Community and Indigenous leaders in Kununurra have held crisis talks over a recent spate of vehicle thefts and attempted police car rammings, amid concern children as young as 10 are regularly committing serious offences while on bail.
The East Kimberley town has struggled to turn around stubbornly high rates of youth crime in recent years, an issue fuelled by groups of children regularly roaming the streets at night.
The crisis meeting was called following a fortnight of daily car thefts — with offenders often driving at police — and one case involving a 13-year-old child who allegedly robbed a service station at knifepoint.
Wyndham East Kimberley Shire president David Menzel said leaders were concerned that a small cohort of children from at-risk Indigenous families had no regard for the potentially grave consequences of their behaviour.
"Very, very young …10-year-olds and a bit older … on bail … being involved in some other serious offences," he said.
"While there might be four or six people in the vehicle racing around the town, there might also be 30 other kids with phones out filming it and cheering them on … and that's very distressing."
Leaders say state and Commonwealth funding has long poured into a range of government agencies, Indigenous organisations, and charities operating in Kununurra, which aim to improve the lives of disadvantaged families and children.
Mr Menzel said youth crime and domestic violence still remained stubbornly high, despite efforts to improve social problems.
"It's not adequate what's going on. None of our statistics are improving," he said.
"There are a lot of good people doing their best in our communities, but who's actually measuring the success?"
The shire president said he wanted to see more accountability of those agencies tasked to address the issue.
He said residents should be able to easily access information about the funding allocated to various youth programs and their measurable successes.
"I think that would go a long way to at least giving us some confidence in what's being funded in our community," Mr Menzel said.
"I don't think we have the visibility to know whether the money is being spent effectively."
The meeting included senior police and representatives from Wyndham East Kimberley Shire and Indigenous agencies Wunan Foundation, Kununurra Waringarri Aboriginal Corporation, and MG Corporation.
Business leaders say youth crime continues to harm the region's reputation, deterring tourists and workers, and ultimately hurting the local economy.
Native title group highlights lack of information sharing
A spokesperson for Kununurra's main native title group, MG Corporation, told the ABC that leaders highlighted the need to improve collaboration between local organisations.
"MG Corporation raised the issue of confidentiality, which prevented service providers from sharing the names of young people," a spokesperson said.
"Another potential barrier to young people accessing services quickly is the fact that the referral system is centralised rather than localised, meaning there can be a long time frame between a young person getting in trouble and being referred."
Police lay charges
Last year, on average, a car was stolen in Kununurra almost every four days. But police told the meeting that in the past fortnight, they had responded to 14 stolen cars representing a sharp uptick.
When the ABC asked WA Police about the spate of offending in Kununurra, a spokesperson addressed it in the context of the wider Kimberley.
"Police in the region have responded to a number of different incidents in the past fortnight, but this is not considered a spike, or an increase in youth crime," a spokesperson said in a statement.
"Police have already located several stolen vehicles, and apprehended and charged the alleged offenders."
Wunan Foundation and Kununurra Waringarri Aboriginal Corporation were contacted for comment.
