NSW kids stealing cars, filming joyrides in high-risk TikTok trend

Children as young as 10 are stealing cars for high-risk joyrides and baiting police into chasing them to film the antics for TikTok — a dangerous craze which has seen the NSW Police Commissioner employ new tactics. See the videos here.

Children as young as 10 are stealing cars, taking them on dangerous joy rides and taunting police to chase them while they film their escapades for TikTok.

The state’s top cop has warned of this alarming trend where 10 to 14-year-olds are using the “creeping while you sleeping” hashtag to dare other children to beat their antics.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb revealed police officers in regional and suburban commands across the state were encountering these sorts of chilling call-outs daily.

She said the trend was “spreading like wildfire”, with at least four cases in the past month ending in crashes.

“In one case we had four children in a car, one child had the pedals to control the speed and the other child had the steering wheel for visibility so they were relying on each other,” Commissioner Webb said.

NSW children have been sneaking into homes

and stealing car keys to post their joyride clips onto TikTok.

“These are babies behind the wheel. The risks to the community and themselves is extreme. A vehicle in the hands of someone unskilled is taking a lot of risks, the vehicle at that point becomes a weapon.”

Ms Webb said in some instances children were specifically targeting police officers, their vehicles and their premises as they strive to post the most daring act online.

“With the really young ones there’s a fair bit of competition if you like, notoriety to film themselves doing crimes, stealing cars, joy riding, taking extreme risks,” she said.

“We’ve had an instance where they’ve broken into a home when people are asleep at night. The 12-year-old is the one that goes in through the doggie door to get the handbag with the car keys in it. Then we recovered the bag at Avalon and the car has been stolen from somewhere else. They are actually very mobile. Every corner there is more risk.”

The commissioner and her team are working overtime to come up with strategies to stop the dangerous and destructive behaviour and have already changed policy to allow tyre spikes to be used in more circumstances than to stop a dangerous, high speed car chase already in progress.

Children film themselves stealing cars

under the hashtag #creepingwhileyousleeping.

“We don’t want to engage young kids in pursuits at all, so we have recently approved the use of tyre deflation devices that allows police to use them in operational circumstances. We are hoping that has some effect because they were actually trying to taunt police into pursuits,” Commissioner Webb said.

“By changing that policy so that we can use the devices, then all the puff goes out of their sails.

“They were originally brought in to be used in pursuits but now we’ve changed it so we can use them more proactively before you even get into a pursuit.

“When I’ve asked commanders how that’s going, they say it’s been very beneficial. That’s just one thing.”

Commissioner Webb said the NSW Police Force had a good working relationship with TikTok, which removed content deemed dangerous and inappropriate although the “creeping while you sleeping” craze had already gained momentum.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb is keen to put a stop to the behaviour. Picture: Tim Hunter

“By the time you take things down, the next thing comes along,” she said.

“Then you get kids putting their postcodes and it becomes an ‘I’m better than your last brag’ … it’s very scary.

“How do you prevent it? How do you take away that incentive to brag? It concerns us all because of the increasing frequency of it. And how do we stop doing kids doing these stupid things?”

The commissioner urged parents to educate themselves about TikTok and other platforms their children might be using.

She said the key was reaching people at a young age and making them realise they are not bulletproof.

The alarming trend is particularly chilling in light of the recent teen fatalities across the state.

The Wollondilly community is still grieving after five young people, all school mates died at the scene of a crash at Buxton earlier this month.

The memorial for five teenagers killed in the horror crash at Buxton. Picture: Monique Harmer

Just over a week after the tragedy five Sydney teenagers were hospitalised after a car crash in Beverly Hills.

At Hoxton Park on Monday a 17-year-old boy died in a single vehicle crash when the car he was a passenger in crashed into a pole.

The driver, also 17, is facing charges.

Commissioner Webb doesn’t claim to have the answers but says the more we as a society are aware, the better we can keep children safe.

Another five teens were injured in a horror crash in Beverly Hills.

“I’m shocked by what I have seen and heard, children this young driving cars, stealing cars, and I’m sure other people will be too,” she said.

She urged parents who might be concerned about their children’s behaviour, or having trouble managing it, to reach out to a police station in their area.

“There are police officers they can always talk to, whether it be at the local station or at a PYC. It’s about young people getting help before they get to high school,” she said.