Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Police Association Paul McCue regarding the support behind QLD Police Union call for youth bail law changes.

Transcript

Katie Woolf spoke with Police Association Paul McCue regarding the support behind QLD Police Union call for youth bail law changes. · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: On a very serious note, we know that the calls
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  Speaker 1: to strengthen youth bail laws are getting louder around the
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  Speaker 1: nation and the Northern Territory Police Association has thrown their
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  Speaker 1: support around the Queensland Police Union who are calling for
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  Speaker 1: action around youth crime, including a national summit on youth crime. Now,
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  Speaker 1: the president of the Police Association, Paul mchuue, joins me
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  Speaker 1: on the line right now. Good morning, Paul, Good morning Katie.
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  Speaker 1: Not too bad. You and I have spoken on so
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  Speaker 1: many occasions about this very issue, and yesterday I was
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  Speaker 1: talking on air about the Queensland Police obviously their union,
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  Speaker 1: saying that there are five things which should change in
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  Speaker 1: Queensland to reduce youth crime now. They include legislation strengthening
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  Speaker 1: youth bail laws and having longer prison sentences for juveniles,
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  Speaker 1: as well as technology including GPS resourcing, so more resources
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  Speaker 1: for police and child safety officers targeting the juvenile offended demographic. Ie.
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  Speaker 1: Juvenile offenders are predominantly Indigenous, it says in this report,
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  Speaker 1: so let's work with elders to tackle these social issues
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  Speaker 1: and finally, a national summit on youth crime, not just
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  Speaker 1: a talk fest. And they're saying there must be real
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  Speaker 1: commitment to real action. Paul, Should we be looking at
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  Speaker 1: the same thing here in the territory.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, obviously my counterpart there in Queensland responding to
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  Speaker 2: that horrendous incident that occurred recently over there, and of
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  Speaker 2: course we've experienced something similarly here, sadly down in our
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  Speaker 2: springs not too long ago, and I think the community
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  Speaker 2: is starting to really I guess, turn up the Bunsen burner,
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  Speaker 2: if you like, in terms of our current legislation, our
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  Speaker 2: framework around youth crime and whether that's appropriate at the moment,
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  Speaker 2: and whether the amendment's made you last year are actually working,
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  Speaker 2: and whether the government's doing enough outside of police resourcing
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  Speaker 2: and police requirements to actually tackle the bigger problem and
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  Speaker 2: some of those points you've listed there. Obviously the legislation
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  Speaker 2: and we talk about the youth bail laws quite regularly,
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  Speaker 2: and what's required for our police officers there, and what's
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  Speaker 2: I guess, what's available in terms of outside of police resourcing.
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  Speaker 2: Obviously technology we talk about the ankle bracelets and the
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  Speaker 2: GPS tracking and that technology actually it exists here and
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  Speaker 2: it'd be interesting to find out from government just you know,
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  Speaker 2: how much of that's being undertaken and the success rate
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  Speaker 2: for example, and then of course those other points around
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  Speaker 2: resourcing and the demographic and the national summit. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: these are things that need to be talked about and
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  Speaker 2: put on the table given the seriousness of what's going
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  Speaker 2: on now.
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  Speaker 1: In terms of those bail laws, let's talk about those
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  Speaker 1: again briefly. Can I ask who called for the government
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  Speaker 1: to change those bail laws? So there was not the
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  Speaker 1: presumption against bail.
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  Speaker 2: Look, I know that obviously it was a government initiative
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  Speaker 2: and the Police Commissioner at the time Rees curse Or
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  Speaker 2: made a brief submission relation to that in terms of
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  Speaker 2: supporting not having you know, youths in custody unnecessarily, but
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  Speaker 2: in terms of the actual amendments. So obviously that's through
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  Speaker 2: government and other bodies that would have made significant submissions
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  Speaker 2: in relation to those proposed amendments at the time. But
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  Speaker 2: what we've got now is a situation where you know,
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  Speaker 2: a bail undertaking is still an offense. So if a
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  Speaker 2: person promises, obviously to be at court at a certain
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  Speaker 2: data and they don't turn up, that's still an offense
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  Speaker 2: and a warrant gets issued, but the conditions around bail,
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  Speaker 2: such as a curfew or a certain address they must
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  Speaker 2: reside at and who they must be with. They're no
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  Speaker 2: longer an offense and so there is no real consequence
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  Speaker 2: if that youth reaches those conditions whatsoever.
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  Speaker 1: So just to go back to that, because there's been
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  Speaker 1: some real sort of backwards and forwards confusion, I think
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  Speaker 1: you'd say about who indeed wanted this change to come
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  Speaker 1: into play when it comes to there, you know, so
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  Speaker 1: that there was of course not a presumption against bail.
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  Speaker 1: Now we had been told on air by the government
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  Speaker 1: this it was something that the police had wanted. But
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  Speaker 1: the more that I ask, the more I'm finding that
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  Speaker 1: it doesn't seem as though that was actually the case.
