Northern Territory authorities say they're exploring the option of removing at-risk children from their families if they're found unsupervised late at night on the streets of Alice Springs.
Under the plan, flagged by the NT government, young people picked up by police could be taken to a "safe place" for a child protection assessment instead of being returned home.
It comes after five children under the age of 14 were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly stealing three cars and joyriding dangerously through the town's CBD, including driving head-on at police cars.
Police took the extraordinary step of issuing a warning to residents to avoid the area while the incident was unfolding overnight.
Police and Territory Families Minister Kate Worden said the government was working through "legal issues" with the plan, but more would be announced "in the very, very short term".
"We are working to make sure that we can legally have an intervention to take those young people into a safe environment, and then make some Territory Families follow-up interventions," she said.
"Instead of taking a young person home, when they may have already been returned home but have come out again, that the police are empowered to make the right decision around care and protection of that young person."
The plan would see young people on the streets of Alice Springs late at night or those arrested by police be assessed for potential child protection orders based on "neglect".
Minister Worden did not say what kind of facility would be used, how long the young people would be removed from their families for, or include detail about how the plan would legally work.
She said the measure was a "clear message" to parents and caregivers.
"What we need to make sure is that those parents in Alice Springs understand fully that if their young people are out at night time, [and] if they're returned to them, the next time that may not happen," Ms Worden said.
"They may be taken into care and protection.
"If you're not capable of keeping them at home then Territory Families will assist you to do that work and we will be making an intervention if that's necessary."
Labor has been under continuous pressure over the rising levels of crime in Alice Springs, which NT Police statistics show have spiked significantly over the past five years, with particularly steep jumps in assaults and break-ins.
On Tuesday, anti-crime rallies were held in Alice Springs, as well as Palmerston and Katherine, calling for the government to do more to stamp out crime across the region.
The number of young people in custody in the NT — almost all of whom are Aboriginal — has more than doubled since the Territory government reversed bail changes made after the youth detention royal commission.
Debates over response
Independent Alice Springs MLA Robyn Lambley on Wednesday reignited her long-term call for a youth curfew in the township, but the bid was swiftly shut down by both police and the government.
Deputy NT Police Commissioner Michael Murphy said he doesn't support a curfew.
"A curfew is something that police would probably have to enforce," he said.
"Our police are very busy … we just don't have the resources and I don't support it at this time."
Meanwhile, youth justice advocate Kirsten Wilson told ABC Alice Springs she was "not sure around the legality" of the government's proposal, but that there were already existing options for what Ms Worden described as a "safe place" if needed.
"In terms of that … if there was a young person on the streets at night and they didn't have somewhere that they were safe to go home to, there are crisis accommodation options that are available," she said.
Alice Springs town councillor and senior Alyawerre man Michael Liddle said young offenders living in dysfunctional homes would never have a chance to thrive in that environment.
"You can take them off the streets, and take them back to the house so-and-so … but they're going to be back [on the streets] because that house is chaos," he told ABC Alice Springs.
"They need to be taken back to a detention centre or placed somewhere where they can learn things, because they're not going to school and they don't know the structures and the requirements of what it takes to be nice people.
"We're not growing nice people."
