Children as young as 11 compete to 'outdo each other' in NT crime wave

Police say two groups of youths in Katherine are trying to outdo each other on social media in an ongoing crime wave in the Top End town. Police say a woman sustained bruising to her arm in a pre-dawn carjacking in her driveway on Sunday morning, which was one of six alleged car thefts in the space of a week. What's next? Police are continuing to investigate several incidents, including a missing firearm that was reported stolen from the back of a ute last week. Northern Territory police say a contest for social media notoriety is fuelling the latest string of car thefts in Katherine. An NT Police spokesperson confirmed six cars were reported stolen in the town of around 10,000 people last week, along with a buggy, an electric scooter and a firearm taken from the back of a ute. The spokesperson also said a woman was allegedly dragged out of her Jeep by a group of children as she was preparing to leave for work about 5:30am on Sunday, causing bruising to her arm. The Jeep was then allegedly stolen but later recovered. As of Monday morning, police said they had identified two "persons of interest" in relation to the crime wave, and investigations were ongoing, with the whereabouts of the firearm still unknown. "There are two groups of youths running around down there that are egging each other on," Acting Commander Mark Grieve told reporters in Darwin yesterday. "It's a situation where it's an 'I can outdo you' kind of thing," he said. "They're quite young; we're talking between 11 and 14, I'd suggest. "It's all driven through social media." Acting Commander Grieve was asked to respond to talk on community Facebook pages in Katherine of a car-theft "competition" between rival groups. "I don't know whether it's a competition per se, but they're certainly interacting with each other to see if they can outdo each other," he said. He said the young people involved were primarily Katherine locals, not people visiting town from remote communities, and several arrests had been made in relation to the earlier thefts. Katherine's struggle with stolen cars NT government crime data for Katherine shows there were 36 motor vehicle thefts "and related offences" in the 12 months to July this year, up from 29 in the previous 12 months. Cabinet minister Joshua Burgoyne said his government was investing in tackling crime across the Territory and pointed to reductions in his home town of Alice Springs. "We will continue to work extraordinarily hard to ensure the people of Katherine feel safe," Mr Burgoyne said. "Because at the end of the day that is every Territorian's right." The Labor opposition leader, Selena Uibo, said the latest thefts should prompt Ms Finocchiaro to "drive down to Katherine". "Meet with community, meet with businesses, meet with individuals and families and understand the real impact," she said. [Image text:] MarkCle C POLICE