Victoria acting police chief defends officers’ toughness

Victoria’s acting police chief defends toughness of his officers after they failed to make any arrests at a series of youth rampages.

Acting Assistant Commissioner Shane Patton has defended his police officers. Picture: AAP.

Victoria’s acting police chief has been forced to defend the toughness of his officers this morning after they failed to make any arrests at a series of youth rampages.

Acting chief commissioner Shane Patton told Melbourne’s 3AW radio the decision to disperse Tuesday night’s brawl at an AirBnb property in Werribee rather than make arrests on the scene was the right one.

“Victoria Police is not soft, we do use the appropriate force, but we have to balance people’s human rights,” he said.

Mr Patton also said “different sections of the community” would oppose Victoria Police using water cannons to handle similar riots in the future.

The acting chief is filling in for Melbourne’s top cop, Graham Ashton, who is on three to six weeks leave due to physical and mental fatigue.

Victoria Police’s investigation into the brawls at Werribee and another Airbnb property in Southbank is ongoing.

More than 100 youths attended the Werribee Airbnb property where a party was held that trashed the home.

The youths turned on police when they arrived, allegedly pelting them with rocks and other projectiles, which resulted in one officer suffering a minor elbow injury.

The house was scrawled with tags linked to the notorious Apex gang and new African youth group called “Menace to Society”, but Mr Patton repeated police claims that Apex no longer exists and dismissed the MTS gang.

“Well they (brawlers) are a menace to society in the way they’ve conducted themselves … but we have no intelligence that such a gang exist,” he said.

The Police Association have defended their members at the scene and their secretary Wayne Gatt told 3AW the police handled the situation well despite the fact they were outnumbered.