Kids terrorise Ellenbrook

VANDALS as young as six are terrorising the neighbourhood with a reign of violence and damage, according to residents of The Bridges community in Ellenbrook.

The situation has reached the point where 80 households have petitioned the Housing Authority to boot two “nuisance” families out of Ellenbrook for good.

Titled Bring the Bridges Harmony Back, the petition states the two households let their children run wild and their once peaceful area has been turned into a “criminal hole”.

Residents allege children from the two separate households wreak havoc on the streets by killing birds at the local park, damaging sculptures, smashing lights and destroying front gardens with sticks.

Petition organiser Theresa Potter said attempts to reason with the parents of the children were futile and resulted in aggression and verbal abuse.

She said at one point police and local security patrols were being called in on a daily basis.

It is by no means the mission of this community to put people on the street, but since their arrival, both the adults and children have been a nuisance,” she said.

“We are overrun by children who are not looked after by their parents and they… are literally breaking down our beautiful parks and personal property,” she said.

Some local mothers said in the petition they were now too scared to take their children to the park for fear of abuse from the unruly kids.

The City of Swan’s contracted security patrol officers have had bottles, rocks and other items thrown at them when they have challenged the youths.

The security patrols have logged multiple incidents in the area over the past three months, including children throwing rocks at lights, vandalism at construction sites, rocks thrown at cars and houses, and anti-social behaviour like yelling abuse and swearing.

Swan chief executive Mike Foley said security controls had increased and the City’s mobile CCTV unit, Oscar, was recently deployed to the area.

“As the security officers are not able to make arrests, there are times when it is more valuable for the officers to notify police and then collect evidence… of the incident and provide this to the police when they arrive,” he said.

The Housing Authority is investigating the complaints raised about both tenancies mentioned in the petition.

Service delivery general manager Greg Cash said action would be taken where incidents could be substantiated.

But it is unlikely the petition to evict the tenants will get its desired result because the Housing Authority does not act on complaints raised by a third party.

“Where the petition has cited an incident that is specific in nature and related directly to a particular tenancy, housing officers will contact the individual complainants,” Mr Cash said.

“The majority of the allegations raised in the petition do not include specific dates or times the incidents occurred.”