Youth crime in Victoria surged 18 per cent over past year as police carry out most arrests ever

Offending by children surged 18 per cent in the year to March as Victoria Police carried out the most arrests ever in its 172-year history.

Six people have been killed in crashes involving stolen cars as “catastrophic” youth offending drives a record surge in arrests, car thefts and home invasions.

Three of those six deaths involved innocent members of the public “going about their day-to-day business.”

Victoria Police made the highest number of arrests in the force’s 172-year history in the past year, with 75,968 arrests — more than 200 per day — marking a 23 per cent jump over the past decade.

The biggest drivers of the state’s surging crime rate, which rose 17 per cent in the 12 months to March, were crimes committed by children, which police say have exploded to the highest rate since electronic record keeping began in 1993.

Youth offending committed by kids aged 10 and 17 rose 17.9 per cent, with 25,275 offences linked to kids.

That age group made up just 13 per cent of criminals, but they were the most likely offenders in 63 per cent of robberies, 46 per cent of home invasions and 27 per cent of car thefts.

Teens clash with machetes at Northland shopping centre. Picture: Supplied

Acting Deputy Regional Operations Commissioner David Clayton said the community was most concerned about young criminals speeding while behind the wheels of stolen cars.

“This offending has led to catastrophic consequences in the past year, with stolen cars involved in more than 760 crashes and six people losing their lives,” he said.

“There is no doubt overall crime is higher than both the community and police would like.”

Several teenagers have been killed in deadly stolen car crashes, including a 16-year-old boy from Hoppers Crossing who died when the stolen car he was in with two friends crashed in Tarneit last month.

In March, best friends Nicholas Crick and Nick Price died when the Toyota Yaris they were driving after it had been stolen along with a Honda Accord from a house in Knoxfield smashed into a tree.

It comes as those who carry out a range of car theft-related offences will soon face tough new bail laws.

The state government in March announced those who stole cars and were also charged with related crimes of conduct endangering life, conduct endangering persons, failure to stop and possession of a prohibited or controlled weapon would be the subject of that legislation.

Those changes, under which there will be no presumption of bail, are expected to come into place imminently.

Mr Clayton said there were a range of factors as to why young criminals were carrying weapons.

He said he hoped the recent ban on the sale of machetes would slow the use of them but more work was needed.

He said it was now unfortunately normal for teenagers to be arming themselves in the streets.

“There’s no doubt the recent changes to machete laws will initially help choke the supply, but that’s only part of it,” he said.

“It’s not just about legislation … We’ve got to do the long-term work (too).

“It seems to be that amongst youth offenders, it’s become normalised to carry an edged weapon for some of them.”

A 16-year-old boy died in a crash at Tarneit in May. Picture: Supplied

Police Minister Anthony Carbines on Thursday conceded that it was “unacceptable” that crime had soared under his watch.

Following the release of the new data, Mr Carbines was asked if he was comfortable with the explosion of criminal incidents since he became the minister in 2022.

“No, not at all,” he said.

“It’s unacceptable.”

The minister, however, said he had no regrets about waiting more than a year to introduce bail, machete and “post and boast” laws.

“We’re acting as quickly as we can to respond to the community’s concerns and advice from Victorian Police on what measures we can put in place to keep the community safe,” he said.

Mr Carbines said he was confident the impact of the new laws would be reflected in future statistics.

“We’ve seen a 100 per cent increase in young offenders remanded,” he said.

“We’ve seen a 31 per cent increase in adult offenders remanded.

“We will start to see most people unable to commit further offending.

“So I would expect that we will start to see in the coming quarters the effect of repeat offenders who are behind bars.”

Victoria has been gripped in a youth crime crisis. Picture: Victoria Police

Opposition Leader Brad Battin said the “scary” and record breaking crime statistics showed Victorians across the state were being put at risk.

“It doesn’t matter where you live, you are less safe today than you were 10 years ago,” he said.

“We’re seeing aggravated burglaries increase 30 per cent year on year.

“That is a figure that sends shivers down my spine.”

Shadow police minister David Southwick slammed the government for delaying the introduction of tougher bail and knife laws and “underfunding” Victoria Police.

“If this Police Minister thinks that they’re actually doing their job, then he’s dreaming,” he said.

“Everything this government does is catch up.”

Meanwhile, the number of recorded aggravated burglaries has continued to break historic records, with 7,878 home break-ins last year.

Family violence incidents also soared to another record high, with mobile phones and social media contributing to a rise in the number of family violence order breaches.

Overall family violence incidents increased 10.7 per cent while breaches of orders jumped more than 18 per cent.

More than 15,500 arrests were made on the same 8,435 family violence perpetrators last year.

Technology in which cars can be stolen without the vehicle’s keys remain a huge concern for police with motor vehicle theft remaining at its highest level in more than two decades.

About 20 per cent of all car thefts are reported with the owners still having their own car keys on them.

Authorities continue to urge those with push-start vehicles, namely Holdens, Toyotas and Subarus, to install a range of antitheft devices.

Crooks stealing from cars, utes, vans and trucks remain the most common type of offence, with theft from motor vehicles soaring an unprecedented 39.3 per cent.

But those figures are largely inflated with the huge rise of stolen registration plates, which increased nearly 50 per cent alone.

Retail theft again hit a record high with severe cost of living pressures behind a 38.6 per cent spike in that offence.

Police say those struggling to afford the basics and vulnerable people recruited by lower-level organised crime figures to steal huge amounts of meat and alcohol remain a significant portion of the offenders.

Originally published as Youth crime in Victoria surged 18 per cent over past year as police carry out most arrests ever