Police campaign to combat the state’s worst youth offenders becomes state’s single biggest operation

A police campaign to combat Victoria’s worst youth offenders has become the state’s single biggest operation, with up to 70 officers a night working to catch out-of-control teens stealing cars and breaking into homes.

A police campaign to combat the state’s worst youth offenders has become the state’s single biggest operation and churned through 140,000 officer hours and 1000 chopper hours last year.

Victoria Police figures show the colossal commitment the force has been forced to put into the wave of out-of-control children carrying out widespread vehicle-motivated aggravated burglaries and car thefts in Melbourne suburbs.

Operation Trinity was set up in March, 2023, and involves up to 70 officers a night dedicated solely to the break-ins and other crimes which have been a scourge of the eastern and southeastern suburbs for years.

That staffing level would maintain rosters at a typical suburban police station for 12 months.

A vast amount of other police time and resources are expended on the youth crime menace on top of the work Trinity does.

Trinity members arrested 688 offenders a total of 1642 times last year but, despite the high numbers, the rate of offending remains constant.

They relate to 1788 burglaries in which cars were stolen, mostly between 2am and 8am.

Victoria Police figures show the colossal effort the force has put into catching youth criminals.

Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said Trinity was easily the state’s most well-resourced operation.

Mr Patton said people had the right to sanctuary in their own homes and that Trinity was arresting more than four burglars and car thieves a day.

“Given Trinity operates when most people are asleep, I want the community to be assured we have teams of police targeting offenders who think they have a right to enter your home or steal your car,” he said.

“Despite enormous arrest numbers, this offending remains a significant ongoing challenge, however it’s one that Victoria Police continues to confront head-on.”

The police statistics show 65.4 per cent of those arrested were aged 10 to 17 and that more than eight in 10 were aged under 25.

Victoria Police’s air wing has played a major role in tracking burglars from the skies.

General duties police, highway patrol officers, local members, the public order response team and the dog squad have also been called upon to be part of Trinity.

A group of armed teens broke into an Armadale home via the doggie door in December. Picture: Supplied

Unlocked house and garage doors remain a major method of entry for thieves.

In one of the worst agg burg hotspots, intruders got inside in 29 of 34 cases via unlocked doors or windows and only one involved forced entry.

Dog doors are increasingly being used by children with smaller frames to squeeze their way into houses.

Areas hardest-hit recently include Clyde North, Brighton, Hampton, Mount Eliza, and the Mornington Peninsula.

Police believe Clyde North may be targeted because its higher than average number of residents per dwelling meant cars were more likely to be parked in driveways or the street.

While most of Trinity’s targets are stealing vehicles for thrills then dumping them, police say recent intelligence suggests some are onselling vehicles.

It has also been found that there had been a spike in profit-motivated cigarette burglaries and robberies by Trinity persons of interest and other young offenders they have recruited.

Blitzes are now being run in which as many vehicles as possible are intercepted in one place as the air wing monitors.

The police thinking is that it sends a message to other law-abiding road-users that police are out and tells offenders they should be apprehensive.