It's a chilly winter weekday evening in Alice Springs, 11-year-old Marcus* and his friends are keeping themselves occupied at the Alice Springs Gap Youth Centre.

Key points: Youth drop in centres have been opening for more nights after receiving increased government funding

Youth drop in centres have been opening for more nights after receiving increased government funding This has meant the number of kids passing through the centres has significantly increased

This has meant the number of kids passing through the centres has significantly increased The centres work in a preventative way to stop young kids entering the criminal justice system

He said he goes there every night and has been doing so for the past year.

"It's way better than home," Marcus said.

He has dinner and heads to the basketball court to run around and play with his friends and relatives, who have similar attendance records at the centre.

He is one of the 2,000 kids who went through the centre last month, and one of up to 120 kids that come through every night.

Before April the centre was only open three nights a week, Thursday through to Saturday, but now it is open every night, after a boost in NT Government funding.

Gap Youth Centre chief executive Michelle Krauer said it was something she had been fighting for since she started working there eight years ago.

"Most people in Alice Springs will know that there's often been some anti-social behaviour by young people in the evenings," Ms Krauer said.

"There was a definite push and some specific groups in the community wanting to have a youth centre open all the time."

Some kids at the Gap Youth Centre say they go there every night for the company, safety and fun. ( ABC News: Katrina Beavan )

The NT Government has funded the centre to be open seven nights a week, as well as the Tangentyere Council's Youth Drop-in Centre across town, to combat youth crime and antisocial behaviour.

Tangentyere Council's Andrew Walder said the numbers at their centre have been more consistent since the change.

"The young people have a place where they feel really safe and really welcome," he said.

"All of the young people here feel a really strong sense of ownership around the space."

He said the centre is hitting close to capacity every night, with around 80 kids coming through.

It is open to midnight on Friday and Saturday nights, with a very popular disco drawing in more than 100 kids every Saturday.

Numbers of kids visiting has doubled

As soon as the hours increased at the Gap Centre, the nightly numbers doubled.

"We previously had about 30 to 40 kids here every night, now we've doubled in numbers and we've had nights of up to 120 kids through just in one night," Ms Krauer said.

Gap Youth Centre chief executive Michelle Krauer pushed for the centre to open every night for many years. ( ABC News: Katrina Beavan )

There is a mix of reasons as to why the kids come here instead of going home, but a lot of them said it comes down to company, especially for Elise*.

"Because you get to see friends and family and you know and your cousins, your brothers," she said.

She said it was good the service did not drop the kids in town, where they could get into trouble.

"They take you straight home because home is safety instead of walking round the streets," she said.

Preventative measure

Both centres target their services to work in a preventative way to stop young kids from entering the criminal justice system.

At Tangentyere's centre some young people have already come in contact with the system, and there are programs and case managers in place to address that.

"But there is also a large proportion who have not, services like this act very strongly to prevent those types of risks occurring," Mr Walder said.

Northern Territory Police would not be drawn on whether the increase is reducing anti-social behaviour or youth presence on the streets, but said they welcomed the change and that it all played a role in tackling youth crime.

A spokesperson said officers from the Community Youth Engagement Team are deployed to known locations of antisocial behaviour and youth-related disturbances.

"The number of youths they engage with is not indicative of total youth numbers within the Alice Springs region," a statement read.

"This can be a result of many contributing factors which are generally outside the control of NTPFS [NT Police, Fire and Emergency Services] and include events, holiday periods and accessing services."

Activities range from pool, computer time, basketball, music making, crafts and more at the Gap Youth Centre. ( ABC News: Katrina Beavan )

Meanwhile night patrols in eight remote communities will stop for at least six weeks from July, due to federal funding cuts.

But the Central Desert Regional Council said it is in talks with the Federal Government to try and get funding for the program reinstated.

With school holidays getting underway, all youth services in town and out bush are expecting to be a lot busier in the coming weeks.