Community led youth hub sees drop in youth crime in WA’s north

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A powerful new community-led program is giving kids a safe space to go after sundown in the town of Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia’s Kimberly region. Seven months after Night Place started rates of youth crime have dropped dramatically and classrooms are filling up.

Transcript

00:00Dusk in Fitzroy Crossing and kids are taking to the streets.

00:07One, two, three.

00:09They're heading somewhere safe.

00:12Kids come in so we give them a hot meal.

00:15We provide first aid, that wraparound support.

00:19The night place opened in response to a growing need

00:22to get kids off the street at night

00:24to tackle spiralling juvenile crime.

00:26Close to 400 kids have come through the doors since September last year,

00:31an average of 40 a night.

00:33They check in with staff, get a feed, play games

00:36and are driven home at the end.

00:38Kids have expressed, you know, they want to be with their friends

00:41and sometimes home life is not good.

00:44Like mum and dad, probably not at home or nan or pop

00:47and they'd rather be in a place where they feel safe.

00:52Instead of walking around in town,

00:54we can't play UNO or have feed or just play basketball.

00:58We get to play basketball and eat feed and play UNO.

01:03For those enforcing the law, it's been a welcome relief from busy nights.

01:07It's to do with kids being out at night, not supervised,

01:12opportunistic and looking for a good time.

01:16Thefts in the town surged last year, with 34 cars stolen between January and March.

01:22In the same period this year, that number's dropped to just five.

01:25While crime statistics fluctuate year to year, police say the night place is making a difference.

01:31And it gives the opportunity to start with some intervention for some of the issues that the kids face.

01:38Locals say spaces like this are what they need to ensure a sustainable impact on reducing youth crime.

01:46And while it's not the only solution, they say it's working because it's run by the community.

01:51We're both locals and they see us around town.

01:56It's a learning experience for both of us, yeah.

01:59Tackling a major issue one night at a time.

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