Cops arrest youth gang members and associates across Melbourne’s southeast
More than 80 cops have swarmed Melbourne’s southeast and seized an arsenal of weapons in a bid to disrupt some of the state’s most violent youth offenders.
Police & Courts
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A huge arsenal of weapons has been taken off the streets after police smashed teenage gangs in a series of raids last week.
More than 80 officers swarmed Melbourne’s south east suburbs arresting 28 people and seizing eight firearms, two imitation guns and 16 weapons, including machetes, swords and flick knives as part of Operation Alliance.
Superintendent Jo Stafford, who spearheaded the week blitz, said the aim was to disrupt some of the most violent youth offenders in the state who were connected to weapons offences, aggravated burglaries and car thefts.
“What we are seeing is scary. It’s violent, serious offending,” Supt Stafford said.
“Our youth network offenders are committing aggravated burglaries (when people are home) where they break in, steal a car and drive it at ridiculous speeds. It’s really just a matter of time before someone is cleaned up or a family is cleaned up by a vehicle because the speeds at which they are driving, after they have stolen a car, is really significant and putting people’s lives at risk.”
The five day operation saw specialist youth gang squads partner with Viper Taskforce, the Public Order Response Team and the national anti-gangs squad from the AFP to raid 42 properties across Greater Dandenong, Casey and Cardinia where there are 16 known teenage gangs. They were supported by the Drone Unit, Highway Patrol, K9 Unit and even Mounted Branch.
Alarmingly, eight firearms were found, including a longarm rifle, a sawn off shotgun and a revolver loaded with live ammunition.
“It’s serious and violent crimes that’s being committed in the community and Operation Alliance demonstrates why we need to have a dedicated team focused on dismantling and disrupting these gangs,” Supt Stafford said.
“These guns were in the community. We’ve got them off the streets and we are doing everything we can to make sure we get guns and edged weapons out of the community and prevent people becoming victims of crime. The effect of those weapons, in terms of potential victims we could have had, is what we want to celebrate about Operation Alliance.”
She added: “This isn’t a one off. We’ll have days of action, or weeks of action, regular consistent operations so that these young offenders don’t know when we are coming or where we are coming for them. But our work is 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year – it’s relentless, it’s targeted, we’re in their faces and we will not stop.”
Victoria Police launched Operation Alliance – a statewide crackdown on all 48 youth gangs – in September 2020. In the last 12 months, 448 youth gang members have been arrested a combined 1,422 times with 3,175 charges laid. The unabated strategy is proving successful. The number of known youth gang members on the force’s watchlist has decreased from 747 to 625.
But it’s a constant battle for officers. While police have intelligence 192 members have severed ties with youth gangs and not continued to reoffend in the past year, almost as many (172) have been added to the Alliance watchlist in the same period.
Dedicated Alliance teams operate in key areas of metropolitan Melbourne, such as Greater Dandenong, Casey and Cardinia, where a higher proportion of gangs exist.
“We target 10 to 24 year olds but what we are primarily seeing is 15 and 16 year olds who have graduated from lower level stuff to more serious offending, more organised offending as they get that bit older,” Supt Stafford said.
“Unlike other areas, our gang members don’t stick to a particular gang. They are more fluid, they move in between gangs. Sometimes you’ll speak to a young person and they identify as part of one gang, but then they are heading out with someone from another gang and they are offending with that person as well.”
Supt Stafford said the children committing crimes were motivated by social media.
“They are filming themselves as they are driving at very high speeds and sharing it with their network. It really is seen as a badge of honour to steal a car that is a high end vehicle and to drive it at really high speeds.”
She added: “But we are also seeing assaults and robberies. We are seeing a lot of robberies occur in public places where someone is stabbed.
“That’s why we will continue to run operations like this and focus on these offenders and we won’t give up on it,” Supt Stafford warned.
During the operation last week, 28 people who were known youth gang members or associates were arrested and charged for a range of offences including being a prohibited person possessing a firearm, possessing a firearm, possessing ammunition, possessing a prohibited or controlled weapon, aggravated burglary and car theft.
Detectives also issued a Firearm Prohibition Order (FPO) to five known youth gang offenders or their associates.
Supt Stafford said FPOs had been a game changer for police.
“The legislation allows us the power to go and conduct searches of people, of their vehicle or their home without a warrant. So it’s a wonderful tool for us to be able to go and enforce the law in this space and as you can see, it’s been very effective,” she said.
“Police will continue to make life as difficult as possible for those who choose to align themselves with a gang with the intention of committing serious and violent crime. We will regularly knock on their door for bail compliance checks, we will saturate the locations where we know they frequent and we will continue to gather intelligence on their activities and their associates.”
She added: “My message is clear to anyone who wants to commit violent crime and jeopardise the safety of the broader community – we are not going away and if you were fortunate enough to escape a knock at the door last week, you won’t be so lucky next time.”
jon.kaila@news.com.au
Week of action (Monday 17 April to Friday 21 April)
• Arrested 28 people who were either a known member of a youth gang or an associate
• Charges included being a prohibited person possessing a firearm, possessing a firearm, possessing ammunition, possessing prohibited or controlled weapons, aggravated burglary and car theft
• 42 properties searched
• Five Firearm Prohibition Orders issued to known youth gang members or those affiliated with youth gangs
• Eight firearms seized, including a longarm rifle, a sawn-off shotgun and a revolver loaded with live ammunition.
• Two imitation pistols seized
• More than 230 rounds of ammunition found
•16 edged weapons seized, including two machetes, a homemade sword, a flick knife and various other knives
• Other weapons seized included two batons, a slingshot and knuckle dusters
Operation alliance (12 months to 31 March 2023)
• 448 youth gang members arrested a combined 1,422 times
• 3,175 charges laid
• 48 youth gangs actively monitored by police across the state
• 625 current youth gang members, down 122 people from when Operation Alliance started
• 16 known youth gangs based in the Greater Dandenong, Casey and Cardinia areas
• 192 people have cut ties with youth gangs in past 12-months
• 172 people have been added to youth gang watchlist in past 12-months
• 73 youth gang members currently in an adult prison
• 37 youth gang members in youth justice centres
• In the past 12-months, 177 youth gang members were not charged with a criminal offence, 71 were charged with one offence, 106 were charged twice and 271 were charged three times or more
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