Tasmanian police say they are caught in a “revolving door” with young offenders, with a new review finding young people were bailed in 80% of crime custody incidents in both 2023 and 2024.
“[Young people] know their rights. They know what we can do. They can be given bail on bail on bail,” one constable told the Role of Police in Tasmania review.
Officers told the review they were struggling to deliver meaningful interventions and were worried current responses were doing little to prevent crime or create consequences.
The review said the figures pointed to a small group cycling through the system.
In 2024, 5,782 charges were laid against just 506 unique youth offenders, the highest charge count since 2009.
A further 5,124 offenders aged 17 and under were proceeded against by police that year, though not all matters resulted in charges.
Stealing was the most common charge, followed by burglary, property damage and assault.
The review said youth crime was also the public’s biggest safety concern.
It cited a 2023 community safety survey of 4,080 Tasmanians, in which 22% named youth crime as their main worry, ahead of theft from the home and public order issues.
In the same survey, 69% of respondents believed crime had increased a little or a lot.
Officers said each young person taken into custody created a heavy administrative load, including waits of up to three hours for an independent person to attend interviews.
The review said police were absorbing work that should sit elsewhere, pointing to the “ineffective management of youth-related incidents by the broader system”.
It said officers could not reach Child Safety Services outside business hours, leading to delays and “constant push back” on tasks they believed belonged with the agency.
The review recommended Tasmania Police and Child Safety Services begin talks on shared triage protocols and co-location pilots for high-risk welfare reports.
It also pointed to early intervention as a way forward, citing research showing mentoring can cut violence by 21% and reoffending by 19%.
Navigator schemes, where support workers use an arrest as a ‘teachable moment’, were raised as another option.
Police Commissioner Donna Adams said officers had shaped the findings and Tasmania Police would now work with staff to identify which recommendations could be delivered and when.
“At the centre of the report are the voices and experiences of our members,” she said.
“These contributions directly shaped the findings and recommendations and will help inform how the role of policing continues to evolve.”
The Police Association of Tasmania said it supported the findings and recommendations and “looks forward” to seeing them implemented.
“The findings of this review confirm what police officers across Tasmania have been experiencing every day,” the association said.
Acting Premier Bridget Archer said the state government welcomed the report and its findings.
“We’ll take some time, as the police commissioner has said herself, to consider the report,” she said.
The review, funded by Tasmania Police, was conducted independently by the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency.
