Melbourne’s youth crime wave: Meet the taskforce cracking down on young criminals
THE investigators behind the taskforce that’s collared 160 young criminals — with no end in sight — describe the unpredictable, violent and brazen offenders behind our youth crime wave.
Law & Order
Don't miss out on the headlines from Law & Order. Followed categories will be added to My News.
AT 4am, the harsh glare of a police interview room’s fluorescent lights illuminate the true faces of Victoria’s youth crime crisis.
Many of them parade before veteran detective Ivan Bobetic and his crew again and again and again.
Since February, the team has collared more than 160 young criminals, a handful of them as many as six times, for the same types of crime.
The detectives of Operation Cosmas have at times worked 90-hour weeks on end, dealing with a problem so unpredictable that no end is in sight.
Like many Victorians, they are shocked by the seriousness of these youngsters’ crimes and the violence on display.
“When I was 14, I was still collecting footy cards. These kids are collecting 2016 Mercedes,’’ Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Bobetic says.
But he urges Victorians not to fear these brazen youths — he says they are basically disorganised children.
“When you get these kids one on one, you look at them and you go: ‘God, you’re only a child. You’re only a baby.’
“They’re only little 14-, 15-year-old kids,” Det. Sen-Sgt Bobetic says.
“In the group dynamic, they’ve got the bravado and the chest-beating. But when you get them at 4 o’clock in the morning here, and they’re sitting in a cold interview room by themselves and they’re waiting for their mum to come down, they certainly get some time for self-reflection.
“All of a sudden that bravado’s drained out of them, whether it be out of fatigue or whether it be the reality of things,” he says.
The Dandenong-based officers say the number of attacks on their patch has subsided since a February peak, but about 100 investigations remain on their books.
But even after having dealt with so many of these youths, the Operation Cosmas detectives — formerly of Taskforce Tense — can’t pinpoint what has driven the crime spike.
Detective Acting Sgt Michael Silva says the nature of the offending is so unpredictable it’s difficult to know what they will be dealing with next.
“We’re just going on and on and on,” he says.
“The wrong people might get together, and then all of a sudden eight jobs happen and we go back to the drawing board and we try to bring it (the crime rate) down again.
“We had a young boy released on Friday we weren’t even aware of, and he’s a one-man crime wave, with no remorse,” Det. Sgt Silva says.
Det. Sen-Sgt Bobetic says some crimes are “hard to compute”. He says: “It’s hard to fathom that a 14-year-old could function like that — you know, get behind the wheel of a high-performance vehicle and drive at 200km/h.
“Part of our job is having to save them from themselves, because they just don’t have — there’s no (sense of) cause and effect.
“The recklessness of these kids can be pretty confronting from my perspective, that’s for sure. It’s hard to believe.”
In February, youths were committing up to 12 aggravated burglaries two weekends in a row, stealing the keys to luxury cars.
“I’ve been (in the job) 23 years, and I’ve never seen a spike of crime like this,” Det. Sen-Sgt Bobetic says.
But their biggest concern was that intruders were no longer sneaking into houses but rather kicking in doors and confronting the occupants, often while armed.
Currently, the officers believe things are back under control — for now.
“The offenders we charged, say in January and February and March this year, we haven’t seen since, and they’re in the community,” Det. Sen-Sgt Bobetic says.
“(Whether they’re) scared about going back into the criminal justice system, or whether they’ve seen the light, whether they’ve grown up a little bit, whether the parents are back on the scene and assisting with them — there’s a whole host of different reasons,” Det. Sen-Sgt Bobetic says.
The detectives know new solutions must be found. “The old-fashioned way of policing — of finding and locking them up — it’s not working. There needs to be an engagement,” Det. Sen-Sgt Bobetic says.
“When I was taught as a young copper, it was just lock them up and let them rot.
“But that’s not in anyone’s best interests. And we can’t lock these kids up and throw away the key when they’re 15 and 16 years old,” he says.
“Otherwise, they’ll be institutionalised and they’ll continue to cause havoc for the general public for the rest of their lives.”
Detective Senior Constable Gavin Hiku says children and their families need to be open to change if they are to avoid a lifetime of crime.
“The reality is there is no kid who was born that way,’’ Sen-Det. Hiku says.
“So it’s (important to know) what brought them to be in that position and how we go about rectifying it, with everyone on board.”
@WesHosking
READ MORE ON THE ISSUE
AS IT HAPPENED: VICTORIAN YOUTH CRIME SUMMIT
EDITORIAL: YOUNG LIVES CAN BE SAVED
TOM ELLIOTT: WE SHOULD BE TACKLING CRIME NEW YORK-STYLE
MOOMBA THUG NOW ALLEGED CARJACKER
SYNDICATES RECRUIT MELBOURNE TEENS FOR VIOLENT CRIME SPREES
POLICE SHIFT FOCUS TO HELP RUNAWAYS
BASEBALL BATS IN SHORT SUPPLY AS TERRIFIED RESIDENTS TAKE UP ARMS
REFUGEE PARENTS SEND CHILDREN AWAY FROM MELBOURNE CRIME SCOURGE
VIOLENT TEEN GANG LEAVES TRAIL OF DESTRUCTION
FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLDS VICTORIA’S MOST PROLIFIC YOUNG CRIMINALS
CRIME THE LATEST GAME IN TOWN FOR TEENS
VICTORIA’S TOP COP: WE ALL HAVE A ROLE IN GIVING YOUTH HOPE
HERALD SUN RIDES ALONG WITH POLICE: CHAOS REIGNS ON MELBOURNE’S STREETS