The government will seek to pass legislation in March to expand the use of electronic monitoring bracelets and stop offenders committing crime while on bail.
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Last week the government announced a massive overhaul of the “broken” youth justice system.
“Like the community, I am fed-up with this recent spike in crime - we are listening and taking decisive action to address this,” Mr Gunner said.
“We know there is an issue with youths being caught then re-offending and Territory Police say this expansion of electronic monitoring will allow them to intervene early with youths in danger of becoming recidivist offenders.”
Mr Gunner said NT Police are currently restricted from putting an electronic bracelet on people they bail.
“I have asked our Departments and Police to get to work on options on removing that restriction urgently, because there is a real opportunity for Police to act early, to monitor kids at risk, and prevent them from a life of crime,” he said.
“Police need those powers urgently because we know that when kids first interact with Police, we need to intervene early, before they fall off the cliff – it also helps the offender address peer group pressure to commit another crime and say ‘no’.”
“We know too many offenders commit crimes while on bail and supporting the enforcement of bail conditions and expanding electronic monitoring powers for Police are immediate action to break the cycle.”
This announcement comes after the NT Opposition Leader, Gary Higgins said the government’s response to the youth crime spike “avoids the tough measures required to deal with repeat offenders”.
“Increased electronic monitoring and a more visible police presence right now are required to secure businesses and homeowners being hit by this crime wave,” Mr Higgins said.
