Harrowing stories of pensioners being mugged at ATMs, youths roaming the streets with machetes and children now too scared to leave home have been aired at a town hall meeting in Toowoomba on Wednesday night.
Concerned victims from the Darling Downs community packed into a booked-out auditorium on Wednesday night amid a growing youth crime wave in the city.
Toowoomba has been the subject of violent burglaries while car thefts have skyrocketed in the regional centre over the past year.
Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll, Police Minister Mark Ryan and Youth Justice Minster Leanne Linard — along with several other officers and youth justice representatives — held the community safety public forum just days after pensioner Robert Brown, 75, died in the CBD.
He was allegedly attacked while waiting for a taxi outside Grand Central Shopping Centre in Toowoomba.
Four teenagers have been charged with grievous bodily harm and their charges are expected to be upgraded.
Commissioner Carroll acknowledged there had been a spike in crime in the region and Mr Brown’s death had affected many people.
"It's one, I think, you as a community look at and it gives rise to that fear," she said.
"I want you to know you are a safe community but there has been a spike [in crime].
"What we clearly see in the statistics in the last 12 months, there is a spike that we have seen, not only in Toowoomba but [also] across the state as well."
'How do you counter a machete?'
In firey exchanges with police and politicians, locals shared chilling personal stories of being threatened with knives and metal bars, and confronted by intruders in their own homes.
One woman asked, "How do you counter a machete?", after being told she could defend herself during a break-in, so long as she did not use an "offensive weapon".
"They were literally walking around my suburb last week with a machete," she said.
"I go for my walk and they threaten me with a machete. What can I do?"
Another woman bravely revealed she had been raped by a 14-year-old boy in the town.
"[He] got three counts of rape, no criminal record, just parole," she told the auditorium.
"I can’t even say his name. I’ve been through a lot and, in the court, all they care about is him."
Clive, 81, heads off armed teens
Clive Armitage, 81, and his 90-year-old wife say they are fearful after two teens armed with a metal bar and machete tried to break into their home last week.
He said a tradesman helped him confront the teens and they ran off, but he has since spent $70,000 on home security.
"If the fellow was carrying a machete, he was very positively and aggressively [planning on] entering into the house," Mr Armitage said.
"Thankfully the tradesmen were there at the time and we confronted them and they turned and ran as the cowards they are."
'My kids don't want to walk down the street'
A father said his daughter no longer wanted to go for their weekly late-night shopping trip because she didn’t want to die like Mr Brown.
"It breaks my heart and I tell her I’m trying to keep her safe and I know the police are trying to keep her safe, but it's the judicial system that’s letting these people in and out," the father said.
"My kids don’t want to walk down the street. They just don’t want to do anything anymore and they’re 10 and 12."
At first people had been asked to put their questions in online, not from the floor. But after pressure from the crowd people were allowed to speak from their chairs.
A shopkeeper from the Clifford Garden Shopping Centre near the Toowoomba CBD said she’s been robbed so many times she'd been diagnosed with PTSD.
"They come into our store in gangs," she said.
"They walk up and down and they watch when we're alone.
"I've been doing management retail for 30 years and I've never ever felt like that."
Where is the Premier?
Locals criticised Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk for not being there and Toowoomba South MP David Janetzki said she should have heard locals' stories in person.
"These are personal stories of men and women who are fearful in their homes, who sleep with baseball bats under their beds, locked windows in the middle of summer," he said.
"We can't continue to live like that."
Asked why she had not attended the forum, Ms Palaszczuk said she understood the concerns in Toowoomba and had sent two ministers.
"Queensland is a huge state. I have a big job and I will be going to Toowoomba in the near future," she said.
Ms Linard said the "absolute majority" of young people were not committing offences but those who did were "taking more risks".
She said she was in favour of a "fast-track sentencing trial" where young people would be sentenced more quickly, rather than receiving bail or being remanded into custody.
Commissioner Katarina Carroll said she would return to Toowoomba for another meeting within six months.
She said Operation Theta, which involves high-visibility policing in crime hot spots, would continue for the next couple of years.
Under the operation, police have charged 103 offenders with 477 charges in Toowoomba alone.
