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Crime in Carnarvon has hit a new peak for the decade with more than 1,900 offences over the past financial year.
Key points:
- There were 1,943 offences recorded in Carnarvon in 2021-22
- Burglaries were 35 per cent higher than a previous peak two years ago
- The state government will introduce a new youth justice program next year
Community leaders are concerned by the level of youth crime in the West Australian town, 900 kilometres north of Perth, including burglaries, cars being hit with fishing weights and rocks fired from homemade slingshots.
North West Central MP Merome Beard said recent incidents included a home owner being hit in the side of the head with a pair of boltcutters.
"People are exhausted, financially and mentally, and people have been victims of crime right across the town," she said.
"On top of that, people have been severely injured as well and there's a danger a tragedy could be imminent with what's going on with some of these burglaries, some of these home invasions, the 'ginging' [homemade slingshot use].
"There's people saying, 'I just can't live here anymore'."
Residents 'scared'
Police figures showed offences overall were up nearly 10 per cent compared to a previous peak in 2019-20.
But burglaries of homes and businesses were up 35 per cent on a previous high, with 404 reported incidents.
The number of stolen vehicles was up 47 per cent on the previous financial year's record, with 53 taken in 2021-22.
There were 152 non-family assaults in the past financial year, more than double the 70 in 2018-19.
The increase in reported crime coincided with the shrinking of Carnarvon's population.
Census data showed a decline over 10 years, from about 5,700 people to 5,200 as of last year.
Mrs Beard has raised the community's concerns about the recent level of crime in state parliament, describing it as escalating.
But Police Minister Paul Papalia told parliament police reports did not line up with the local politician's concerns.
"I am saying categorically that the member's claims about the scale of crime confronting police in Carnarvon at the moment are not reflected in the police reports to command," he said.
"The only report I get on policing in Carnarvon is that the police are doing a great job. Every time I talk to Eddie Smith, the shire president, he assures me that the police are doing a fantastic job."
Mr Smith made the same comment to the ABC but said police needed help and a large number of residents were living in fear.
"One woman had her car 'ginged' and damaged three times so she's too scared to drive home ... she's living in another house," he said.
"When your car has been 'ginged' by 12 millimetre round ball sinkers and they're going through the windscreens … and rocks, it's not very comfortable.
"It's across the entire community. I know the community has reached the point they've had absolutely enough."
Mr Smith said state and federal governments needed to be take more responsibility for youth crime issues in Carnarvon and other regional Australian towns.
Banned drinkers register raised
Some youth engagement programs in Carnarvon have been wound back in recent months due to staffing shortages, and a second-chance school for disengaged students recently closed.
Mrs Beard has renewed calls for the state government to do a review of service gaps in the town and to establish a safe space for children who are roaming the streets at night.
"The government have the levers to be able to put these changes in place," she said.
"Hence my call for minsters to actually visit town or at least their representatives to come to town and speak with groups of people about what some of those solutions might be, because we can't keep doing what we're doing.
"The town is a beautiful town ... it is devastating for a community that have to live with this."
Mr Papalia said Carnarvon could join other WA towns with a banned drinkers register to help address some of its societal issues.
The register's effectiveness been under debate, however, as it was it was revealed only a small number of people were being restricted.
In May, the state government flagged the expansion of its "Target 120" program to Carnarvon.
The program supports young people aged 10-14 who are at risk of becoming repeat offenders in the justice system, and their families.
Tenders for a non-government agency to run the program closed at the end of last month.
Community Services Minister Simone McGurk said a dedicated family support team of child care workers would be set up in Carnarvon out of funding from the last budget.