People continue to scratch their heads when coming up with possible solutions to fix such a complex issue. So the North West Star went out into the community and asked for peoples opinions.

Nicholas Kim

There doesn't seem to be any consequences for them.

My car was smashed up the other day and police never caught them and I still had to pay for the damages.

Maybe we need to be more stricter and have stronger consequences that deter them from recommitting crimes.

Noel Wylde

I reckon Mount Isa should introduce a curfew like they did in Cloncurry.

I also think there should be more patrol vehicles late at night that constantly drive around looking for youth who are out on the streets when they should be at home.

And unfortunately I don't think the Police Liaison Officers are doing enough to curb all of this youth crime we go through on a daily basis.

Krystal Goldstraw

I think that they need more police patrolling in Mount Isa and more accountability to be held against the criminals.

I feel like they are bored and don't have anybody to pull them into line and it escalates and now it has gotten to this point where its an epidemic.

Possibly they need more purpose and direction in their lives as well.

That could be going out and working on a station or even relocation sentencing. But also giving them more support for generational trauma.

Aron Tydd

I think Bob Katters idea of relocation sentencing could work because it sends them away from temptation to commit crimes and teaches them skills and hard work.

There's a good chance the kids would come back reformed and changed for the better.

Seeing as they are underage there isn't a whole lot we can do and no one else seems to be coming up with a plan.

Robbie Katter

There are a lot of ideas out there to help curb youth crime but I think the main ones we should focus on are extending hours of service providers, relocation sentencing, blue card accessibility and a bilateral policing agreement with the Northern Territory.

We need to extend the hours of these service providers to after hours. This is because most of the crimes are being committed when these places are shut and there are hardly any places where these kids can go.

The next thing I would say is relocation sentencing. We need to be able to allow magistrates the opportunity to send some of these kids who have been nothing but trouble straight out of town.

In order for this to happen we would need legislative change.

There's already plenty of good programs out there such as the Monor project that involves youth working on stations and learning rural skills. There has been some great results with the project and we need the government to bolt those two together in order to get it operational.

Blue cards are also a massive issue and are not accessible enough to our youth.

Our youth need opportunities to work to keep them out of trouble and currently they are too hard to obtain and it is an issue I am very much working on to correct.

We also need to sign an agreement with the government to be able to have combined policing with the Northern Territory.

There's too many people escaping alcohol bans and coming into Mount Isa, committing crimes and staying.

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