Doing it for the kids: Community support crucial in addressing youth crime says Orange Police Chief Peter Atkins

Orange Police Chief Inspector Peter Atkins told a community forum at the Glenroi Youth Hub on Wednesday that keeping at-risk children in some form of education was one way of keeping them out of trouble.

"There are kids in Orange that haven't been to school since they were 10 years of age," said Inspector Atkins, who was responding to questions from the floor at Wednesday forum.

"There's a youth problem of kids coming from outlying areas, with a lack of family support in Orange, but we've got some great resources here to try and divert them."

Among those resources are the Gareema Road Youth Hub, where the number of children dropping in is steadily rising, culminating in over 40 on Friday evenings.

"Orange has more resources and facilities than most places. There's not many places that have a hub like this, but our role is to get the kids to appreciate and engage instead of burning places down, to enjoy the oval for other activities," he said.

"But if we can't divert them we arrest them and unfortunately, six of them are sitting at Orana," Inspector Atkins said, referring to six youths charged with a spate of burned out cars in January.

"That's why we need to grab them early, try to divert them. The kids on the borderline [divert them to] Clontarf, the kids who have left school RiseUp [a PCYC initiative], to give them some skills.

"We can't turn every kid. There's kids in this town, from other parts of the state, who have been here for a few years, some are now sitting in a detention centre - they haven't been to school for years."

Inspector Atkins pointed out three officer at the Orange Police station have come through the Clontarf program.

While the forum dealt with crime across Orange, a number of Glenroi residents raised concerns about youth gangs anti-social behavior which included riding motorbikes through the area and across Glenroi Oval.

Insp Atkins said it was a difficult issue for police who were bound by the safe pursuit policy.

"We can't just pursue motorcycles, it's a risk to the rider and to the community and they outweigh the benefit of arresting.

"So we patrol and we're after information about where the motorbikes are

"If you know where the motorbikes are or you see them on an oval or going to a house, you ring up and say they've got to this house on this street."

Inspector Atkins also reminded residents police had only three vehicles available to respond at any given time.

Mayor Jason Hamling said council were working with police.

"This is great having this meeting up here, we've got most of the councillors here listening to what your concerns are. We have a very strong relationship with the police. Anything we can do to help the police we aim to do that."

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