The Gold Coast is experiencing a crime reduction in contrast to soaring figures in the rest of Queensland, according to data released by the state's police service.
The figures showed robberies were down by 18.6 per cent from the same time last year, in contrast to a 10.1 per cent increase across Queensland.
The number of stolen vehicle incidents was also down 1.4 per cent on the Gold Coast, compared to a 15.9 per cent state-wide rise.
Griffith University criminologist Justin Ready has reviewed crime data for the Queensland Police Service (QPS).
"It does appear that the Gold Coast is experiencing a more significant reduction in crime, especially for some of these interpersonal crimes," Dr Ready said.
Proactive policing
He said proactive policing, social control measures and better intelligence use had made a difference on the Gold Coast.
"Rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach, where every gang member is treated the same, the QPS are doing a better job tapping into criminal intelligence data, family data, school data, and using it to track and target the most prolific offenders," Dr Ready said.
Dr Ready believed the Gold Coast's "third party policing" approach encouraged local businesses in nightclub hotspots to join the crime reduction effort.
Bar owners have assisted by enforcing banning orders with ID scanners at entrances.
"They're part of the crime control equation, rather than passive individuals that call the police after crimes already occurred," Dr Ready said.
"Police are not going in alone. They're actually working more closely with the people who are impacted the most by crime."
Example of success
Gold Coast District's Acting Superintendent Scott Knowles said the region had caught the attention of policing districts across the state.
"Some of the successes we're seeing here are starting to get out," he said.
"Within the Queensland Police Service, a number of our districts are looking into us and going, 'Why are your crime rates so different to the rest of the state?'."
The Gold Coast has a network of youth diversionary programs which work to funnel young people who are at risk into positive lifestyles.
Acting Superintendent Knowles believed the programs were key to crime reduction.
"The opportunities that programs like this offer to the young people who are at risk are astronomical," he said.
"It turns lives around, it turns opportunities for these people around from what they were looking at in terms of potential despair, looking towards crime, into some hope."
Offering hope
Joe Te Puni-Fromont founded the Gold Coast youth diversion program Esuarve during 2021.
His team has helped more than 130 young men get their lives back on track, with a 90 per cent success rate of finding employment at the end of a 10-week wellbeing and skills development program.
Mr Te Puni-Fromont said he saw a transformation in his graduates.
"These young people have never really had a childhood, that got stripped away from them from the experiences that they've had to go through," he said.
"They've skipped that stage, they're now fine young men."
Esuarve works with the private sector to find ongoing employment for graduates to ensure a long-lasting impact.
"We've got brick apprenticeships, plumbing apprenticeships, we've got one young sparky," Mr Te Puni-Fromont said.
"It's sort of heavily focused on construction, but that doesn't mean they all go into construction. We've got a young man that's actually going to go work in Brisbane doing office leasing."
New opportunities
Steve (whose last name has been withheld to protect his identity) has been in and out of the youth and now adult justice system for many years.
He was part of the most recent Esuarve graduate cohort and believed his life had a new direction.
"It's given me new values and my standards for people who I involve myself with in life has changed," Steve said.
"It's opened my eyes a lot and it's also given us skills and assets throughout the course, to thrive and be successful in life."
