TEEN CRIM RAMPAGE
Anger as 13 cars, motorbike stolen in 48 hours
IN THE space of 48 hours, 13 cars, including a taxi, and one motorbike were stolen from across the Townsville region, sparking concerns the city could be close to regaining the tag of “Crimsville”.
Police sources have told the Bulletin property crime had been fairly dormant until recently, when a group of young criminals were released from Cleveland Youth Detention Centre and seemingly have led a younger generation down the wrong path.
And community members are at the end of their short tether, with reports of people chasing offenders in stolen cars, trying to pull them over and get their vehicles back.
IN THE space of 48 hours, 13 cars, including a taxi, and one motorbike were stolen from across the region, sparking concerns the city could be regaining the tag of “Crimsville”.
Police sources have told the Bulletin property crime had been fairly dormant until recently, when a group of young crims were released from Cleveland Youth Detention Centre, leading a younger generation of criminals down the wrong path.
There are fears among police ranks that property crime is heading back to the levels of this time last year, when teenage criminals ran rampant on city streets.
Community members are also at the end of their short tether, with reports of people chasing young offenders in stolen cars, trying to pull them over and get their vehicles back.
It has also become apparent a tactic employed late last year to send away the worst young offenders and their families has backfired, with two dispatched brothers back in Townsville with a vengeance.
The older one, a 17- year- old, has allegedly been involved in the latest tumultuous 48- hour period of breakins and stolen cars.
Officer in charge Townsville Property Crime, Detective Senior Sergeant Guy Harvey, said police knew who they were looking for.
“It’s just one of those things, it ebbs and flows,” Sen- Sgt Harvey said.
“There are a number of our recidivist property offenders that are at large at this point in time that have been recently released
“As a result of that, property crime has increased.
“We do have some suspects in relation to those vehicles, but we haven’t been able to locate them at this time.”
Sen- Sgt Harvey has warned the public to leave the policing to them, with fears someone could get hurt in a car chase, or if they caught up to the young offenders.
“Do whatever you can to keep yourself safe. We don’t want general members of the public trying to intercept these vehicles in some way or getting in front of them or trying to stop them, because that’s going to be a recipe for disaster,” he said.
“I understand how the victims feel. There’s no worse feeling than getting your property stolen, particularly your car.
“However, it’s only going to lead to one possibility of people getting injured, or two, quite often they’ll get a little over- excited while they are trying to detain offenders and injuries might occur there.
“At the end of the day, they may face charges as well unfortunately, but we don’t want people getting hurt … just leave it to us to get the job done.”
He said it has been blind luck that no one has been killed while these stolen cars hoon around the streets.
“The manner of driving that has been going on with these stolen cars, they randomly just cruise through intersections with red lights in front of them,” Sen- Sgt Harvey said. “It’s very lucky that no one has been injured.
“Sooner or later, either themselves or an innocent victim is going to get hurt and that’s the last thing anyone wants.
“Unfortunately they have a total callous disregard for the rest of the public, so I don’t think anything I’m going to say is going to stop them.”
If you have any information about the whereabouts of these offenders on the run, or the locations of the stolen cars contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
SOONER OR LATER, EITHER THEMSELVES OR AN INNOCENT VICTIM IS GOING TO GET HURT AND THAT’S THE LAST THING ANYONE WANTS SEN- SGT GUY HARVEY