Yarrabah’s crime wave ’destroying the community’

A Far Northern mayor is reporting local police are frustrated and fatigued as his town deals with an unprecedented crime wave, calling on community members to take more responsibility.

THE mayor of an Indigenous Far North town is calling on his community to take responsibility for their young people as the town is suffering what he said is an unprecedented crime wave.

Yarrabah Aboriginal Shire Council Mayor Ross Andrews said youngsters who appeared to have no respect for anyone were behind the town’s rocketing crime rates.

“Our police are frustrated and fatigued as they process all these crimes,” he said.

“First Nation people and youth are over represented in regards to incarceration numbers but our community needs a respite from their destructive behaviour.”

Recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that in Queensland the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander imprisonment rate was 2426 persons per 100,000 adult Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, an increase of three per cent in the 2021 June quarter.

Yarrabah Mayor Ross Andrews said youth crime in the town is tearing the community apart and that the council are working on a multi-prong solution. Picture: Brendan Radke

It is understood that in 2021 while the general prison population dropped to a five-year low, partly due to Covid, there was a minimal decline in the level of Indigenous representation.

While Mr Andrews said he deplores the idea of young people in custody, he said the challenges of preventing criminal behaviour were incredibly complicated.

“The community and many of our workers around town are sick of these kids destroying our community,” he said.

“There’s graffiti on public facilities out here as well as break and enters happening around town and cars have been stolen throughout the region and brought to Yarrabah.”

Mr Andrews said one of the prongs in Yarrabah council’s array of solutions involves a community safety plan which he said council are working across.

At Yarrabah youth crime is “destroying the community” according to Mayor Ross Andrews

“We’d also like to see a Family Responsibilities Commission which involves community members, whose purpose is to support welfare reform community members restore socially responsible standards of behaviour, local authority and wellbeing and council has been working on the first stages of this management plan,” he said.

“It's a complex issue and many of those young offenders medical conditions by alcohol and have complex family issues and situations.”

According to Queensland Police Service data, in the 12 months from January 5, 2021 to January 4, 2022, the crimes reported for Yarrabah included: Assaults – 136, unlawful use of motor vehicle – 6, theft excluding unlawful entry – 34, drug offences – 33, weapons act offences – 9, good order offences – 47 and traffic related – 99.

Originally published as Yarrabah’s crime wave ’destroying the community’