Bayside police say youth crime now ‘out of control’ in elite suburbs

Police patrolling Melbourne’s elite bayside suburbs say they’re being “hit hard” by a surge in “out-of-control” youth crime and claim victims are “not getting justice” thanks to the court system.

Bayside cops have publicly slammed the “out of control” surge in youth crime and say victims of their wild offending are “not getting justice” thanks to the court system.

Officers patrolling Melbourne’s elite bayside suburbs say they’re “getting hit hard” amid a surge in youths committing aggravated burglaries, home invasions and car thefts.

The bayside area experienced yet another rise in crime and police have previously confirmed a 43 per cent spike in aggravated burglaries in the area.

Police intelligence indicates teenagers from Melbourne’s outer suburbs are heading to ritzy suburbs like Brighton and Beaumaris in a bid to steal high-end luxury sports cars.

The teenagers largely target unlocked homes and cars before making off with their new wheels for a high-speed joy ride across the suburbs.

Bayside and Glen Eira Acting Sergeant Cassandra O’Loughlin said while the community was fortunate enough to have six police stations in the area, crime is now “out of control”.

She said magistrates continually granting bail at the children’s court was a huge disappointment for victims of crime.

Police intelligence indicates teenages from Melbourne’s outer suburbs are heading to ritzy suburbs like Brighton and Beaumaris in a bid to steal high-end luxury sports cars.

“We are getting hit and we’re getting hit hard. We’re getting hit with the same youth offenders and it is absolutely out of control,” she said.

“We’re feeling like we’re not getting justice for our victims because we’re not getting the results in court that we would like to see.”

It is one of the rare occasions frontline police have publicly slammed the state’s justice system.

Police chiefs typically deflect those claims as a “matter for the state government”.

Acting Sergeant O’Loughlin said the bitter pay dispute was forcing officers to work several hours of unpaid overtime.

Police say they’re working several hours of unpaid overtime just to keep up with the surge in crime.

“How it impacts us is that we’re not going home to have dinner with our families, we’re doing so much overtime at the moment to process these offenders and get some semblance of justice,” she added.

“People’s houses and cars are getting damaged on a daily basis and it impacts us because we are part of the community as well.

“Just pay us what we’re worth.”

The latest crime data, released on Thursday, showed a slight increase in the number of criminal incidents in the bayside area.

Brighton, Hampton and Sandringham were listed as the top three most affected suburbs.