“The kids doing this are often repeat offenders, that are known to police, but do not care, as they know even if the police arrest them the court system will let them go.”
Moore said it wasn’t just children dealing with the “thugs”, it was teachers, doctors, nurses, police officers, security guards, shop workers who were also getting spat on, hit, kicked and verbally assaulted.
She said they were powerless to act.
“Kids are regularly jumping in front of cars at night and then abusing the drivers if they react, damaging their car or threatening them,” she said.
“This disgusting, harmful, frightening and unacceptable behaviour should not, under any circumstances be tolerated, let alone be the norm.”
Crime in Ellenbrook rose by 16 per cent last year and is now at a 10-year-high.
On Tuesday WA’s deputy premier Rita Saffioti said she, Swan Hills member Michelle Maynard and education minister Sabine Winton had been in talks with shopping centre management and police minister Reece Whitby, about the problem.
The boys involved in the alleged assault were from Aveley Secondary College.Credit: Facebook
“We are creating a working group which has both involvement of the schools and, of course, the shopping centre and the local police to oversee what are some issues in relation to basically, young kids going to the shopping centre after school,” Saffioti said.
“We’ve asked for more police presence at the shopping centre after school to try and de-escalate the current issues and tension that’s in there.”
She said the group was planning to support principals but said it was sometimes issues that would begin at school that “flowed over into the shopping centre”.
Michelle Maynard told WAtoday she met with local high school principals, the Department of Education, WA Police, and retailers on Monday and agreed to a coordinated approach to identify and address bad behaviour.
“We believe that with a coordinated approach from all parties our young people will soon be reminded of what is expected of them.”
On Wednesday WA Premier Roger Cook labelled the spate of violent incidents at the high school as “distressing and traumatising”.
It followed a second parent coming forward and alleging her 13-year-old son was horrifically bullied at the school, which forced her to remove him due to concerns for his mental health.
Cook said he understood that parents, who were calling for schools to better protect their children, were upset.
“Kids should be confident that they can go to school knowing that they’ll be protected, knowing that they’ll be supervised to the extent needed so that violence doesn’t occur,” he said.
“We can’t guarantee that there won’t be outbreaks of anti-social behaviour in a school environment, and that’s why we have such strong consequences for students that are enacting out violence.“
Cook said 10 alternative school sites had been arranged for other disruptive students, with options available for schools to address ongoing bullies.
Since the alleged assault at Ellenbrook Central a week ago, large groups of school children are no longer permitted to enter the centre at the same time.
A spokesperson for Vicinity, which operates the centre said security teams follow “carefully planned” patrol rotations to ensure comprehensive coverage.
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“Ellenbrook Shopping Centre has a zero tolerance policy on disruptive and aggressive behaviour. We continue to work closely with local schools, our retail partners and WAPOL to deliver a coordinated response to these issues in order to create a safe and a welcoming environment at our centre.”
WA Police said they could not comment on whether more patrols had been sent to cover the area but said that police resources were “scaled up or down to meet operational demand as required”.
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