There are two possible scenarios before us, folks: either 2016 has produced a looser bunch of schoolies than we’ve ever seen before, or the Queensland Police are cracking down unusually hard.
Whichever one it is, the fact is that a total of 71 school leavers have been arrested at the Gold Coast over the first week of celebrations this year, almost double the 37 who were arrested in the same period in 2015.
Most of the arrests have related to nuisance and drug offences, and police say that the final night of celebrations for Queensland school leavers also saw 15 non-schoolies taken into custody.
With local school leavers returning home to nurse their hangovers, a number of interstate schoolies have begun arriving in Surfers Paradise, and police will maintain a presence there for the next two weeks.
In a statement overnight, QPS said:
“With the majority of interstate schoolies being 18 years of age and over, the policing strategy for the next few weeks will shift towards licensed venues.”
In other news that leaves us slightly terrified for the future of humanity, balcony-hopping is now apparently a real thing, and police say that they have observed at least five instances of it over the course of the last week.
QPS Superintendent Michelle Stenner said:
“Whether it be boredom or just plain stupidity they think it’s a smart thing to take their lives into their own hands and start balcony-hopping … There has been, disappointingly, some high risk behaviour by some schoolies and beyond belief that some of their friends were actually filming them doing this.”
In an incident unrelated to that, a 17-year-old boy suffered a suspected fractured pelvis after falling two storeys from an apartment balcony.
Police believe the boy was leaning over a railing to retrieve an item of property that had fallen over, and fell over, landing on a ground floor balcony. He was taken to Gold Coast University Hospital and treated for his injuries.
Current and future schoolies, if you are reading this right now, then please:
Source: News Corp.
Photo: Bradley Kanaris / Getty.
