Police are seeking public assistance in relation to an alleged robbery by teenagers in Alice Springs early this morning as the Shadow Minister for Children and Families, Lynne Walker (pictured) expressed fears a further youth service may be shut down.
Police say a 23-year-old man was approached by two male and two female youths near the post office on Parson Street at around 1am.
A 17-year-old male youth allegedly assaulted the victim and stole his backpack. The four youths fled in the direction of the Todd Mall, police say.
The victim caught up with one of the female youths and became involved in an altercation. A red vehicle travelling along Leichardt Terrace stopped and the female youth got into the back seat before it sped off.
A 17-year-old male was arrested and is in police custody assisting with enquiries.
Police say they are looking for the two female youths. One is described as Aboriginal appearance, 16-years-old, 175-180cm tall, solid build and shoulder length curly hair. She was wearing a black tank top, black leggings and black shoes.
The other female is described as, Aboriginal appearance, 16-years-old, 175cm-180cm tall, thin build, dark hair tied back in a ponytail with blonde streaks. She was wearing a black top and black leggings.
Meanwhile Ms Walker has called on the CLP Government to come clean on its plans to shut down another important youth service in Alice Springs, following closure of the Youth Hub.
Ms Walker said she’d heard from concerned youth sector workers that the next target for the CLP’s “slash and burn cost cuts” was the Youth Street Outreach Service (YSOS) that works directly with at-risk young people on the streets.
“YSOS does an invaluable job connecting directly with at-risk kids, many of whom are out on the streets late at night, and making sure these kids are taken to a safe place,” Ms Walker says.
“Police are already overworked dealing with the drunken violence, with alcohol-related violence increasing.
“Central Australians are well aware that crime is a big issue in town, no matter how much Adam Giles tries to say it’s not a problem.”
Saturday, April 20, 2024
The freedom of the press still furnishes that check upon government which no constitution has ever been able to provide – Chicago Tribune.
Didn’t our esteemed Chief Minister say recently that crime isn’t an issue in Alice Springs?
Youth Street Outreach Service is a frontline youth service that engages young people as they first hit the streets of Alice Springs at night. Over the years I have seen YSOS workers engage young people at risk of committing crimes or becoming disengaged from school and society.
The engagement and triage service also has the capacity to remove young people if they are considered at risk and in danger, moving them to safe accommodation. They are often the trigger point for all the other services that need to follow up to ensure a young person is safe, healthy and re engaged in school.
The work of YSOS was performed on the streets and back at the Youth Hub often in the middle of the night and it then continued the next day, following up with the relevant other government and NGO services.
YSOS also collect valuable data on young people that assisted police or child protection investigation, particularly highly mobile young people out at night when other services are not working. The data they collected developed over time was far more able to reflect changing needs of the community than that collected by NGOs, police and security.
As a direct result of YSOS and Youth Sevice Coordination numerous young people engaged initially by this service have linked back up again with school often the school at the Youth Hub called the St. Joseph’s Flexible Learning Centre (aka Edmund Rice) which now has an enrolment of about 80 students.
It concerns me greatly that this and many other services are being stripped from our community, whilst they may not have been glamorous or highly marketed. It may be the first time you have heard of them even, they did the hard work that assisted the young people, families, other agencies and importantly they took the pressure off police allowing them to deal with crime.
Police are restricted in their engagement with anyone who hasn’t committed a crime. Many young people on our streets aren’t criminals. This service prevented crime and stop young people becoming criminals before it was too late. Young people engaged with this service more comfortably because they weren’t the police.
As we well know, the social and economic costs of preventing crime are far less than letting it happen and then trying mop it up. If it’s a matter of poor performance at a management or operational level then sack the people who aren’t performing or give them more training so they improve but to scrap programs that are working is reckless.
I don’t feel comfortable with the direction we are heading in Alice Springs in regards to how we deal with youth issues and I pray to God that we can start acting responsibly again.
I am an independent youth advocate and I am happy to talk to anybody about the youth solutions. my email is Matty.day23@gmail.com
This time last year, Minister Lambley cut funding to Alice Springs NGOs that were delivering after-hours youth outreach services, stating that these were ‘double ups’ to the YSOS service. Now, it seems the CLP are going to cut YSOS and have said that the NGOs can take on these outreach service. Huh?
OUTCOMES. Isn’t that the buzz word? How many youth organisations have people like Blair there working with kids.
Not interested in hearing the likes of Matty Day explaining their need to protect their wages before the kids. And that is my question. The same questions Councillor Eli Melky sought to have answered. Why so many services with the same kids and no outcomes.
So much money wasted funding these bodies and no accountability. Outcomes outcomes outcomes that is what is required from tax payers money. Real outcomes for real kids.
And prior to some further comment from bank balance based support. These kids are the future of the Territory and the responsibility of every Territorian. Youth organisations need to be accountable for their funding. Child abuse is child abuse and failing Territory kids is just that.
That’s right Melanie he did say that, this is coming from a man who spends too much time away from his own town because he can’t stand to be here because of the antisocial behaviour and crime.
Janet love, you need your head read. What was you and your husband’s plans for youth, remember you wanted to send them all out of town to a “camp” (mini prison) slave labor because that really going to set these kids on the right path.
Yes, this is the reasoning of every Territorian, so why don’t you start by reminding you mate Adam Giles that his government has a role to play in this cutting funding. Saying everything is okay doesn’t fix the problem.
I have lived in Alice for many years and I can tell you right know public drunkenness and law and order are the worst I’ve ever seen. These kids are the future so Governments need to invest more in youth services to help our kids.
Money wasted, you say, well Janet it cost $200,000 per year for one youth to go to the NT youth diversion institution, multiply that by the number of spots available that’s over $7m. Increase the youth services budget and better support our youth and you will see a reduction.
Adam Giles, there was a reduction in youth crime because the youth hub was working.