Southland crime: police to crack down on unruly youths at shopping centre and station

Shoppers at Southland may have noticed more police on the beat recently — for good reason. The school holidays are a prime time for crime, and this is what the men and women in blue are honing in on.

Police have vowed to crackdown on crime at Southland shopping centre. Picture: Josie Hayden

Extra police have been patrolling Southland Shopping Centre and the nearby train station in a bid to stamp out a school holiday crime spike.

The crackdown — codenamed Operation Australis — has seen increased police patrols swarm the shopping hub, as well as other Cheltenham shopping areas and Southland station.

And Victoria Police has teamed up with local business owners to implement a range of crime prevention measures.

Kingston uniform branch and highway patrol officers will zero in on thefts, motor vehicle and bike offences and public order offences.

Road safety will also be a focus.

Kingston Local Area Commander Inspector Matthew Mulcahy said the “highly visible police presence” would enable people to feel safe during school holidays.

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“During the school holidays, evidence shows that offences increase, including theft of and theft from motor vehicles, and shoplifting,’’ Insp Mulcahy said.

“We also know there will be an increase in traffic on our roads so local highway patrol officers will be stepping up patrols.

“Pedestrians are among one of our most vulnerable road users and we’ll be out in force to ensure that everyone can enjoy the holidays safely.

“People can go about their day to day business knowing police are proactively aiming to reduce crime, public order issues and anti-social behaviour in our community.”

The crackdown comes after the Leader revealed a resident action group said crime had jumped since Southland station opened in 2017.

Pennydale Resident Action Group president Derek Screen said people were ramping up security, avoiding walking at night and working to create a new neighbourhood watch group to tackle the problem.

Mr Screen said he personally knew of at least two houses recently being broken into while people were home during the day, while about 50 cars had broken into over two months — including two in his own driveway.

He said the area was basically crime-free before the station opened and residents had noticed a huge difference but “had come together to do something about it”.

Operation Australis will run until July 14.

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