School holiday hell: Out-of-control teens turn shopping centres into war zones

EXCLUSIVE: Bored teens are swarming our suburban shopping malls fighting, taking drugs, smoking and shoplifting to pass the time during the school holidays.

Teenage girls fight in a Blacktown shopping centre and right, a teen smokes and makes rude gestures.

SUBURBAN shopping malls are operating as de facto daycare centres for bored and ­aggressive children who are fighting, using drugs, smoking and stealing to pass the time during school holidays.

A special investigation by The Saturday Telegraph can reveal teens are participating in violent fist fights, while children as young as 11 are roaming around smoking and drinking alcohol.

Retailers have been forced to put on extra staff to combat huge spikes in shoplifting, with some saying the crime wave by child thieves as young as seven has been “out of control” over the school break.

Tobacconists say they have been bombarded by children trying to buy cigarettes.

The Saturday Telegraph this week visited Western Sydney shopping centres where teens — who don’t start returning to school until Wednesday — spoke of others dealing drugs and underage kids smoking in plain sight.

Underage children openly smokes at Blacktown. Picture: David Swift

“I’ll be honest, a lot of people have done crime here ... anything to make money ... like selling drugs, marijuana,” one 16-year-old said.

Another 17-year-old said kids as young as 11 “hung out” with people up to the age of 23 to drink alcohol “all night”.

“For kids around this area (Blacktown), the shopping centre is the only thing here. It’s like a playground,” he said.

“During the day time there is not much to do, but when night hits most are juvenile drinkers, at night here you walk around with drinks ... You get people to buy them, people won’t say no.”

There are also fears some youths are putting themselves in danger by using social media app Snapchat to meet up with strangers.

Police have warned teenagers they will be caught and dealt with.

“Criminal behaviour at any age will not be tolerated and will be dealt with accordingly,” a police spokesman said.

“The vast majority of teenagers who use shopping centres as a social network during the school holidays do so responsibly.

“Unfortunately, there will always be a small element who do the wrong thing.”

Two young girls fighting at Blacktown.

The go at each other outside the shopping centre.

Teenagers also spoke of gang rivalries between areas, which meant you could get bashed if you went to a station or shops outside your zone and you were “known”.

Shocking video footage posted to YouTube in December last year with the caption “Blacktown shops” shows teens brawling inside and outside the Westpoint centre.

Two girls are seen in one video walking into Prouds the Jewellers before aggressively punching each other.

In another clip a large group of people stand around as two girls fight. Eventually they have to be separated after it becomes too violent.

MPS Global Security Owner Con Kalls said: “We have got kids doing drugs in the toilets. Teenagers always love shopping centres, they do hang around from morning to night and we do see a bit of smoking.”

Blacktown Cignall Tobacconist owner Eman said she routinely had to turn away underage people trying to buy cigarettes.

“I even get 12-year-olds, even younger maybe sometimes,” she said, adding there had been an increase in attempts over the holidays.

Police regularly patrol shopping centres in western Sydney.

One group of 13-year-old girls — whose parents didn’t know they had ventured out to Parramatta Westfield — said some kids they knew would meet up with strangers they met through Snapchat.

“A lot of people go (and) hang out with friends they meet on Snapchat … it will be Maccas or anywhere — they might be a friend of a friend or even a complete stranger,” the girls said.

One tween girls’ fashion store worker said that shoplifting had increased five-fold when children were on a school break.

“In all honesty, there is a lot, it is very shocking … it is out of control,” she said.

Blacktown Jay Jays manager Tamrah Crosby was moved to the store in January to help crack down on the shoplifting problem, with the offenders mainly aged from 14 to 16.

“We did have a really bad shoplifting problem but I’m pretty good at scaring them away,” she said.

Jay Jay's is store manager Store Tamrah Crosby has helped crack down on shoplifters at the Blacktown store. Picture: David Swift

Blacktown GameTraders owner Adrian Harlor said he had cameras to deter thieves, but other stores had problems.

“Centre management put out a note last week saying that security had noticed a lot more going on. They said it was school holidays so to be more vigilant,” he said.

Parramatta hat store worker Nusrat said: “The naughty kids, they grab stuff from shops and run away ... they range from seven years to 17.”

GameTraders owner Adrian Harlor says he has installed security cameras to deter shoplifters at his Blacktown store. Picture: David Swift

Psychologist Dr Justin Coulson said that parents had a responsibility to make sure their teens had interesting choices on their school holidays.

However he said it was perfectly normal that kids wanted to hang “where their friends are” and the majority did the right thing at shopping centres.

“Most people would agree that once teens get into their teens they are old enough to hang out with friends wherever they like hanging out,” he said.

“If those kids are able to behave in socially appropriate ways then I can’t imagine anyone would have a problem with them hanging out in the shops all day.

“We need to move past the stereotype that teenagers are a menace: most teens are great kids and they are just looking for some stimulation.”

Teenager Lexie Dicker is one of the teenagers who does the right thing and said she went to the shopping centre to work her part-time job or to shop with her friends.

“We just came here to shop today because we’re from Penrith,” she said.

Westpoint Blacktown centre manager Agata Rynkiewicz said that the shopping centre was “an important community gathering place for people of all ages”.

A young teen makes a rude gestures as he smokes outside the Blacktown shopping centre.

“We are committed to providing them with a safe and secure environment. We take the safety and security of our customers, retailers and employees very seriously throughout the entire year, which is why the centre is monitored by a large security team 24 hours a day, seven days a week coupled with an extensive CCTV network,” she said.

“These security measures are further bolstered by our close work with local police.

“In keeping with responsible security protocols, the specific details of all security arrangements within Centre are confidential.”

A spokeswoman for Scentre Group, which runs Westfield shopping centres, said that they welcomed youth into their centres.

“We want to make it an appealing environment for all ages,” she said.

She said they managed anti-social behaviour on a “case-by-case basis” and that security was “important to us”.

“It is a place where people want to come and enjoy time together, as well as shop and dine,” she said.