‘Allan stays quiet while we wonder if a gang of machete wielding youths are going to invade our homes while our children sleep’
Influencer Bec Judd has lashed Premier Jacinta Allan for staying quiet on crime, “while we wonder if a gang of machete wielding youths are going to invade our homes while our children sleep”.
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Influencer Bec Judd has slammed Premier Jacinta Allan and the state’s justice system over the handling of Victoria’s spiralling youth crime wave.
Judd, who lives in Brighton and boasts more than 750,000 followers on social media, took to Instagram on Thursday, accusing Ms Allan and her government of “staying quiet” on youth crime gangs.
“Victoria Police are doing their job. The justice system and state government are not,” she said
“Jacinta Allan stays quiet while we wonder if a gang of machete wielding youths are going to invade our homes while our children sleep.
“Lock bail offenders up. Ban machetes and other weapons. There’s a start.”
A state government spokeswoman said its number one priority was community safety.
“Our record $4.5 billion police investment is having an impact on crime, by ensuring that police have the resources they need to catch, deter and hold perpetrators to account,” she said.
“Bayside is one of Melbourne’s safest places to live, with the third lowest number of criminal offences of all 31 metropolitan local government areas.
“We have also introduced new legislation to Parliament this month to give Victoria Police more powers to crackdown on firearms and machetes.”
It’s not the first time Judd has publicly spoken about her concerns about youth crime in Bayside suburbs.
The businesswoman and mum of four took to Instagram in June 2022 saying: “So sick of the rapes, bashings and home invasions at the hands of gangs in Bayside”.
“I personally know two women who have experienced home invasions in Brighton in the last few weeks while they were at home,” she said.
She also reposted CCTV footage of a group of young men lurking outside properties in her affluent suburb and claimed it made her feel “unsafe”.
“The state government don’t seem to care. We feel unsafe,” she said.
She also took aim at how “broken” the justice system had become the following year, and implored Ms Allan to lock offenders up.
“This story is so sad. The justice system is broken. Fix this Jacinta Allan. Let this be your legacy,” she wrote alongside a report of Dr Gordon’s death.
“Until the “prevention first” strategy starts to work among teens (might take years. Might never work!), you must keep the community safe by locking up violent offenders.”
It comes after the Herald Sun exclusively revealed that police had arrested an “extreme” group of 80 hardcore repeat youth offenders, more than 10 times each in the past year — with some residents in Melbourne’s beachfront suburbs so scared they are moving postcodes.
Victoria Police Inspector Scott Dwyer revealed the shocking rates of youth crime at a Bayside community forum on Tuesday night, which was attended by about 200 concerned residents.
Insp Dwyer said the core group of youth offenders had been arrested almost a dozen times, each under Operation Alliance – which targets youth gangs.
“There’s a core, smaller group of youth that are committing the majority of these serious crimes,” he said.
“There is a core group of 290 youth offenders, 80 of those are the really extreme offenders.
“Of those 80, they have all been arrested more than 10 times in the past 12 months.
“I understand your frustration as a community. You just need to understand that our detectives at Victoria Police will arrest them as often as we can and every time they commit a crime.”
It comes as fearful residents in Melbourne’s most affluent areas including Bayside and Glen Eira are resorting to hiring private security and installing bollards in a bid to protect their homes and luxury cars.
Bollard King owner Daniel Petrovic told the Herald Sun he had seen bollard installations at residential properties increase by almost 40 per cent in Melbourne’s southeast, Bayside and Peninsula suburbs in the past 12 months.
“The rate of bollards going into domestic properties has definitely increased. There has also been a rise in commercial bollards being installed due to ram raids,” he said.
A security expert, who has clients across Melbourne including Bayside suburbs, said he had seen an increase in neighbours hiring private security and installing bollards.
“There are a number of streets in Bayside where residents have hired private security and installed bollards to protect their cars,” he said.
“I know residents in Bayside are quite fearful at the moment about the escalating crime and have shifted out of their homes, they are frightened.”
The Herald Sun can also reveal the youth crime crisis has seen dozens of young criminals boast their shocking crimes on Instagram in a craze that has left Victoria Police with major concerns.
The force’s Operation Trinity, the specialised taskforce working to dismantle youth crime, made 2838 arrests in the past year, 604 of them for aggravated burglary and car theft.
It was revealed last week almost half of the vehicles stolen during aggravated burglaries across the state are being dumped in just three local council areas. More than 43 per cent of the stolen vehicles were later recovered in the Dandenong, Casey and Cardinia municipalities.
Operation Trinity detectives say the groups take cars for brief joy rides for social media notoriety.
Impressively, the force successfully recovered more than 94 per cent of vehicles nabbed in Trinity’s southeastern ring.
The Herald Sun has seen more than 25 videos in just two weeks of teenagers – some as young as 13 – filming themselves driving luxury vehicles late at night. It is understood the majority of these cars – namely BMWs, Mercedes and Range Rovers – are stolen from affluent neighbourhoods.
A Victoria Police spokesman said Bayside was one of Melbourne’s safest places to live, with the third lowest number of criminal offences of all 31 metropolitan local government areas.
“However, we are seeing teenage offenders sneaking into unlocked homes to steal car keys,” he said. “It is for this reason Victoria Police has a dedicated operation specifically targeting burglaries and car thefts across Melbourne, including Bayside.”
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