Youths run rampant at Greensborough Plaza, calls for security overhaul

Youths hurling abuse at each other, blatant drug deals and fist fights happen every day in broad daylight at Greensborough Plaza. So what’s being done to make the popular shopping centre safer for patrons?

Bianca Laudani's son was attacked by youths while he was eating dinner with his friends at McDonald’s, outside Greensborough Plaza. Picture: Ellen Smith

Violent youths are assaulting innocent diners, yelling abuse and taking drugs in broad daylight along Greensborough’s busiest retail strip and it’s driving scores of people away, scared shoppers say.

But police insist the problem is not out-of-control.

Mother Bianca Laudani said her 15-year-old son was punched in the jaw by another teenager while he was eating dinner with his friends at McDonald’s, outside Greensborough Plaza, last month.

“A group of five of them just came up to my son and his friends, one of them snatched a phone from my son’s friend’s hands — and my son just asked them to give it back when he got attacked,” she said.

“Something needs to be done, these teen groups are roaming the plaza daily — it’s almost like organised child crime.”

Shoppers say they are fed up with delinquent teens “hanging out” near the Main St entrance to Greensborough Plaza.

Greensborough Plaza centre manager Simone Dirckze said security responded to the incident, leading to the arrest of three youths.

“We have organised an increased presence of local police, with regular patrols,” she said.

“Greensborough Plaza has also introduced regular Safer Shopper meetings with input from Banyule City Council, Greensborough Police, Victoria Police Youth Officers, WaterMarc and the Greensborough Town Centre.”

A total of 467 shoppers out of 1009 who voted in a Leader poll said they did not feel safe in or around Greensborough Plaza.

Nathan Gunn said he would not return to the shopping centre after a teenager threatened to ash his cigarette onto him, if he did not hand over cash.

Rocio Hernandez told the Leader she would see drug deals happening in broad daylight outside the plaza’s Main St entrance every week.

“I see rough, older gentlemen exchanging hands with teenagers and it’s right there in your face,” she said.

“Many teenagers hang around the bus stop and taxi rank — they’re yelling abuse at each other and it frightens everyone waiting for the bus or taxi.

“It’s very intimidating — you can’t say anything.”

Concerned shoppers say they would often see violent youths hurling abuse at each other and doing drug deals at the bus stop outside Greensborough Plaza.

Mother Allison Mott said she would not allow her daughter to shop at Greensborough Plaza alone after she was set upon by a gang of teens in the car park three years ago.

“Every year there seems to be a new batch of angry youths hanging around the place,” she said.

“They’re preying on easy targets and those easy targets are our children.

“The centre needs a major security overhaul — years of inaction has caused this and now people are too scared to go anywhere near the place.”

But Noella Jacobs, who has lived and worked in Greensborough for more than 15 years, said she had always felt safe at the precinct.

“It is a regional shopping centre with over 400 businesses, WaterMarc Aquatic centre, 15 buses and a train station, so yes sometimes youths have gathered,” she said.

“But the security issues areas are very minimal compared to other shopping centres.”

A recent Leader investigation discovered violent youths, thefts and anti-social behaviour was rife at some of Melbourne’s other popular retail precincts.

A shop owner in a notoriously troubled Heidelberg West shopping strip was forced to put his bakery on the market due to crime in the area.

Frankston’s CBD is fast becoming a ghost town as feral youths and children as young as 12 wreak havoc and drive away shoppers.

Similar problems have also plagued Highpoint, Fountain Gate and Ringwood’s Eastland.

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Greensborough Senior Sergeant Mark Van Rooyen said the plaza and Main St were areas of focus for police.

“Every school holiday period we run Operation Precinct which engages patrons, traders and targets hot spots for things like vehicle thefts and assaults — this is in addition to the regular patrols we have in that area,” he said.

“There is work to be done, but like any busy hub which sees a lot of people pass through it every day we are looking at the challenges and responding accordingly and I am confident and happy we’re making a difference.”

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