A high-powered delegation have visited Mount Isa to report on the workings of Queensland's Youth Justice Task Force.
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Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk set up the Task Force after high-profile incidents that shocked the state with the deaths of pedestrians Kate Leadbetter, who was pregnant, and her partner Matt Field, struck by an allegedly stolen car driven by a teenager in Brisbane in February followed by the death of 22-year-old motorcyclist Jennifer Board at Thuringowa on February 5 also struck by a stolen car.
In association with new laws, the premier appointed Assistant Commissioner Cheryl Scanlon to head the Task Force and she was in Mount Isa Thursday with fellow Assistant Commissioner Mark Wheeler with Senior Executive Director Michael Drane from the Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs.
Assistant Commissioner Scanlon said they were in Mount Isa to meet frontline police officers and other agencies about their work dealing with serious youth offending around Queensland.
"It is important for us to get a feel for the community here, there are some very good connections here between agencies and while Mount Isa won't be part of the 12-month trial for GPS monitoring of young people but you will have some of the other measures here which is about the reverse onus on bail for young people who continue to commit serious offences," AC Scanlon said.
"One of the things we want to see in Mount Isa is how does that connect your agencies to see how that affects some of those young people in that 10pc cohort here to stop that behaviour in the community."
AC Scanlon said there was no simple fix for that chronic cohort, the 10pc of recidivist offenders that commit most of the youth crime who at some point needed to be transitioned out of custody to break the cycle of reoffending.
"It's very complex and it's hard work because you've got young people in the system who've got to that point because of a whole lot of other things, some of that lifelong," she said.
"We have very damaged people in this cycle, we need agencies with the same purpose about what is important to work with them."
Mr Drane said custody numbers had increased since the reverse presumption on bail was brought in.
"Courts are making decisions in the interests of community safety and that is essential," Mr Drane said.
"Detention is not the place for young people, it is a stop in the cycle and it allows use to dial up the intensity of services for them, the real work begins here and that's about the agencies that work in Mount Isa and the services that work here to wrap support around that young person's transition."
AC Wheeler said victims of crime don't care about the crime rate but what it means to them.
"I'd like to reassure them your police in Mount Isa are out there 24 - 7 and they are working with other government agencies and partners, they are out there at night so we can all sleep safely," AC Wheeler said.
"We will leave no stone unturned in operational efforts to make sure Mount Isa remains safe.
AC Wheeler said the work of the Task Force is also a critical factor in this.
"You cannot arrest your way out of the problems we have at the moment," he said.
"If it was a simple legislative fix it would have already have been done. We are seeing youth offenders from families of complete dysfunction, backgrounds of sexual and alcohol abuse, mental health issues, social and economic disadvantage, simply locking people is not going to solve those problems.
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