WATCH: Youths taunt police about alleged stolen vehicles
A new series of videos uncovered by The Courier-Mail shows youths flaunting allegedly stolen cars with captions saying mocking the government and telling cops to “f**k off”. WATCH HERE
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Brazen youths are taunting the Queensland Premier and mocking the state government’s youth crime laws as they take to social media to brag about the cars they have allegedly stolen.
But Premier David Crisafulli said: “bring it on”.
“If these little punks think I’m going to back down in my commitment to reverse Labor’s decade-long youth crime crisis then they’ve got another thing coming,” Mr Crisafulli said.
A series of videos uncovered by The Courier-Mail shows balaclava-clad youths flaunting allegedly stolen cars with captions such as “sorry David Crisafulli” and telling the police to “f**k off.”
It comes as new data reveals the number of youth defendants with motor vehicle theft matters finalised in Queensland courts had almost doubled in five years, with 1902 in 2023/24 financial year compared to 1062 in 2017/18.
However, the latest figures released by the state government in March show an 8 per cent reduction in both the number of stolen cars and break-ins and a 4.8 per cent decrease in robberies.
The government said a drop in offences suggested the Adult Crime Adult Time laws implemented in December were working to deter young criminals.
An account dedicated to uploading videos of the alleged heists in Brisbane describes the account as for “entertainment purposes only.”
Queensland Police Service has confirmed the majority of the vehicles featured on the aforementioned account were been flagged as stolen within the last four years, though it is not clear when the videos were recorded.
A video uploaded to the account on October 27 showed footage of an alleged stolen car, with one commenter writing that, if convicted, the alleged perpetrators face a lengthy jail sentence.
But the account owner replied saying there would be no action taken by the Queensland Government.
“Nothing gonna (sic) happen mate, you think LNP can fix this,” they wrote.
In another video uploaded on January 18 appears to mock the Adult Crime, Adult Time laws, captioning the video with “sorry David Crisafulli.” This was posted just days after Premier David Crisafulli announced plans for further amendments to the Youth Justice Act on January 15 in the wake of an alleged stabbing of a supermarket worker by a 13-year-old at Yamanto Shopping Centre.
In response to the videos, one commenter wrote that it was all “fun and games” until the people featured in the videos were caught, with another commenter replying that if the teens were caught they would be “out on bail the next day.”
Other videos that are believed to have been filmed in Brisbane’s northern and southern suburbs deliberately taunt the Queensland Police Service.
“No face no case. Northside for life. Northside does it the best,” one user wrote on their profile.
And just last month a video uploaded by a person in the Queensland drifting scene appears to taunt law enforcement, writing “if the cops come and we have to ditch the pigs, it’s every man for themselves.”
Mr Crisafulli told The Courier-Mail the LNP was “making inroads on Labor’s Youth Crime Crisis but there’s still a long way to go”.
“We’ve made the first round of changes under Adult Crime, Adult Time with more coming next month, police numbers are finally heading in the right direction and we are out to market for early intervention programs,” he said.
“Queenslanders are sick of cohorts of Labor’s untouchables marauding across our communities without facing consequences for their actions but that is exactly what they will face when the law catches up with them.”
A spokeswoman for Queensland’s Youth Justice and Victim Support Minister Laura Gerber said “it will take time to break the cycle of youth crime in Queensland – after a decade of Labor’s weak laws”.
“But we will not stop delivering reform until community safety is restored,” she said.
Videos
A deep dive into social media reveals teenagers across Australia bragging about their alleged crimes.
In Melbourne, teenagers as young as 14 are bragging about being alleged members of youth gangs.
One teen uploaded an image of himself in front of a police vehicle.
“They’re rats and slags that will stab you in the back. F**k the police all the way,” the caption read.
Many accounts are tagged with “creepinwhilesleeping.” Some even show the youths attempting to break into houses, then running away.
A video of an alleged break-in uploaded in 2022 was with “entrylevelboss.” The location listed in the video was Junee Correctional Centre.
And in Sydney, an account uploaded a video with the tag “first night outta lock up.” Other posts seen by The Courier-Mailare tagged with “policechase” and “creepinginyourhouse.” Queensland Police Service said the Digital Intelligence and Community Engagement (DICE) team created in mid-202 had contributed to police investigations that led to 990 young people being charged.
“The DICE team has generated hundreds of investigative leads including identifying alleged offenders resulting in charges. DICE provides QPS with enhanced identification of offenders and victims through social media and other community platforms as well as improved reporting and recording of criminal offences, including the use of this information to apprehend and prosecute offenders,” a Queensland Police Service spokeswoman said.
Lyndy Atkinson, who leads Voices for Victims said, despite the legislation being in place, many victims felt neglected when alleged offenders are glorified on social media.