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  Speaker 2: No, the correspondence I've seen and the discussions I've had
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  Speaker 2: is certainly the Commissioner at the time supported the fact
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  Speaker 2: that we want to try and provide options where people
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  Speaker 2: are not in custody. But of course I don't know
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  Speaker 2: there was whole heart support in terms of amending the
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  Speaker 2: bail condition breach as it was as it was put up.
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  Speaker 2: So I think there needs to be you know, I
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  Speaker 2: guess let's get that out and let's see how that
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  Speaker 2: came about. But the fact of the matter is it's
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  Speaker 2: in place now and we need to look and we've
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  Speaker 2: had some you know, we've had quite a bit of
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  Speaker 2: time now with this new new legislation in place, and
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  Speaker 2: we need to sit down and say is it actually working?
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  Speaker 2: Is it achieving what that amendment was hoping to it
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  Speaker 2: even if it's not, and we're creating a situation where
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  Speaker 2: we've got police running around twenty four to seven conveying
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  Speaker 2: news back and forth trying to find responsible adults, Well
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  Speaker 2: that's just not a great use of resources and the
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  Speaker 2: community still at risk from further offending.
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  Speaker 1: So from your perspective, was it a political decision or
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  Speaker 1: a policing decision?
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  Speaker 2: Well, obviously, the legislation gets amended through the political framework.
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  Speaker 2: I mean that's how it all comes about, so the
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  Speaker 2: decisions are made at that level. Certainly from our point
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  Speaker 2: of view, we would you know, we would like to
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  Speaker 2: know you know, who essentially wanted the amendments as they
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  Speaker 2: have been written, how they were written, and you know
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  Speaker 2: why they were actually put in place in the first place,
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  Speaker 2: and what measures are being put in place, so we're
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  Speaker 2: getting real data to say this actual amendment working. Are
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  Speaker 2: we speaking to the people on the ground to see
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  Speaker 2: if it's actually appropriate right now, because if it's not,
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  Speaker 2: we need to have a look at it again.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. I think that's a really valid point, that one
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  Speaker 1: where you know, we've got to make sure that the
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  Speaker 1: data actually fits the changes that it's working. Otherwise you
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  Speaker 1: sort of need to question whether we've got to look
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  Speaker 1: at different, different initiatives. And that's the whole discussion I
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  Speaker 1: guess that Territorians are having at the moment. I know
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  Speaker 1: that the Northern Territory Police Association has said that this
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  Speaker 1: national issue has been high on the agenda here in
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  Speaker 1: the territory, with fifty percent of youths reoffending after being released.
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  Speaker 1: Have changes gone too far in terms of protecting the
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  Speaker 1: offender rather than the victim?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think if you asked the general public offer,
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  Speaker 2: you answer is absolutely. I mean, we know that we
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  Speaker 2: don't want youth in custody. We know that we know
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  Speaker 2: there's a bigger concern or a bigger issue out there
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  Speaker 2: as to why we've got so many youths not in
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  Speaker 2: a safe environment, out on the streets at night at all,
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  Speaker 2: out of the night, roaming the streets and ultimately committing crime.
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  Speaker 2: That is the bigger issue. But of course the actual
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  Speaker 2: victim seems to be getting forgotten too much in this
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  Speaker 2: discussion when we talk about you know, we're all talking
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  Speaker 2: about what we need to do for the offender and
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  Speaker 2: making sure they're looked after and they're safe. Yet fifty
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  Speaker 2: percent of the time those young offenders have released on
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  Speaker 2: these weak bail conditions. You know, another victim is waiting
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  Speaker 2: to be broken into, have the car stolen, or be assaulted.
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  Speaker 2: That's not good enough.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think this idea of a national youth summrs
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  Speaker 1: is a good one? Yeah?
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  Speaker 2: Look, I think obviously we experience youth crime across the
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  Speaker 2: country and I think, you know, there's some obviously unique
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  Speaker 2: circumstances in our community and obviously in Queensland, Western Australia,
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  Speaker 2: all parts of the country, and it will be interesting
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  Speaker 2: to get together and around the country and have a
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  Speaker 2: look at exactly what laws are in place, put it
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  Speaker 2: all on the table, and see what issues are being
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  Speaker 2: raised in those jurisdictions, to say, well, maybe this is
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  Speaker 2: a bigger national issue than what people think it is.
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  Speaker 1: It's obviously something that your counterparts around the nation are
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  Speaker 1: dealing with as well. I'm assuming.
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  Speaker 2: One of the cow aspects is too often it's always
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  Speaker 2: falls under the police shoulders to pick up the pieces
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  Speaker 2: of this broken system. And you know that's across the country.
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  Speaker 2: And when we talk about the impact and the time
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  Speaker 2: that it takes the police to deal with this matter,
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  Speaker 2: that is critical time they're not doing other proactive work
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  Speaker 2: in our community. And I know that's frustration for our
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  Speaker 2: members and I know you know, whilst we have all
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  Speaker 2: those further offenses being committed, it's more crime. It's more
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  Speaker 2: police hours are being tied up on crimes that might
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  Speaker 2: be able to be prevented if we've got better laws
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  Speaker 2: in place.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Paul MCUE, Police Association President, always appreciate your time.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for having a chat with us this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Good on you. Thanks Gatie, thank you