Revealed: Frankston and Mildura top hot spots for youth crime outside Melbourne CBD
A growing number of children, some as young as 10, are stealing cars, breaking into houses and carrying weapons. See which areas have the highest rates of offending.
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Fresh data has revealed the worst hot spots for youth crime across Victoria as police make more than 2000 arrests in a bid to make life “as difficult as possible” for minors involved in serious and violent offences.
Figures obtained by the Herald Sun from the Crime Statistics Agency (CSA) revealed a growing number of children – some as young as 10 – were stealing cars, breaking into houses while residents were present and being busted with weapons.
Assaults and theft from cars and shops were also among the 20,401 alleged offences committed by the 10-17 age group between June 2022 and June 2023.
On a proportion of population, Mildura had the highest overall number of offences for any local government area in Victoria with 380 incidents in an area with a population of 33,919.
Hot spots for youth crime across greater Melbourne included Frankston, Maroondah, Kingston and the Mornington Peninsula.
A Victoria Police spokespersons said overall youth offending, which included those aged from 10 to 24 remained below pre-Covid levels.
However, police were seeing children aged from 10 to 17 responsible for more criminal offences.
“Victoria Police continues to make life as difficult as possible for those seeking to commit serious and violent crime,” the spokesperson said.
“This includes using intelligence to target offending when and where we know it is more likely to occur.”
In 2023 Operation Alliance led to the arrest of 416 youth gang members a combined 1511 times, resulting in more than 3550 charges being laid.
“Of the 603 youth gang members currently being monitored in Victoria, we know most of the harm has been caused by a core group of 207 recidivist offenders, including 82 who police have arrested more than 10 times in the past year,” the spokesperson said.
Police also established a dedicated Melbourne-wide operation targeting aggravated home burglaries and associated car thefts.
Operation Trinity involves local police working with the Air Wing, Dog Squad and Public Order Response Team throughout the night.
Police saturate areas where offending is most likely to happen, using automatic number plate recognition technology to identify suspect vehicles, and rapidly responding to any incidents.
Since 25 March, Operation Trinity has led to 2,190 arrests, including 497 in relation to aggravated burglaries and car thefts.
The remaining arrests related to drug and other miscellaneous offences detected due to the strong police presence.
“The aggravated burglaries occurring are being driven predominantly by youth offenders targeting unlocked homes, with the intention of stealing car keys,” the spokesperson said.
“No confrontation is evident in more than 95 per cent of these incidents.”
Below is a breakdown of the local council areas with the highest rates of juvenile crime in 2023 using the most recent data from the CSA.
Melbourne
The City of Melbourne recorded the highest per capita rate of alleged offences by juveniles. There were 865 incidents during the 12 months to June 2023 across the local government area – which has a population of 159,810.
The incidents included 92 weapons and explosives offences, 72 serious assaults and 135 thefts from shops.
There were 11 cars stolen and less than three aggravated burglaries recorded.
Frankston
The beachside municipality recorded 725 alleged offences – the highest per capita rate in metropolitan Melbourne – from June 2022 to June 2023. Young offenders aged 10 to 17 years were involved in 30 serious assaults, 38 aggravated burglaries, 70 car thefts and 102 incidents of criminal damage.
Frankston has a population of 143,903.
Maroondah
There were 461 offences across the local government area in Melbourne’s east between June 2022 and June 2023.
The alleged offences included 37 serious assaults, 24 aggravated burglaries, nine cars stolen, 67 incidents involving criminal damage and 15 alleged offences relating to weapons or explosives.
Maroondah’s population is estimated at 115.043.
Kingston
This bayside municipality was hit with a youth crime wave in 2023 as young offenders stole at least 82 cars and local school students were menaced by machete wielding teens.
There was a total of 654 alleged offences committed by juveniles in the 10 to 17 age group across some of Melbourne's’s more affluent suburbs.
The incidents included 43 aggravated burglaries, 30 serious assaults and 33 offences involving weapons or explosives.
