Youth crime in Mount Isa is not as bad as the community thinks it is, police say.
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Sen. Sgt Brad Inskip said social media has likely blown the problem out of proportion.
“It isn’t better or worse than it has been before,” Sen. Sgt Inskip said.
“But because the community perceives it to be a big worry, we take it seriously.”
North West Star readers overwhelming point to youth crime as the biggest problem plaguing Mount Isa.
Almost 60 per cent of people who took our online poll on Wednesday night, said youth crime is our number one worry.
We ran a follow up poll on Thursday night to hear what the community thinks should be done to curb youth crime.
Most people said we need to be tougher on youth offenders by inflicting harsher sentences, introducing curfews and sending young offender to boot camps to rehabilitate.
Less people thought more resources should be put into early intervention strategies like youth programs to beat boredom and funding existing support services in the community.
Mount Isa police wrapped up Operation Tucson last month, aimed at cracking down on juvenile crime.
During the special operation police made 149 arrests laid 308 charges and nabbed 54 youths who broke court ordered curfew.
Sen. Sgt Inskip said the most successful part of the operation was having a dedicated team to clear the backlog of cases.
A strikeforce was deployed from Cairns and Townsville to help local police clear the backlog of youth property crime cases.
“There is still crime happening but we had a big clear out of old offences and were able to solve a lot of extra cases,” Sen. Sgt Inskip said.
Local police have now formed a dedicated squad to investigate and close property crime cases in town.
“They can attend to things really quickly and now we are seeing offenders being charged the very next day,” he said.
While the formalities of Operation Tucson are over, and extra police have gone back east, Sen. Sgt Inskip said police would “continue to execute the same strategies”.
He also asked residents to remove the temptation for an opportunistic offender to target you and remember to “lock it or lose it”.
If you have information for police, contact Policelink on 131 444 or if a crime is happening call 000.
