Libs blast tracking ‘flop’
Only four offenders take part in youth GPS trial
THE state government has dodged questions about how much money it spent on a juvenile GPS tracker trial slammed as a “flop” by the Opposition.
The Townsville Bulletin revealed on Friday that just six repeat juvenile offenders had been considered for an electronic monitoring device (EMD) during a 12-month trial that finishes up next week.
Just four of those considered for a device were accepted, and only two of those young people were from North Queensland.
The trial started in May last year and was aimed at 16-and17-year-old repeat offenders as part of a $98.4m funding package to support a “crackdown on youth crime”.
On Friday, the Bulletin asked the Youth Justice department how much money was spent on the trial but it did not disclose the amount.
“Electronic monitoring devices were made available by Queensland Corrective Services to monitor up to 100 young people as part of the trial,” minister Leanne Linard said.
“An independent review of the electronic monitoring trial and programs that support compliance with electronic monitoring will be completed later this year. Rates of reoffending for the entirety of the trial will be included in the review.”
Queensland Corrective Services was responsible for monitoring the young person’s location during the trial, contacting police about breaches, and contacting the young person regarding other minor issues.
A QCS spokeswoman said it played a supporting role in the trial and directed the Bulletin’s questions to Youth Justice.
Currently, there are no North Queensland juveniles wearing an EMD.
Opposition spokesman for police Dale Last said the government needed to go back to the drawing board.
“Here we are, 12 months later and when it comes to
GPS trackers, well it’s a big F, a big F for fail,” Mr Last said. “It has been an absolute dismal flop.
“Four juvenile offenders in 12 months fitted with GPS trackers and that just goes to show how abysmal this program was, how pathetic it was in terms of being a solution to this juvenile crime problem in Queensland.”
Ms Linard said a report by former police commissioner Bob Atkinson was being finalised.