High-visibility youth-crime operations to target NSW towns and social media boasting

NSW police have launched a new high-visibility operation to try and tackle rising levels of youth crime in Western and Northern NSW.

Senior police figures made the announcement today in Dubbo, warning that a newly formed unit of 60 police will target a small cohort of "repeat offenders" believed to be responsible for 90 per cent of the youth crime in the state.

"This is about sending a clear message to these young criminals that we are going to find you and lock you up," NSW Deputy Commissioner Paul Pisanos said.

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Operation "Soteria" is going to target regional centres including Moree, Tamworth, Dubbo, Orange, Tweed Heads, Coffs Harbour, Kempsey, Taree, and Newcastle in the coming months.

In particular, it will aim to arrest "recidivist ring leaders" and divert young first-time offenders.

Police said they would be conducting a "surge operation" week with 20 extra officers, supplanted with police helicopters and roaming units.

The trend of youth offenders recording their alleged crimes and posting them online will also be targeted, with police saying they'll use command hubs to identify the social media "posting and boasting" in real-time.

Police will also hold crisis meetings with social media companies and the E-Safety Commissioner to shut down 

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"To be clear, posting and boasting criminal activity will not give young offenders notoriety it will land them in custody," Pisanos said.

Pisanos said they will look to divert young people on the periphery of the offending to youth services.

"Part of this mission is to lock up the ring leaders and divert others away from a life of crime," he said.

"The prevention arm of this operation is extremely important as we want to funnel young kids on the fringe of this criminal activity into suitable programs and away from criminal activity."

Since laws restricting "posting and boasting" came into effect, 53 people have been charged, with 27 of them under the age of 16.

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