‘Not Dr Phil’: Publican’s brilliant response to thugs

A pub manager has said what many in his community have been afraid of saying after a near-tragic incident at the venue during broad daylight.

Fear and tension are reaching boiling point in a Queensland town as youth crime rates continue to soar, forcing one pub manager to take matters into his own hands.

General Manager of The Creek Tavern Damien Strong was enjoying a day off when his bottle shop was hit by a recent robbery, but he “quickly jumped into action”.

“A gang of local ratbag youths that have obviously been causing trouble absolutely everywhere just walked in and did a big snatch and grab in the place,” he told news.com.au.

The incident occured in broad daylight on Monday about 4pm local time.

The Creek Tavern was robbed on Monday.

One of the alleged offenders.

Mr Strong said the teenagers were especially brazen. He said it appeared they felt like they were “untouchable”.

“You put out what you want to attract,” he said.

“So all those drop kicks are starting to gather traction...it’s not just a couple of bad eggs, those couple of bad eggs are meeting bad eggs and those bad eggs are multiplying.”

Since posting the incident on Facebook in hopes of identifying the culprits, the videos have been shared hundreds of times.

Mr Strong posted footage of the incident to Facebook in hopes of identifying the culprits, and was taken aback by the community support which he says is due to frustration towards increasing crime.

This strong community response comes as a result of people feeling “fed up” that “crime is on the rise,” according to Mr Strong who was “taken back” by others jumping to help.

“I didn’t realise how frustrated the community was,” he said.

He is calling for authorities to step in as “something needs to get done before something tagic happens”.

“What’s happening with those kids, what’s led them to that life?” Mr Strong asked.

“I’m no Dr Phil, but they’re all obviously gaining traction and they’ve got a whole heap of knuckleheads... and they’re not even scared.”

Mr Strong said the alleged were “not even scared”, as they were captured on multiple security camers, and he is concerned about what led the kids to this life. (Not all pictured are part of the incident).

Many in his community, and others like it, are terrified and fear for their safety, according to Mr Strong.

“All those things are insured, mate,” he said in reference to the stolen alcohol, which amounted to a few hundred dollars.

“But the thing is...you don’t know what they’re capable of as a group onto one person if they’re going to do that, they don’t respect anything.”

Mr Strong referred to the staff member at the time of the incident as “a bloody legend” but said “he doesn’t deserve to come to work while he’s doing his job and put up with that crap.”

“If that was your dad, if that was your mum, if that was your brother, if that was your sister, you know what I mean?” he asked.

“They’ve all got knives and everything these days, they’ve got everything.

“They’re just a little gang of punks, they need to get treated accordingly.”

The staff member during the incident tried to stop one of the young men involved.

Mr Strong hopes that the authorities will “really crack down” on crime, and said they need to “stop farting around with this, start locking them up, start moving them out”.

“The community is full of fantastic, upstanding citizens that just want this shit to be taken care of,” he said.

“I hope justice prevails from here because the little dropkicks need to be held accountable for being losers.”

A Queensland police spokesman said police are investigating.

“Five teenagers have entered the licenced store and stolen some premix alcohol packs before running from the store,” the spokesman said.

“Investigations are ongoing and investigators are appealing for anyone with further information to contact police.”