Frightening reality of what it’s like living in Qld’s break-in capital
From the outside it appears like any other suburb, but a second look reveals homes with security measures Fort Knox would envy. And it’s for good reason.
Police & Courts
Don't miss out on the headlines from Police & Courts. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Young criminals are running rampant in Townsville, with the city taking out the unenviable title of car theft and home break-in capital of Queensland.
It comes after a horrific month of youth crime in Townsville, which has seen police cars and ambulances rammed off the road, officers left feeling “useless” and afraid to go to work, and residents terrified in their own homes.
Since 2020, the rate of car thefts per 1,000 people in Townsville has increased from 4.7 to 7.9. Break-in rates have also increased from 17.1 to 21.23 over the three-year period.
Within this city ravaged by crime, there are streets that have been hit harder than others, where residents live with an anxiety of who will be next in an ever growing number of victims of homes break-ins and stolen cars.
From the outside it appears like any other Queensland suburb, manicured lawns in front of well kept homes, with cars in the driveway, and neighbours who know each other.
But a second look reveals homes with security measures Fort Knox would envy, CCTV, security doors, deadbolts, metal barred windows and the loud barks of dogs behind doors.
When the Courier-Mail walked a number of the streets of Kirwan and Annandale, the two hardest hit suburbs in the epicentre of state’s youth crime crisis, the locals all had a story tell about their brush with crime.
And many had their own mental map of where the crimes had happened, and could point out or describe houses streets away that had been broken into.
There’s a reason for this anxiety and fear, Kirwan topped the most break-in offences in the last year with 574, and had more than 190 unlawful use of motor vehicle charges as well.
Shane Gregory lives on Nugent Court in Kirwan and knows better than most the foul mark crime has left on his suburb. He’d spent the day washing trucks for one of Townsville’s biggest charity events, the Convoy for a Cure, when he quickly parked his ute in the driveway, left it running and ducked inside to grab a beer.
“And all of a sudden I heard the car start, I heard the exhaust rattle on the car and I thought, ‘that’s my car starting, that’s strange’, and I bolted outside, and the car was halfway down the street,” he said.
He had already installed cameras around the house after seeing teenagers climbing over his fence into the backyard, and so he was able to watch the footage of the theft.
“We could see that somebody had perched on the other side of the neighbour’s house, they must have been watching, and saw an opportunity to jump in the car and take off with it, so we immediately called the police.”
His car was found burnt to the chassis, a common trait young car thieves have adopted in the city.
Sadly his story isn’t an uncommon one.
A Marchwood Ave resident in her 60s said her house had been broken into about four times within the past three years, with the most recent time happening about a month ago.
The thieves broke in through the back of the house, stole a wallet as well as a large amount of money set aside for a community group’s fundraiser.
A Bellingham Cres resident in his 40s said he had caught a person with a miner’s light and bolt cutters trying to break into his house.
He was worried for his wife and children, and would be increasing his security by upgrading his fence and installing a front gate on the property.
“They pick the easy targets,” he said.
The man then pointed out at least five properties that he could see which had been impacted by crime within the past few years.
Over in Annandale, which has the second worst crime numbers in Townsville, Bron was awoken by an alert notification from her security camera just three days before Christmas where two thieves attempted to steal her car.
“I looked at the view from the camera to see the two people beside my car trying to break in.
“We got to the front door and yelled but by the time we unlocked our multiple locks on the front door they had run off,” she said.
“I think that it has just become a free for all here … there is not enough punishment for the criminals in this town.
“The violence in the robberies and car-jackings is increasing and when the police intervene they are set upon and ordered back to the station. How is this protecting anyone?”
The region was last week promised its own Polair helicopter by Premier Steven Miles, but police sources say it wasn’t the silver bullet to solving youth crime, and more still needed to be done.
For the officers on the frontline in Townsville the solution is simple, the real change needs to happen in the courtrooms with many asking for the removal of “detention had a last resort” in Section 150 of the Youth Justice Act.
A police source said the revolving door of crime also fell back to the magistrate.
“At no stage have the magistrates been held accountable for anything,” the source said.
“Police are doing everything they can, the government are also trying, so it’s falling back on the magistrate.”
Leading criminal lawyer Bill Potts said at it’s heart, youth crime was a social problem.
“The problem of youth crime in Townsville is the Gordian knot of social policy in Queensland,” Mr Potts said.
“It has so far defeated all the best attempts of police, government and community … but we need to have the longer conversations which is to address the causes of the criminal behaviour, not just the behaviour itself.
“Magistrates in Townsville, most who are local, take their duties very seriously and also I suspect despair, but it merely shows we are treating what is a social problem as a criminal problem.”
Mr Potts said more focus needed to be put on solving homelessness, family breakdowns, poverty, foetal alcohol syndrome, intergenerational violence and mental health.
Leader of the Opposition David Crisafulli said Labor was soft on crime and their policies were not working.
“Labor’s soft-on-crime approach, weak laws and fewer police created a generation of untouchables who are terrorising our communities every day,” he said.
“The ‘tough’ laws they promised have been exposed as a weak political stunt, designed to distract from their lack of ideas.
“Making our community safer is a key priority for Queenslanders, which his why it is our priority.”
Hit and run: Police hunt driver in Pimpama e-scooter crash
A teenager has been taken to hospital after they were knocked from their e-scooter on the Gold Coast in an alleged hit and run.
Highfields residents wake to find knife-wielding intruders in their home
Police are hunting multiple offenders after Highfields residents woke up to a terrifying incident where they were threatened with a knife, with a robbery following in Newtown.