Teens seen wreaking havoc in northern Gold Coast suburb

Residents have been stunned after spotting teenagers blamed for causing havoc in a Gold Coast suburb making off with a wheelchair.

A teenager seen with a knife in a northern Gold Coast street at 2am.

Do you know where your kids are at night? And what they are doing?

That’s a question residents of a northern Gold
Coast suburb are asking about groups of teenagers seen causing havoc after dark.

And when we say after dark, we mean well after dark.

Residents on quiet suburban streets are finding themselves being woken from their slumber by groups of teens at one and two in the morning.

Security cameras have captured much of their antics.

Three weeks ago, two teens were seen making off with a wheelchair and a trolley. The image was captured on a street adjoining a large retirement facility.

The items had been taken from a skip bin on the premises and were ultimately dumped nearby.

Teenagers seen with a wheelchair stolen from a skip bin at a care home in a northern Gold Coast street at 2am.

Teenagers have also allegedly lit fires in the area and broken into cars.

Most alarmingly, camera footage also appeared to show a teenager carrying a large knife, casually
waving it around in the middle of a street at 2am.

It’s something that has residents highly concerned.

“The general community have had enough,” a resident told this column. “And we will take matters into our own hands.

“It’s extremely scary. There are old people living around here. And we will do whatever it takes to protect them. We don’t care.

“My wife doesn’t want me to be our street vigilante.

“But I am proactive and I will do something about it. I’m not scared.

“Someone needs to do something for these kids to be held accountable.”

The overwhelming question, however, remains: How do parents not know these school-aged kids are roaming streets in the middle of the night?

And that at least some of them are carrying knives?

It’s a recipe for disaster, as we have seen all too often on the Gold Coast.

Police have gone to enormous lengths here in Queensland, and in this city especially, to drive home the message to young people that carrying a knife is completely unacceptable.

Wanding operations to detect knives are now familiar to anyone who frequents transport hubs and Safe Night Precincts.

They have done so since laws were introduced to clamp down on the problem following the stabbing death of Jack Beasley, and doughty campaigning by his devastated parents.

But police cannot be on every suburban street corner.

A teenager seen with a knife in a northern Gold Coast street at 2am.

Local MP Mark Boothman said the problem of youth crime was something that was constantly brought up with him by residents on the northern Gold Coast.

“I’ve listened to locals who’ve shared their frustrations and fears with me about spiralling levels of youth crime in the area. Kids are brazenly roaming the streets, casing houses and vehicles and terrorising residential streets,” he said.

“Video footage of youths being armed with large knives has residents terrified about who will be the next victim.”

This column understands that at least some of the young people involved in the trouble described above have been excluded from local schools.

Mr Boothman said early intervention programs were vital to stop such kids continuing down a destructive road – a focus for the LNP ahead of the state election in just four weeks’ time.

“The LNP will deliver gold standard early intervention to restore safety where you live by diverting youth away from crime and putting them back on the right path,” he said.

“Getting in early with programs that are proven and evidence based means we can help turn their lives around before it’s too late, and stop crime before it happens.”

There is no question early intervention programs, and in particular specialised schools like the Men of Business Academy, are making an extraordinary difference.

But an important part of what they do is provide mentorship and guidance. The kind traditionally provided by parents who appear to be unaware what their kids are up to in the dead of night.

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Originally published as Teens seen wreaking havoc in northern Gold Coast suburb