Tangentyere Council to get youth bus to tackle Alice Springs youth crime

A new mobile youth hub could soon be hitting the streets of Alice Springs, even operating during the night. Read how Tangentyere Council says it could help reduce youth crime.

A new mobile youth hub is set to hit the streets of Alice Springs in a bid to help tackle ongoing issues with crime and anti-social behaviour in the town.

Tangentyere Council youth and community safety manager JP Glavimans said the January school holidays were always a busy time for the organisation.

But Mr Glavimans said despite anecdotal reports of youths committing break-ins and other petty street crime, the number of behavioural incidents involving kids engaging with services was steady, or declining.

“I think it means that young people are really craving and wanting to engage with our different youth services, recreation and diversion opportunities,” he said.

“It seems like those services are really in demand at this point in time and that young people are behaving and doing the right thing at those services when they’re given an opportunity to positively engage.

“There might be other things that are happening outside of our youth programs, but our youth programs continue to be a safe positive space for young people to engage.”

Mr Glavimans said Tangentyere had reached out to the National Indigenous Australians Agency to outfit a bus which could travel to wherever youth diversion programs were needed.

“With that mobile youth hub, there’s an opportunity for patrols to park that bus up and have young people have an opportunity to engage in positive and nice activities, in the CBD for example, as well as to provide that opportunity at town camps that don't receive a regular youth service,” he said.

Tangentyere youth and community safety manager JP Glavimans says the mobile youth hub could operate until 3am. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“It’s about providing those positive engagement opportunities with services and with community members and in communities, that makes a big difference in terms of young people feeling included or feeling excluded.”

Mr Glavimans said the service could run into the early hours of the morning when business owners are often most at risk from burglaries and vandalism.

“It’s flexible so it can happen in the evening time when we run patrols from 6.30pm to 3am, or it can happen during the afternoons and evening times when we run our regular youth programming,” he said.

“Or it can happen during the day for special events or in collaboration with other service providers like schools or other people that are interested in providing that opportunity for young people to have a bit of fun at the mobile youth hub, sit down and play at a computer, pull out a couple of sports games, have a barbecue, that sort of thing.”

Originally published as Tangentyere Council to get youth bus to tackle Alice Springs youth crime