Bayside City Council has supported a petition from Hampton residents urging for the redirection of funds to community safety

The Bayside City Council has backed a community petition to put “machete-wielding criminals” on notice, as residents live in fear amid quadrupling rates of violent home invasions.

The Bayside City Council has backed a petition brought by a group of fed-up Hampton residents living in fear of “machete wielding criminals”, as bayside home invasions quadruple.

In a petition to council brought on March 18, residents said they felt “increasingly anxious” due to the escalation in “violent and threatening crime”.

The petition particularly focused on the “recent influx” of crime in Hampton, where there has been a massive increase in residential aggravated burglaries over the last decade, according to the latest information from Crime Statistics Victoria.

In the same report, aggravated burglaries quadrupled over 10 years across the Bayside LGA.

On Tuesday evening, the Bayside councillors voted unanimously to back the petition to redirect council funds into supporting public safety.

Councillor Robert Irlicht moved the petition, saying councillors “understood the concerns and frustrations” raised by residents.
“The matter deeply affects the safety and wellbeing of our residents and we want to assure all residents that we are actively working on the issue,” he said.

“But the responsibility … falls primarily on the state government, we believe the response from the state government has been unsatisfactory.”

Mr Irlicht also said council met fortnightly with Victoria Police to “discuss local concerns and share information”.

Robert Irlicht assured residents the council was “actively working on the issue”.

Councillor Geoff Leigh also spoke on Tuesday night, saying “hearing tales of breaking and entering” first hand was “different than hearing of it on the news”.

“I feel sorry for the police, under the current administration they’ve been given a harder task,” he said.

“People are getting bail 50 or 60 times and then coming out and attacking little old ladies — enough is enough.”

Mayor Hanna El Mouallem shared his own terrifying experience with rising crime, calling it “alarming”.

“I myself was subject to an attempted burglary, they even tried to take my car,” he said.

“We are doing everything we can, we understand the frustration in the community but we are here to do everything to support them and make sure they feel safe.”

Mr El Mouallem said the petition would be passed on to the council’s chief executive and will be heard again at a council meeting on a later date.

CCTV still of a home invasion in Black Rock. Picture: Supplied

Left to their own devices, residents have fought back, creating community WhatsApp groups — functioning as a modern Neighbourhood Watch — where car thefts, home invasions and violent confrontations with “machete wielding criminals” are reported between neighbours, as well as teaming up to self-fund a $300,000-a-year security presence.

“No level of community representation has dealt with this problem adequately,” the petition states, calling for the council to “assist its community for increased security”.

Residents from all over the LGA have been targeted, with one Black Rock family home being broken into twice within 24-hours as well as Bayside Mayor Hanna El Mouallem himself falling victim to an attempted home invasion in late January.

Residents across the LGA

Increased home invasions aren’t the only issue facing the inner-southern council, as burglars and vandals wreaked havoc at the Dendy St bathing boxes along Brighton Beach in August 2024.

In response to the sharp rise in bathing box break ins, council passed a motion to investigate heightened security measures at the tourist hotspot.