were forced to sign a legal waiver to access the pilltesting service. Signed forms were locked away immediately in a safety box.
“This gives some indication as to the level of confidence those providing the service had to ensure the safety of the young people they are servicing.
“The waiver form finishes with the sage advice that the only way to guarantee, 100 per cent, that you are not harmed by consuming drugs is not to
consume drugs. Isn’t that the whole premise of the war on drugs?”
Controversial as his statements may be, Dr Goldsworthy relishes the freedom that academic life grants him.
He says it’s yet another change that he would love to see the Queensland Police Service impart.
“I always understood the relationship between the police and the media, I was always prepared to give interviews and make comments – it would help me and it would help them.
“Even then, many were uncomfortable with my comfort in speaking, and it feels like it’s worse now.
“Every time the media contact me now, I ask what the police have said first. Far more often than not, the answer is ‘nothing’. The police leave a vacuum for others to fill, when really part of their job is to ensure that the public they serve is kept informed.
“It’s such a risk-averse environment now. Everyone is so busy watching their back, they don’t see where they’re going.
“And now that we’re coming out of Covid, we really need to focus.”
It’s true that it’s easy to point out the problems. But for Dr Goldsworthy, it’s only because he cares. About the public, and about the police.