Car thefts and ram raids the new ‘normal’ in Alice Springs

Alice Springs residents are once again being plagued by violence at levels “not seen since last summer”, despite a visit by the prime minister and attempts to limit alcohol use.

Alice Springs residents are once again being plagued by violence at levels “not seen since last summer”, said local mayor Matt Paterson, despite a visit by the prime minister and attempts to limit alcohol use.

“Things did dial down for a bit, but we are back at summer levels of car thefts, ram raids, and back to what I call normal behaviour, in inverted commas, again,” Mr Paterson told The Daily Telegraph.

“The alcohol restrictions have reduced the levels of public drunkenness and by all reports hospital admissions for alcohol issues are down, but you’ve got two problems: One with alcohol, the other with kids.”

Mr Paterson said that the government urgently needed to do something about the problem of young people unable to return home because of safety issues who were left to get into trouble on the streets.

“There needs to be more places to take kids when they are out at 3am, I’m not talking about jail, I’m talking about safe spaces,” he said.

“Yes, we need more police, and more resources, but we also need long term service providers to be accountable.”

Matt Paterson said Alice is back to a ‘normal’ level of violence. Picture Mark Brakee

Mr Paterson also said that the NT government was potentially making the situation worse by raising the age of criminal responsibility from 12 to 14.

“They are saying this is because they are under 14, so they don’t know right from wrong, but in the same breath they are saying its OK to leave them out on the street if they are under 14.”

Local business owners have said that the crime problem is raging not just in Darwin but across the NT.