Juvenile crime falls 76 per cent following Wyndham Youth Aboriginal Corporation’s job training initiative.

A youth organisation that gives young people food and meaningful work is taking credit for a dramatic drop in juvenile crime in the East Kimberley town of Wyndham. While crime continues to plague communities across the Kimberley in Wyndham all offences have been tracking downwards for several years. Burglary, stealing and property damage have particularly dropped off since 2018 when Wyndham Youth Aboriginal Corporation began, especially crimes involving juveniles. Between January 1 and November 21 last year only six youths were charged with burglary, stealing or property damage offences compared to 26 young people in 2023. That is a crime reduction of 76 per cent. Over the Christmas and New Year school holiday of 2023-2024 Wyndham was the only town in the Kimberley which recorded no crime. Meanwhile these school holidays only a car, some alcohol and a pair of Crocs shoes have been stolen from the town of around 940 people. Wyndham Youth Aboriginal Corporation chief executive Neville D’Silva said his organisation’s training and jobs program in mechanics, landscaping and, recently, animal husbandry has meant fewer young people were falling into delinquency. “My mantra is ‘Indigenous jobs, jobs, jobs’, which is education, employment and less crime,” he said. DSilva took up the position at the head of WYAC at a time of crisis in August 2021 when three vehicles were stolen by youths in 24 hours, one of which ended up crashing, causing critical injuries to three boys aged 12, 14 and 16. At the time, WYAC’s role was to provide a nightly meal and an activity program for young people. It is a service that continues with up to 70 people being fed each evening. However, Mr D’Silva said the young people wanted something more meaningful. “We were funded to play basketball and so on, and one day one of the boys pulled me aside and said, ‘I don’t want to play basketball because I will never be Michael Jordan, I want to do an apprenticeship’.” Mr D’Silva organised funding to set up a workshop which now has four light vehicle apprentices, two heavy machinery diesel apprentices and two boilermaker apprentices. They also now have a landscaping business to train youths in other trades as well as raising livestock. Mr DSilva said the collection of social enterprises they had established was employing and training 37 young people. WYAC media spokesperson Tremane Baxter-Edwards said staff felt their dark blue WYAC shirt earned them respect in town. “It’s something they are incredibly proud of. Those kids commit those crimes because there is nothing to do. As a community member, I believe crime has gone down over the years because there has been an attitude change and we have broadened the horizon of what meaningful work looks like,” he said. Mr D’Silva now has his eyes set on getting WYAC workers involved in two, multi-million-dollar community infrastructure projects for Wyndham that were recently announced by the Federal Government. They are a $19.6 million recreation centre and a $13.8m boat-launching facility. Mr D’Silva said WYAC workers were skilled up in various trades and ready to work. “We live in this town, let these boys and girls do the job, it’s their town - they are not going to smash their own town are they?”