Curfew would help

I RECENTLY moved into a housing rental in Heatley, which most would consider a working class area.

In the first week of living there indigenous children broke into my home, on two separate occasions, stealing money and items to the value of $ 500, which was reported to the investigating police officer.

In the same week, I not only experienced being robbed but was also subjected to indigenous children bashing on my windows at all hours of the night, as well as being woken by children with torches, shinning light into the living areas.

Realising I had moved into a high crime area, I took note of the high volume of indigenous and few caucasian children seen wandering aimlessly around the neighbourhood.

On any given night I noticed there were myriad children still roaming around the streets, in the early hours of the morning, which generally quadrupled on the weekend.

Therefore, it is of little surprise that so many children living in the area are of interest to the police.

However, after the second robbery of my home, a police officer again came out to investigate the break and enter.

While the officer attended to the crime scene, I naturally took the time to ask why a curfew wasn’t already put in place.

Such a curfew would curb the high numbers of children seen wandering in the neighbourhood and obviously getting into mischief.

The officer replied, “we do not have the power to enforce such an order”.

The police officer then informed that the only way a curfew could be authorised is by speaking to your local member and convincing them of this necessity.

The policeman added, “a curfew can only be authorised by them”.

Therefore, I appeal to the local member for the area in question, to please impose a curfew. It would be gratefully appreciated by myself and the community, especially the elderly. The people live in fear knowing that these juveniles are constantly out there looking for the slightest opportunity to offend.

The politicians know there is a serious crime problem in Townsville, many local people have had their homes broken into while many have had their cars stolen.

In my humblest opinion I think the easiest and quickest way to reduce juvenile crime is to implement curfews on hot spots. In other words, where there is high crime rate in certain areas and where there is a lot of juvenile traffic in public places without guardians.

By doing this it would reduce the mobility of the offenders and their freedom to be on the streets late at night when most of the crime is being committed.

While it is a good thing to implement a curfew it is also important to know, for the legislation to work effectively, the police must ensure that the restrictions are abided by. NEIL PATTEL,

Heatley.