'No one safe from youth crime'
South Hedland great-grandparents Lorna and Pablo Dann are worried no one is safe from incidences of youth crime after juveniles allegedly stole their Toyota LandCruiser last week.
The LandCruiser was found abandoned with mechanical damage two days later on the highway north of Roebourne, forcing the Danns to tow it back to Hedland.
But while happy the vehicle had not been burnt out, the senseless crime has hit the family hard.
Aged in their 60s and 70s, the Danns have exhausted their life savings providing foster care to seven little ones under 14, despite already raising three of their own children.
Ms Dann even used her superannuation to buy the uninsured LandCruiser. While it is out of action she does not have a vehicle big enough to transport her brood.
"These children have got no respect for anybody, that is the whole problem," she said
"The feedback we got from the whole of the Hedland community was if they (are even going to) steal from Pablo and I, what hope has the rest of the community got (to avoid thefts)."
The theft comes as community frustration with youth crime appears to have reached boiling point. Incidents have often spilled onto social media site Facebook with unsavoury results.
Late last month, a Hedland family detained a youth and posted his photo on Facebook after he allegedly broke into their yard.
South Hedland police Senior Sergeant Dean Snashall called for calm in the community and urged people to report crimes to the police rather than resorting to Facebook.
He said the theft of the Danns' LandCruiser was never officially reported, "making it very difficult for us to investigate".
He also said while crime rates were not higher than in past years, "the juvenile crime rate was a concern" and an issue the police and courts could not solve alone.
"The only way this issue will be solved is for the parents, and indeed the community, to stand up and try to engage these kids and keep them off the streets at night," Sen. Sgt Snashall said.
It was a message backed up by Police Minister Liza Harvey during a recent visit to Hedland, and one also supported by Ms Dann.
She said local parents had plenty of options to keep their children busy, such as South Hedland's skate park and the JD Hardie Centre.
But with many parents failing to set a positive example, she said local youth often did not care who they hurt.
She said her family had been targeted despite giving decades of community service to Hedland across two generations.
Her husband Pablo's father was the famous Aboriginal man Matt Dann, who long advocated for indigenous education opportunities and played a key role in convincing the Catholic Church to establish St Cecilia's school in Port Hedland.
Today, the Matt Dann Theatre and Cinema is named after him.
Ms Dann said she had since learnt who the children allegedly responsible for the theft of her LandCruiser were.
While she would normally press charges through the police, she said on this occasion she went directly to the families.
"We've been to see the grandparents and they will deal with it," she said.
"They were really embarrassed."
But Ms Dann also worried that if youth crime was not tackled more effectively, someone might soon snap.
"Someone is going to end up getting hurt because they are going to catch them one day and they are going to be so angry they are not going to care," she said.
"It will be very sad when that happens."
