Teen gangs nabbed over car thefts, violent robberies

The pandemic had little effect on violent youth crime, with children as young as 13 arrested after a recent spate of violent incidents.

Violent youth crime in ­Victoria has remained stable, despite Covid-era lockdowns and other restrictions.

Figures from the Crime Statistics Agency show there were 9044 violent offences by those aged 19 and under in the 12 months to March this year, the first full year of coronavirus’ impact.

That represents a 3 per cent drop from the pre-pandemic 2019-2020 total of 9337.

The crime categories that make up the totals were serious assault, common assault, aggravated robbery, non-aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary and non-aggravated burglary.

Youth aggravated burglaries rose from 516 to 724 – a 40 per cent increase.

Family violence assaults increased by a total of just under 12 per cent, from 1573 to 1763.

There have been a number of arrests of teens over high-level offending this month.

They have included:

• Four boys aged 16 to 17 charged after a knifepoint carjacking in Narre Warren;

• Another four teens arrested the same day over robberies and car thefts through the east and southeast;

• Five girls aged as young as 14 – some on bail – detained as they fled a crash involving a car earlier stolen in a home ­invasion at Essendon;

• Boys, 14 and 15, charged and another wanted over knifepoint armed robberies, in which phones were stolen at Tarneit;

• Five males as young as 13 arrested over the theft of a Mercedes-Benz in an aggravated burglary at Parkdale, and;

• Two boys, both 16, charged with the armed robbery of a taxi driver at Maidstone.

Teens are increasingly committing serious crimes for their first offence.

In the past decade, there has been a marked rise in the ­number of teenagers committing serious crime for their first offence. They had traditionally worked their way up from shoplifting or vandalism to ­violent crime.

Victoria Police has been running operation Alliance to break and disrupt youth street gangs linked to robberies, aggravated burglaries, assaults, car thefts and home invasions.

A Victoria Police spokesman said Alliance officers had worked with specialist units, using shared intelligence and information, to identify prime targets within the gangs.

“Our intelligence has helped us identify the key figures within these groups and these are the people we’re focused on as part of operation Alliance,” the spokesman said.

“We want to reassure the community that police are doing everything possible to hold people perpetuating harm to account.”