“Once it gets onto social media it causes a copycat situation. It encourages other offenders to do the same thing,” she said.
“The general public needs to be aware and rest assured that these kids who are offending in these cars are (disciplined) appropriately.”
She said alleged offenders adopting the ideology of “no face, no case” is a slap in the face to victims of youth crime.
“A lot of them are going in (to homes or vehicles) with masks too, they come out and think they won’t get caught. It’s just a slap in the face,” she said.
“If they choose to cover their faces it’s a slight on the victims, and something that they think they can continue to get away with.”
“Victims don’t want to see that.”
Associate Professor Nadine Connell from Griffith Criminology Institute said young people feel as if they are invincible both offline and online.
“I think what we have to remember is young people are looking for attention, positive or negative it doesn’t actually matter,” she said.
“You’re going to have a group of young people. They want to feel powerful and they can’t be caught.”
“Young people are always going to engage in some kind of delinquent activity. It takes time for them to understand the long term consequences.”
The desire for belonging, she says, is a key reason why young people are more likely to copy alleged crimes they see glorified online.
“They’re well aware they should not be doing this. The need for belonging is much stronger than the need to behave in a lot of these cases. Even if somebody is doing this alone in the room, few cases youth only posting something they’ve only done, there’s a group element,” she said.
“The act of posting it online creates a community, giving a sense of validation and belonging.
“Young people who are not excited about what the world offers to them think ‘this is fun and exciting.’ This is all about taking into consideration that they have other needs that are not being met. It’s problematic when young people have family members or close friends where this is normalised. It takes away the stigma and takes away the fear.”
Marcelo Alcantara and his family were sound asleep in February 2024 when thieves broke in and stole $140,000 in possessions, including two vehicles. They only woke up when the offenders drove through his garage door.
He then stumbled upon footage of the offenders bragging about his stolen vehicles on social media.
“I was disgusted,” he said in response to the video.
Outside the initial financial losses, Mr Alcantara revealed his insurance has doubled at an increase of $3000 more per year.
“One morning in my house was $140k in losses. For a little quick fun. Our insurance has gone through the roof,” he said.
“My message to these people is if you don’t want to be punished by law, don’t commit the crime. Don’t invade my home and steal my cars.”
He said he lives in fear because the offenders know where he lives, but he doesn’t know anything about them.
“I could suffer retaliation from the criminals if they get bail. We have zero access,” she said.
“They can come with machetes and we cannot have a can of pepper spray. If I spray it in (their) face I would go to jail and they would get bail.”
He feels that the youth crime wave is worsening and believes that the carefree way alleged offenders post on social media emboldens them and reduces their fear of persecution.
“They get bail endless times and they don’t care,” he said.
“It makes me very sad living in this wonderful country.
“They don’t respect the law because the law is too soft with them. It’s a consequence of watering down of the laws.”
He believes judges should be made accountable when youth offenders commit a crime while on bail.
“It’s a pattern. Bail, do it again and we don’t understand why judges give bail to people to make another victim,” he said.
It’s not only alleged stolen vehicles being flaunted online. Hoons are pushing cars to their limits for the thrill, destroying tyres and collecting defect notices from law enforcement.
For Graeme Kimball, 57, seeing teens brag about their alleged activities hits close to home.
His son, Ryan Kimball, lost his life in June 2022 aged at only 16 after a car he was in crashed into a power pole at 180km/h in a 60km/h zone.
Mr Kimball said his son was unaware that the driver intended to reach dangerous speeds after being goaded by an online dare.
“They figured if they put someone in the back seat to hold the weight down but in actual fact it put more pressure on the front steering,” he said.
“And that’s when they lost it at 180km/h.”
Within days of the crash, people were posting on social media asking for photographs and videos of the crash.
He said his niece had to shield the family from some of the worst videos.
“We didn’t see it until we were going to court. (One video) shows what our son would’ve been looking at. The last moment of his life before he was taken,” he said.
“A lot was posted on Snapchat about his arm being ripped off. We stumbled across these as we were looking for tributes but came across the chatter.”
He described people gloating about alleged crimes online as ”shocking.”
“We know how valuable life is. There’s no accountability for one’s actions. We’ve experienced the sudden tragic death. People have no idea until it happens,” he said.
“You don’t even get jail time for killing someone in vehicle homicide. I’ve heard all these anti-hoon laws and confiscations but I don’t think I’ve seen any evidence.”
He agreed with Mr Alcantara that courts should impose tougher penalties.
“The government is trying to make changes but they’re dealing with Magistrates. Maybe bypass the Magistrates Court and slap an impound on the cars,” he said.
Originally published as WATCH: Youths taunt police about alleged stolen vehicles
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