Cops put 60 young crims on 24-hour watch

More than 60 young criminals have been placed on a special watch list, with police tracking their movements around the clock.

Owner Kelly at her house in Footscray after an out-of-control party. Picture: Aaron Francis

More than 60 young criminals in Victoria classed as being at “extreme” risk of reoffending have been placed on a special watch list, with police tracking their movements around the clock.

Victoria Police has launched Taskforce Wayward to deal with 64 teenagers who have been linked to crimes including aggravated burglary and home invasions, The Herald Sun reports

Police attached to the pilot program do spot checks at the youths’ homes at night to ensure they are complying with their bail conditions, and track them down if they do not show up at school.

The newspaper reports that in the past year most aggravated burglary offenders (83 per cent) were born in Australia, with the next highest cohort (10 per cent) being those born in Sudan. Those linked to home invasions in Melbourne in the past year mostly were Australian-born (46 per cent, followed by those born in Sudan (32 per cent).

The new watch-list initiative comes as police in Victoria continue to struggle to deal with the problem of out-of-control parties.

Three weeks since the first incident, police have made just one arrest as a result of wild parties linked to youths of African appearance. As many as 150 teens trashed a house in Footscray a fortnight ago and up to 50 youths trashed a property and attacked police cars in late April.

“There are no updates ... investigations are still ongoing,” a Victoria Police spokeswoman said.

Questions have been raised about police handling of both ­African youth crime and out-of-control gatherings at short-term rentals. A 19-year man from Point Cook was arrested after the Footscray party on May 6 for drunken behaviour but police said no further arrests had been made.

Assistant Commissioner Stephen Leane told The Australian last week the force had identified other people who were at the Footscray property and arrests would be made “in due course”.

No arrests have been made over a similar incident in North Melbourne three weeks ago where a short-term was trashed and police car windows were smashed.

At one point, officers were forced to hide in the house.

Senior Sergeant Adam Tanner said on April 30 no arrests had been made after the North Melbourne party but he was “confident” that “our avenues of inquiry are coming along well”.

Senior officers are working on an operational response plan for parties at Airbnb and Booking.com properties. They have been advised short-term renters have the same legal rights as long-term renters and they cannot enter properties without proof of damage.

An African Community Taskforce was assembled over summer to deal with African youth crime after home invasions, bashings and out-of-control parties in December and January.

Victoria Police has previously said the current spate of wild parties is a youth problem and that the African-Australian taskforce, and its progress, is a separate issue.

Footscray property owner Kelly told The Australian yesterday she had been in contact with police but could not comment on the ongoing investigation into how her rental was trashed.

Kelly did confirm she received an emergency payment of an ­undisclosed amount from Comm­Insure yesterday to help cover the damages. She believes media attention resulted in her home insurance provider issuing the payment.

She said it was implied to her that the media coverage resulted in a quicker settlement. “I’m very happy I’ve got the payment now,” she said.

A CommInsure spokes­woman confirmed an emergency payment had been made.

“We understand this is a difficult and stressful time for the customer,” she said.