Victoria Police arrest 57 young thieves and thugs
Police have sent a strong message to young criminals across Melbourne, threatening more arrests after 57 people were detained for “horrendous crimes” as part of a major crackdown.
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Police have arrested 57 people across Melbourne as part of a major crackdown into youth crime — and they’re not finished yet.
North West Metro region Commander Tim Hansen said today the arrested people were “concerningly” aged as young as 15.
Despite the arrests for what he called “horrendous crimes” that threatened the way Victorians went about their daily lives, he wanted to “reassure” the public that Melbourne was a safe place to live and yesterday’s blitz on youth offenders didn’t reduce the “liveability” of the city.
“Those targeted through this operation are alleged to have committed offences which cause significant harm to victims and have a substantial impact on the broader community’s feelings of safety.”
That included carjackings, swarming crimes and home invasions.
And he promised the crackdown was far from over.
Speaking directly to the young thugs, Mr Hansen said if we “didn’t arrest you yesterday … doesn’t mean you aren’t on our list … your day in court will come.”
The huge police swoop formed part of Operation Liege, established in July, which shares intelligence across police borders in a crackdown on serious crime.
Mr Hansen said that would continue — and without revealing details — promised there would be similar days like Monday’s action before the end of the year.
Police would be “breathing down the necks” of the thugs.
He said it was clear the young gang members “sought notoriety” from being part of a gang and wanted to deny giving them that platform by providing a running commentary.
But it was “absolutely the case” there were street gangs in Victoria.
Of major concern was the age of the offenders and the violence they were showing so early.
He wouldn’t reveal how many people were on the police watchlist but it was about “ a couple of hundred”.
Mr Hansen said in many cases when the youths were bailed by the courts they brazenly flouted their curfew conditions which left officers “running around metropolitan Melbourne” finding them.
“It shows a lack of respect to our judicial process,” he said.
Among the arrested people are teens accused of mass raids on electronics stores, in which iPhones and other devices were grabbed.
A total of 34 youths were previously charged over 150 swarming and shop-theft incidents as part of Taskforce Burns.
Mr Hansen said police were battling an “unheard of” wave of youth offending.
“These are the most active and dangerous offenders we have,” he said of those arrested on Monday.
“We have a clear sight of who they are and who is still at large. We are breathing down their necks and watching their every criminal move,” he added.
The youths, many with gang affiliations, are a mix of caucasian, African, Pacific Islander and Asian backgrounds, predominantly from southeastern and western suburbs of the city, and beyond.
These include Cranbourne, Clyde North, Dandenong, Narre Warren, Pakenham, Reservoir, Sunshine, Truganina, Lara and Norlane.
Commander Hansen said police had drastically changed their approach to tackle the problem, including sophisticated tactics to monitor offenders.
Several youths were last night remanded behind bars while others were released on conditional bail.
The huge police swoop formed part of Operation Liege, established in July, which shares intelligence across police borders in a crackdown on serious crime.
The 40 youths arrested between 5am and 11pm on Monday were listed on the growing database, which includes the names of other targets in police sights.
“We will strike in a co-ordinated manner and take them off the streets very quickly,” said Cdr Hansen.
“There are more people on our list, and over the coming days we will turn our minds to those people.
“And between now and the end of the year, there will be more specifically co-ordinated days of action.” Cdr Hansen said the young criminals created huge challenges for police because they were ruthless and unafraid of authority.
He said many launched into high-harm crimes such as carjacking straight off the bat, often for the glory of their peers.
“Many on our list seek public notoriety or want to be lauded for their action,” he said. “These youths are different because they go from having no criminal record to committing high- harm crimes. It’s unheard of in youth offending.
“They are very well networked over social media and very well planned to strike and cause the most harm when they can.
“They have little fear of authority, little fear of the repercussions of their offending — this is very new in criminal offending.”
SUBURBS
Cranbourne
Clyde North
Dandenong
Lara
Narre Warren
Norlane
Pakenham
Reservoir
Sunshine
Truganina
CHARGES
Home invasion
Affray
Burglary
Robbery
Theft
Vehicle crime
Outstanding warrants
Failing to appear in court
DATA TO ERASE YOUTH GANGS
Police have in their hands a list of youth criminals whose days on the streets could be numbered.
The sophisticated intelligence-sharing database, from which the youths arrested on Monday were plucked, contains the names and details of dozens of thugs wanted for crimes that continue to strike fear into the hearts of Victorians.
Police have worked hard to locate these offenders, whose modus operandi has changed drastically in the past few years.
Five years ago, aggravated burglary was a crime more commonly associated with “run-throughs” on drug dealers.
But it quickly became the hallmark of the youth gangs, who would enter houses late at night in numbers to grab car keys and steal the owners’ prestige vehicles like Audis and BMW’s. Vicious and unnecessary assaults were often part of their tactics.
The same applies to carjacking which, a decade ago, Victorians would have been thankful to associate with Johannesburg.
Nowadays, they are not uncommon here, as gangs and other individual desperados pounce on random victims.
And swarming rampages are just the latest technique in a new era of criminal offending by the young. The gangs burst into the public consciousness in the Moomba riots of March 2016.
Police will be hoping Monday’s sweep is a major step in finally putting them on the back foot. The new cross-border intelligence-sharing model formed by police in July has been crucial to the recent series of arrests.
It has become commonplace for offenders to strike at different police regions, often in the space of a few hours.
On the weekend, a young alleged offender went on a wild 24/7 stabbing, carjacking and home invasion spree that spanned more than 350km across Victoria.
North West Metro Region Commander Tim Hansen said the database was crucial to his arrest. “This was someone who was quite clearly on an active crime spree and (if not for the intelligence sharing) it could have been Monday or Tuesday before he was picked up and who knows what might have happened,” he said.
“This is a real-time database where the identities of offenders are readily available and can elicit a swift response.”
— Mark Buttler