NSW Police battling youth crime wave put in danger by reckless new ramming trend

Police are being rammed by kids in stolen cars in a new TikTok trend putting the lives of cops in the bush, as well as themselves, at risk.

A NSW Police car rammed by youths earlier this year.

Police are being rammed by kids in stolen cars in a new TikTok trend putting the lives of cops in the bush, as well as themselves, at risk.

Almost a dozen NSW Police vehicles have been written off in recent months after being targeted by youths, who instead of joy-riding are using stolen cars to deliberately crash into police at speed.

Police first noticed the dangerous trend emerging in Orange, in the state’s Central Tablelands, where youths videoed themselves carrying out the ram attacks.

But as that video quickly spread far and wide through social media, other young criminals were encouraged to be copycats — resulting in the trend peaking in Moree where three cars were rammed in a single weekend, while it is also happening in the Northern Territory and Queensland.

A highway patrol police car rammed during pursuit at Glendale earlier this year.

“It’s very it’s a new thing, it’s a clear escalation in behaviour driven through social media, and it’s a problem,” NSW Deputy Commissioner Paul Pisanos said.

“We’ve lost almost a dozen cars in the last few months and I think the issue around performance crime where people are filming this sort of violence towards police, is manifesting across the country.

“I think the introduction of an offence around the posting and social media use to publish the commission of a serious crime is a massive step in the right direction, and I think that hopefully is one of the tools we can use to stop and slow down this behaviour because it is extremely concerning.”

A Highway Patrol police car was rammed during a pursuit at Glendale in February.

Just last Thursday night two officers came under attack in Port Macquarie, after being rammed by a stolen car.

One of the officers had their foot run over while the other was knocked over, before the car reversed back in an effort to try and hit them again – narrowly avoiding his head as he lay on the ground.

Deputy Commissioner of Regional NSW Paul Pisanos with Assistant Commissioner and Regional Commander for West Region Rod Smith.

“Basically, that officer was lucky not to lose their scalp when the car reversed back over them,” Dep Comm Pisanos said.

“It does concern me in terms of some of the risks involved [for police officers coming under attack].

“I’m torn, because I’ve got to manage the safety of our police out here, versus the need to continue to police these serious crimes and it is an ongoing balance and a challenge … and it does keep me up at night if I’m honest.

“It forms a massive part of my conversations when I wake up in the morning, looking at my phone and making sure no police have been hurt.”

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