‘Post-and-boast' youth criminals targeted by covert intelligence

Sydney Morning Herald

30-06-2025

NSW Police already have 'real-time capability', but it is extraordinarily resource-intensive.
In Queensland, an entire unit was established in mid-2023 to target youth crime. Soteria will be a test bed to see if a similar model should be established in NSW.
Soteria has so far investigated 255 break-ins and 197 stolen cars across the state's northern and western regions.
Of the 164 people charged, 119 were under the age of 18. More than one-third of the total were on bail for similar offences at the time of their arrest.
Pisanos said Soteria's arrests had netted repeat offenders, who had been given bail time and again by the courts, and had become 'ringleaders' or 'influencers' among other vulnerable youngsters.
Loading
Those criminal influencers were targeted again over the weekend, with 33 people charged in a blitz around Dubbo and Walgett as police went door to door to check up on bailed young people.
Among them, police allege, was a 15-year-old boy found with the keys to a stolen SUV in his Walgett home.
Police claim he and a second teenager broke into the home of an 89-year-old man, threatened him with a baseball bat, and fled in his car, leading police on a high-speed chase.
An hour later police swooped on the co-accused, a 14-year-old boy.
'We will extend a hand in help to those who want it, but extend police tactics and a set of handcuffs to those who don't and continue to commit these violent offences,' Pisanos said.
In late March, Premier Chris Minns extended strict laws making it harder for young people accused of repeat car theft and break-ins to be released on bail.
Magistrates need to have 'a high degree of confidence', under Section 22C of the Bail Act, that an accused child will not commit a serious offence while on bail.
That same month the youth prison population was at 229, 10 per cent higher than one year earlier.
'Unfortunately, the fight for us continues when you realise 36 per cent of those charged in the last three months had already been given bail,' Pisanos said.
'We need the courts to use 22C when dealing with young, violent recidivists.'
Crime statistics from the last two decades universally show two main trends; property crime, including theft, break-in and robbery, is dropping while sexual and domestic violence is rising.
But a more granular examination of data from the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research reveals that over the last two years many regions have recorded localised spikes in break-ins, robberies and car thefts.
Dubbo, Gunnedah, Inverell, Leeton, Lismore, Moree, Narrandera, Narromine, Newcastle, Parkes, Tamworth, Walgett, Tenterfield, Warrumbungle Shire and Coonamble are areas impacted, according to the latest BOCSAR data.
But among the personal tragedies and shocking statistics about youth incarceration, there are shoots of hope.
More than 80 young people have been referred to youth action meetings – known as YAMs – under Soteria, which involves police working with government and non-government services to try to turn their lives around.
'I met with a young 13-, 14-year-old boy in Dubbo, he walked himself into the PCYC and wanted to learn boxing,' Pisanos said.