Darwin police have completed a month-long operation to counter anti-social behaviour during the school holidays.

Operation Centurian was conducted from June 22 to July 19 covering the mid-year-school holiday period.

Detective Sergeant Andy Bedwell said the Operation focused on patrolling identified hotspots and the apprehension of arrest targets.

"The team conducted daily targeted patrols of crime hot spots and locations where anti-social behaviour is known to occur," Det Sgt Bedwell said.

"They were also tasked to ensure any young person on bail conditions was checked to ensure they were complying with their bail conditions.

"The main problems during the school holidays are usually anti-social behaviour and property crime which is often caused by youth roaming the streets with nothing to do. This inevitably leads some young people into trouble, so an Operation such as this helps to prevent the problems before they occur by proactive and targeted patrolling."

During the course of the holidays members working on the Operation arrested 33 people for various offences, with another eight to be summonsed and eleven to be considered for juvenile diversion. They also conducted 784 targeted patrols and 232 bailee checks.

Detective Sergeant Bedwell said the Operation had been extremely successful with incidents of anti-social behaviour and property crime down considerably on previous school holiday periods.

"The youth of Darwin are to be congratulated and the results of this Operation are a credit to the police involved. However, we still remain concerned about the number of children roaming the streets late at night, often without the knowledge of their parents. It should be obvious that if, as a parent, you don't know where your child is at two in the morning, your child is probably at risk."

Det Sgt Bedwell said police were also concerned about the number of property crimes which occurred due to homes or vehicles being left unsecured.


Media contact:
Theresa Kuilboer
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