Youth crime summit: Chaos reigns on Melbourne streets during four-hour police ride-along
A BRAWL at a teen girl’s party, home invasion, armed robbery and police pelted with bottles — all within four hours in Melbourne’s southeast. And it’s not half of it.
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MORE than 40 youths brawl as a teenage girl’s party sours; at another, police are pelted with bottles; a resident wakes to find intruders in his home; and a liquor shop attendant is threatened at knifepoint.
That’s not an account of one weekend’s lawlessness, nor even of one night’s.
It’s a snapshot from just four hours on a Saturday night in the southeastern suburbs. And it’s not the half of it.
Our shift alongside Narre Warren-based Acting Senior Sergeant Michael Hastings has barely begun when, just after 11 o’clock, we are called to an armed robbery at a Springvale bottle shop.
The attendant was locking up when a youth with a knife confronted him. Detectives arrive, and are given a description of the robber’s car.
Inquiries lead, days later, to the arrest of a man, 19, and a boy, 17, after a chase through bush near Dandenong Creek. They are linked to a three-day crime spree, including carjacking, that culminated in a car being torched.
Just past midnight, we are called to a street brawl in Endeavour Hills involving 30 to 50 people.
At least six carloads of officers rendezvous in a side street to plan their response. Perhaps the 000 report is an exaggeration.
It is not.
A teenage girl’s birthday party has erupted. Smashed glass lies everywhere. As we arrive, some teens hurriedly leave. Others mock police.
One, branding officers pigs, gleefully sings Old MacDonald Had a Farm.
Amid the mayhem, one 17-year-old party guest is bashed and robbed of his mobile phone.
“They took my phone — I don’t know where it is,’’ he says. “I was getting ready to go home — I think he just only went for me because my phone was out.
“I was just replying to a message to one of my friends and a guy came up to me and said: ‘Give me your phone.’
“He tried to yank it out of my hand. As I was trying to keep it in my hand using both hands, someone else came behind me and hit me in the back of the head.”
One boy, 16, repeatedly ignores orders from the police to move on. He is arrested for being drunk, to be taken home without charge.
As he is bundled into a divisional van, a tirade against the “pigs” continues.
“That’s not uncommon at parties like that,’’ Sen-Sgt Hastings says. “They’re obviously alcohol-affected and they’ve got very little respect for authority.
“A lot of youth want to get a reaction from police — they want that antagonistic-type confrontation. There’s no respect for teachers any more.
“There’s very little respect for parents in a lot of the youth that we deal with, anyway — it filters over to us.
“The stuff I see the members having to deal with every day is pretty full on.
“We’re getting kids of 16, 17 years old, who are drug- or alcohol-affected, wanting to fight police,’’ he says.
Just as one melee is controlled, another breaks out.
Six police officers who break up a fight between three teenage boys in Noble Park are themselves then pelted with bottles. The boys are among a large group of under-age partygoers who have been celebrating at a restaurant.
Finding themselves under siege the police officers resort to firing off capsicum spray, and call in more units as reinforcements.
Sergeant Jo Hayden explains: “There was probably 100, 150 people in the street.
“They’ve started throwing bottles at us and charging us — we’ve been dodging bottles flying at us overhead.
“There was probably a group of 30 that were throwing bottles and trying to goad us into an incident.
“There was no reason to turn on us at all.”
About 1.45am, a young man picking up a friend at the nearby railway station is approached by two men and struck in the head.
They take the keys to his high-performance car which are found discarded nearby.
The man is sent off to hospital.
Not long afterwards, there is a radio call for a “hot” burglary: a Pakenham resident has woken to find up to three men in his house. Such crimes are becoming typical in the area; recently, there has been an average of about one a night.
The trio flees.
Our police vehicle’s floodlights light up the streets of the new housing estate as we search for them.
Sen-Sgt Hastings punches into the police computer the registration details of cars parked in the area, in case they have been stolen.
More officers descend on the area to join the search, and the dog squad is called in.
The dog follows its nose to a house where the door is ajar; but it turns out it has been left open by a man who has had too many and stumbled home.
The search continues.
In Berwick, too, a search is under way. Up to five people have been attacked with batons and robbed. A half dozen young males wearing dark clothing are wanted.
The clock has passed 3am.
Our stint with Sen-Sgt Hastings is now over — but he still has four more hours on duty ahead.
Local police officers tell us they have dealt with as many as 36 jobs — or an average of one every 13 minutes — in a single eight-hour shift.
“I’ve worked in this area a long time, and there is very little let-up now,’’ Sen-Sgt Hastings says.
“Night shift was always a chance to get your breath, and that doesn’t seem to happen too much any more.
“You just don’t know what you’re going to get.”
FOUR HOURS WITH POLICE
11pm, Springvale
Bottle shop held up at knifepoint.
Man, 19, later arrested and charged.
Boy, 17, also arrested and charged over other incidents.
Duo linked to carjacking at Dandenong, service station armed robbery at Springvale, police pursuit in Noble Park and car fire at Dandenong.
12.15am, Endeavour Hills
More than 40 people brawl in street at teenage party.
Boy, 17, bashed in head and has mobile phone stolen.
Boy, 16, arrested for being drunk.
12.30am, Noble Park
Six police pelted with glass bottles after breaking up fight involving three young males.
Total crowd of up to 150 youths have been at a nearby restaurant with 30 involved in attacking police.
Officers deploy pepper spray and offenders disperse.
1.30am, Dandenong South
Up to 200 hoons reported at illegal street gathering.
1.45am, Noble Park Railway Station
Young man bashed, sustaining deep laceration to back of head and has car keys stolen.
Up to two males believed responsible.
2.15am, Pakenham
Homeowner wakes to find up to three males inside.
Search of the area fails to find any trace of the offenders.
2.30am, Berwick
Up to five victims set upon with extendable batons.
Two are injured with a wallet and phone taken
Up to six males wearing dark clothing believed responsible.