Rise in aggravated burglaries in Malvern, Kew Toorak, Balwyn, Brighton, Camberwell, Canterbury
Young offenders looking to steal prestige cars are increasingly zeroing in on a handful of wealthy suburbs as police figures reveal a rise in aggravated burglaries.
Police & Courts
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Aggravated burglaries in a cluster of affluent Melbourne suburbs have more than doubled in the past five years.
Youth offenders looking to steal prestige cars have been increasingly zeroing in on those areas, among them wealthy locations close to the Monash Freeway.
Police have in recent months been running special nightly patrols of up to 10 units with a key task being intercepting the teens as they travel the freeway.
The officers want to disrupt them before they get off the Monash and head north or south where they are far less likely to be noticed driving around doing reconnaissance for cars to steal.
Victoria Police figures show the number of aggravated burglaries in Malvern, Kew Toorak, Balwyn, Brighton, Camberwell, Canterbury, Glen Iris, Surrey Hills, Hawthorn, Hawthorn East and South Yarra rose from 83 in 2017 to 209 last year.
Big increases were recorded in Toorak (from 6 in 2017 to 24 in 2022), South Yarra (10 to 24), Malvern (5 to 17), Glen Iris (8 to 19) and Brighton (15 to 51).
There were 344 car thefts in those suburbs, down on the 411 of 2017.
Police sources say the teens responsible for many of the aggravated burglaries are travelling up from the Dandenong and Casey areas.
They say they have become increasingly switched-on and skilled at quietly getting into houses, grabbing keys and driving off.
The first thing the owner knows of it is when their car is missing the next morning.
“They rarely get disturbed,” one investigator said.
When on the road in stolen vehicles, they are suspected of monitoring online flight radar material to track the movements of the Victoria Police air wing.
The air wing is vital to police operations in combating youth crime because road units are unable to carry out pursuits on offenders who are in many cases inexperienced drivers piloting powerful vehicles.
When they are aware of being monitored from above, suspects will sometimes head for underground car parks to shake the tail.
“They’re so savvy,” an officer said.
Luxury European-made vehicles including BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen are the preferred target of the thieves.
SUVs are sought-after because more passengers can be crammed on board.
“They don’t want to be driving around in shitboxes,” one police source said.
There is increasing alarm at the ages of some of those involved in high-risk driving.
The Herald Sun has been told a 12-year-old boy was recently busted doing 180 km/h on a freeway and a carload of teens was sighted rocketing along EastLink at 200km/h.
Some will take to emergency lanes and median strips at high speed to avoid capture.
Most are aware they are unlikely to spend time in custody, even after a long period of recidivism or while on multiple sets of bail.
“The repeat offending is killing us at the moment,” one investigator said.
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