Police Minister Paul Papalia has detailed the ‘horrifying’ crimes occurring in the Kimberley and Pilbara region to Gareth Parker on 6PR Breakfast.

“What your talking about, unfortunately, is the nature of the crimes doesn’t reflect any connection to (the) local culture at all,” he told Parker.

“This is something that’s like wannabe gangsters more aligned with something in America than it is here. And they’re connecting with each other in a way that wouldn’t have been possible in the past, and egging each other on and urging them to do worse and bigger crimes.”

The Police Minister has written to Federal Communications Minister, Paul Fletcher, calling on the government to encourage TikTok and Snapchat to prevent content that continues to feed an ongoing competition between rival Kimberley and Pilbara gangs.

“It’s actually quite horrifying because quite often the cars are stolen sometimes in violent fashion. So keys are stolen from vulnerable people or often just where they’ve been accessed quite easily,” he said.

“It’s very, very dangerous to our police, to the community and the children themselves.”

Press PLAY to hear the interview with the Police Minister below