Mick Gooda said that poverty and social dysfunction in the town camps around Alice Springs were part of the cause, and welcomed recent spending by the federal government of on housing and social services in the camps. The town camps were notorious for their drinking, violence and substandard living conditions. In 2012, John McRoberts, Northern Territory Police Commissioner, said that there had been social dysfunction in Alice Springs over 30 years. Stephanie Bell, Director of the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress said that there had been some positive changes brought about by government programs, but "the impact of years of neglect and failure of services and programs is now at a point where it is escalating beyond everyone's capacity, and we have to work collaboratively to address it". Assaults were common in Aboriginal town camps and 95% of people in the town fleeing domestic violence were Indigenous, sometimes filling a shelter housing 900 people. Housing in the 17 town camps, where people from remote communities stay when visiting Alice Springs for medical and other services, was very overcrowded, and the young people were looking for excitement when they came to town. In February 2013, Tangentyere Council called an emergency meeting of Territory government, police and other stakeholders, to address concerns among Alice Springs town camp residents, who were living in fear caused by alcohol abuse, violence and family feuding. However, several officials walked out. Camp residents later said that they felt abandoned by the Territory government. In 2015, NT police promised extra patrols for an upcoming sporting event, after the number of youth offenders across the Territory had doubled in the previous year. They would be working with Tangentyere Night Patrol, along with other night patrol teams from across Central Australia, and urged residents to help by reporting crime through the regular channels, after a vigilante group called the Alice Springs Volunteer Force (ASVF) were trying to recruit people with firearms experience on social media. The police had earlier launched Taskforce Neo to try to reduce the rates of youth crime in Alice Springs as well as remote areas. There was a spate of rock-throwing by youths in 2015 and 2016, targeting people, vehicles and buildings. 2017: youth crime concerns At the end of 2017, youth crime was still causing concern in the community, after a series of violent assaults, brawls and robberies perpetrated by youths. At an Alice Springs Council