As I live out of town on a farm I tend to forget or not be affected by the night time events that occasionally occur in town. Don’t get me wrong, our country town is, on the whole, peaceful and law abiding. But there have been a spate of incidents lately that make me wonder at the psyche of some people. Perhaps it is alcohol and drug induced or boredom or simply high jinks, but all are disturbing in their own way.

Take for example the drag racing. WA State Government TV ads say that these can be stopped with a phone call. But if the phone call is to a main Police centre 150 km away and the receptionist believes it is not important enough to rouse the local policeman – then one is in for a fairly restless night.

One of our ex- residents is doing well in the AFL. So to celebrate his success, his so called mates – instead of taking his example to do something constructive with his life – decided to “celebrate” by going around the town breaking windows at the school canteen, the charity shop and a couple of businesses. This followed an incident after an 18th birthday where others (or some of the same) smashed church windows and Sports Club windows the week before.

It is not as if these people aren’t being assisted in getting employment or live in derelict houses. They don’t even seem to want to hide their “crimes”.  A letter in our local paper states: “Break-ins and attempted break-ins are looked upon as ‘opportunistic crimes’ by our local police. … but… these windows and doors have mesh on them and individuals have been caught  with crowbars attempting to get in….. This is premeditated. Once again though we seem to applaud individuals in our community –“Locals learn shearing skills”…but a few of those individuals published are related to these crimes. My frustration lies with those individuals commiting these offences and constantly flaunting the law.”   And another – referring to the Local shearers story “Take a stroll down the alley way between … and …. Street where the names of some of the participants are “artistically” plastered over resident’s fences”.

So how is the problem to be solved? Is it a more hands-on approach from police – a few bog laps around the town at night to display a presence and a local police number to call if there are problems?  (At least our town has a police presence during the day – not like several towns where our present Government has closed the stations.) Is it a need to name and shame continuous offenders even if they are underage? Would that have an effect when, even now, they boast of their antics and thumb their noses at the police because they remain untouchable. Do we ban alcohol usage as occurs in some of your Northern towns – a great success for the towns involved, but the problem drinkers tend to move elsewhere. Setting up programmes to arrange employment help some, but not all. Or perhaps it is just part of our culture to “play up’. On some levels we all have laughed off the misdemeanors of our youth, and many have failed to guide their children by their own example.

Yet I manage to have two boys that never steal, get a taxi if they drink too much, never steal time from their boss and can be trusted to work on their own with company cars and company equipment. And many others have such children too.

Last week I was having a meal at lunch time in an open air restaurant. At the table next to me was a young couple and a boy of about eight. The boy could not finish the pizza, so his mother asked if they could have a take away box to take it home. When it came, to my surprise she laughingly placed the restaurant china plate in with the pizza in the box and after a while they left.  I happened to be leaving at the same time and told the manager want was happening. He was so short staffed, he said, he could not follow them. Perhaps I should have said something to that mother myself (Excuse was I have just had a op. on my foot and wouldn’t have been able to make a quick exit)  But perhaps here lies the route of our problems. There are too many people who seem to believe that if you can get away with something, then it is OK. It is there in all our dealings – from avoiding paying some taxes, taking an unneeded sickie to smashing windows.  There does not seem to be a lot of rewards for being honest and respecting others.  For me, my conscience would make me take that plate back, even if I had been tempted in the first place, but I am concerned that we are producing a society where a clear conscience is not a criteria for happy living any more.  

I have practiced what I should have said to that mother – “Don’t be surprised when you find your son stealing from your bag or smashing a shop window. You have just taught him that it is cool to steal.”  I wish I had spoken out – but I doubt if it would have made a difference. Perhaps that is why the police don’t go out and about at night – they doubt it would make a difference. Are we all just giving up?