The city of the Gold Coast in Queensland is the sixth-largest city in Australia. Covering an area of 500 square miles, the city includes rainforests, farmlands, highly urbanized areas, commercial and industrial centers, and 35 miles of white sand beaches. The Gold Coast is famous for year-round sunshine and warm weather, and while it has a static population of over 600,000, as Australia’s premier tourist destination, it attracts more than 1 million visitors each year.

At the center of the Gold Coast, the suburbs of Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach are policed by the Entertainment Precinct Group (EPG), a dedicated patrol group within the Gold Coast District. Within the Entertainment Precinct, there are 160 restaurants, 23 hotels, 19 nightclubs, and 1 casino.

The development and implementation of Project Street CRED was in response to issues identified by personnel from Surfers Paradise Police Station. Young people were often found loitering, causing a public nuisance, stealing, or sleeping within the Entertainment Precinct. Not all of the youth were engaged in criminal activities, but responding to these incidents was tying up police resources within the precinct, with officers frequently having to make accommodations for the youth overnight because their parents were intoxicated or neglectful. This reduced the officers’ ability to attend to other calls for service. In addition, operational policing resources were being utilized to supervise vulnerable young persons who were failing to provide their correct particulars and providing false information to police. In essence, there was a gap in service delivery by other agencies after hours.