Northern beaches: Parents fear rise of eshay culture after a number of antisocial incidents

Kids are looking to social media for their role models, according to those working with troubled northern beaches teens, as parents fear a rise in the ‘eshay culture’.

Parents voice concerns over rise of eshay culture on the northern beaches. Pictured, generic shot of ‘eshays’. Credit: A Current Affair.

A father who jumped in to stop a vicious fight at Newport Beach last week says the community is sick of the increasingly violent and anti-social behaviour of youths on the northern beaches.

Ben Sami, 41, of Newport, said over the past few months a growing number of young people have been intimidating members of the community, robbing other children of their clothes, money and possessions, and abusing people in the street and on buses.

He said the fight in Newport where a group was caught on video allegedly kicking a man on the ground, was just the latest example of the increase in anti social behaviour on the peninsula.

Eshays: Memes posted online as 'eshays' are a popular topic and found amusing by some teens. Picture: Facebook

So far, a 17-year-old has been charged in relation to the incident.

Mr Sami, a soccer coach, claims that many of those causing trouble across the peninsula identify themselves as eshays — also known as ‘lads’ — who dress in expensive designer and branded clothing such as Nautica, baseball hats and Nike TNs or ASICS trainers and who sometimes sport bum bags.

They often boast about their drug use, carrying knives and general bad behaviour on social media.

Mr Sami claims eshays are behind multiple reports of children being “rolled” or robbed. He said they wait in packs behind bushes to ambush kids as they are walking by on their own.

Reports of a 13-year-old boy allegedly robbed of his designer clothes and ASICS trainers by kids in broad daylight in North Narrabeen last October was widely discussed on social media at the time.

“Some kids are being ‘rolled’ three or four times,” Mr Sami said.

“People are too scared to speak up, both parents and kids.

“They’re threatened online, so they don’t report it to the police.”

Children are boasting about their drug use on social media. Picture: Instagram.

Mr Sami said Newport was a particular trouble hotspot.

“It’s not safe and it hasn’t been safe for quite some time,” he said.

“We have a big problem with parents.

“Parents need to be fricken parents to be honest.”

Former Northern Beaches Local Area Police Commander Dave Darcy wrote a letter to parents in the north of the peninsula in May 2019 via school principals, complaining about poorly behaved kids who are “fuelled on alcohol and drugs, both illegal and prescription”.

At the time he told the Manly Daily he understood that kids were getting hold of prescribed drugs such as antidepressants, Xanax and Valium.

Back then police estimated there were about 200 youths, boys and girls, acting aggressively in the Warriewood, Mona Vale and Newport areas, and some had been found to be in possession of knives.

Not everyone misbehaving would call themselves eshays, but Mr Sami said kids were telling him eshays were on the increase and were threatening and intimidating them, both in and out of school.

Former Supt Dave Darcy spoke out about youth aggression towards police on the northern beaches in 2019. he has now retired. Picture: Tim Pascoe.

Lee Russell, a mum of two teenagers in Warriewood, said she was abused by a group of around 10, 14 and 15-year-old boys on a bus at Narrabeen earlier this month after she told them off for blocking the door and being rude to the bus driver.

She later took pictures when they got off the bus and was told by people that looked at them that they were dressed like eshays.

When she posted about it on Facebook she was inundated with comments from other concerned parents including those who were worried the kids causing trouble were their own children, admitting they had lost control of them.

“They were swearing at me calling me the c-word,” Ms Russell said. “It was intimidating, but I have teenagers too, so I was OK.

“But as a community we need to step up and say, ‘This is not tolerable’.

Justene Gordon of The Burdekin Association, an organisation that supports and works with young people and those who are vulnerable to homelessness. Picture: Braden Fastier.

“There were two young men on the bus and they didn’t say anything to them.”

Ms Russell said she was keen to start changing things, including setting up self-defence classes for kids on the peninsula so they can stand up for themselves against these “gutless” troublemakers.

Justene Gordon, from The Burdekin Association which works with vulnerable youths, said young people are looking for an identity and they are finding it by looking at social media sites like Tik Tok.

“Being violent is not something they necessarily want to do but situations can escalate,” she said.

Young people are finding role models on social media, say youth workers, where kids boast about their bad behaviour. Picture: Instagram.

“They want to be part of this cohort, but it can become something different with peer pressure.

“Tik Tok is a place where people show off antisocial behaviours and for these kids their role models are coming from social media.

“Porn, vaping, drugs and alcohol are also very accessible.”

She said antisocial behaviour was starting younger and younger and advised parents to set in place strict boundaries before Year 6, talking about correct behaviour and encouraging them to develop who they want to be as people.

“We should not get cranky and angry at these kids,” Ms Gordon said.

Northern Beaches councillor Vincent De Luca.

“They are guinea pigs in this world where they have been given free reign on the internet and they don’t know how to manage or process the content they are seeing.”

Cr Vincent De Luca has been campaigning for more police in the area for sometime and been calling out the escalation of antisocial behaviour.

Last week he said the situation was becoming “out-of-control”.

However, Supt Patrick Sharkey, in charge of the Northern Beaches Local Area Command, said police had enough resources on the peninsula to manage any incidents.

Supt Park Sharkey, of Northern Beaches Local Area Command. Picture: Supplied.

He said in addition officers have been targeting a number of areas and communicating with parents of teens finding themselves in trouble.

“Police have committed significant resources to proactively patrol at-risk areas, particularly during the school holidays,” Supt Sharkey said.

As well as referring some children to educational programs to help stop antisocial behaviour, Supt Sharkey said police also help young people get support for mental health, domestic violence and suicide prevention, “these issues being very relevant to northern beaches youth”.

“I would reinforce to all parents the importance of educating and mentoring their children, particularly in their formative teenage years,” Supt Sharkey added.

“I would appeal to all parents to take an active interest in knowing where your children are, what they are doing and who they are with in order to provide an environment that supports your children making good choices for their own welfare and that of the wider community.”