Kingston is home to 163, 903 residents.
Mornington Peninsula
Known as Melbourne’s holiday playground, the Mornington Peninsula is also one of the state’s top five youth crime hots spots.
The region, which has a population of 172,235, recorded 598 incidents involving juveniles.
There were 75 cars stolen, 45 aggravated burglaries, 26 serious assaults and 10 incidents involving weapons or explosives.
Yarra Ranges
Young offenders aged 10-17 years were involved in 523 alleged offences across one of the larger municipalities in Melbourne’s outer east.
The Yarra Ranges, which has a population of 157,388, recorded 66 serious assaults, 12 aggravated burglaries, 12 car thefts and 21 incidents involving weapons or explosives.
There were also 80 common assaults and 87 incidents of stealing from a shop.
The number of alleged offences saw the Yarra Ranges ranked 6th in the top ten worst suburbs for youth crime.
Casey
Not surprisingly, Melbourne’s municipality with the biggest population – 378,831 – also recorded the highest number of offences.
However, when taking into account the number of residents, Casey ranked 7th in the top ten most dangerous suburbs for youth crime.
Of the 1210 offences recorded across Casey in the 10-17 years age group, there were 184 cars stolen, 117 aggravated burglaries and 78 serious assaults.
A further 184 thefts from shops were recorded and 23 young offenders allegedly committed offences related to weapons or explosives.
Wyndham
Melbourne’s outer south west was also hit hard by youth crime in 2022/23 ranking eight overall
The municipality of Wyndham, which has a population of 309,125 recorded 979 offences involving the 10-17 age group.
There were 111 cars stolen, 96 serious assaults, 38 aggravated burglaries and 37 offences involving weapons or explosives.
Whittlesea
Young law breakers were also causing trouble in the mainly rural municipality of Whittlesea.
Juvenile offenders in the 10-17 years age group recorded 654 crimes in the 12 months to June 2023.
There were 64 car thefts, 40 serious assaults, 41 burglaries and 40 offences involving a weapon or explosives.
Whittlesea has a population of 244,124.
Hume
One of Victoria’s fastest growing municipalities, with a population of 259,962, has been identified as a youth crime hot spot.
A total of 486 offences were recorded across the Hume between June 2022 and June 2023.
There were 61 serious assaults, 31 car thefts, 11 aggravated burglaries and 27 offences involving a weapon or explosives.
Mildura
Based on proportion of population, Mildura had the highest overall number of offences for any local government area in Victoria with 380 incidents in an area with just 33,919 residents.
The Murray River region in north west Victoria had 13 serious assaults, seven aggravated burglaries, 26 cars stolen and seven offences involving weapons or explosives.
Latrobe crimes
The City of Latrobe in Gippsland was ranked the second most dangerous local government area for youth crime.
There were a total of 791 incidents recorded including 86 serious assaults, 40 car thefts, 25 aggravated burglaries and 19 offences relating to weapons or explosives from June 2022 and June 2023.
Latrobe has a population of 78,896.
Greater Shepparton
About 180km north of Melbourne, Shepparton – which is home to 68,409 people – ranked third, with 370 crimes committed by juveniles in the past year.
The 10-17 age group recorded 65 serious assaults, 24 car thefts, six aggravated burglaries and 11 offences related to weapons or explosives.
Greater Bendigo
Young law breakers in the central Victorian municipality of Greater Bendigo recorded 651 offences in the past year.
There were 61 serious assaults, 48 aggravated burglaries, 31 car thefts and nine incidents related to weapons or explosives.
Greater Bendigo has a population of 126, 348.
Greater Geelong
About an hour from Melbourne, Victoria’s second largest city rounded out the top five most dangerous areas for youth crime.
Geelong, which has a population of 282,888 recorded a total of 651 offences for the 10-17 age group.
There were 90 serious assaults, 51 aggravated burglaries, 21 car thefts and 28 offences involving weapons or explosives.
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