Victoria Police chief forced to admit African youth gangs a problem

Victoria Police and the Andrews government are calling out African youth gangs following a spate of violent incidents.

Police Minister Lisa Neville with Victoria’s acting chief commissioner Shane Patton. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

Victoria Police and the Andrews government have declared they are not afraid to call out high crime rates among African youth after a spate of violent incidents highlighted the ongoing problem and prompted renewed commitments to working with the community.

Acting chief commissioner Shane Patton yesterday distanced himself from a local superintendent who downplayed the issue after a violent attack on a sergeant who was trying to arrest an African boy accused of shop­lifting.

“The leaders in the African community readily and openly say they do have issues with a small cohort of African youth who are committing high-end crimes,” Mr Patton said.

“We acknowledge that, we don’t shy away from that at all. We will target anyone who’s involved in any criminal activity and if that’s African youths, so be it.”

Mr Patton said although only one arrest had been made, police were still pursuing other offenders among the group of more than 100 mainly South Sudanese youths who trashed a Werribee Airbnb-rented property last week and then pelted officers with rocks.

The house was spraypainted with youth-gang symbols, including a reference to the notorious Apex crime game responsible for a spate of home invasions and car thefts in the southeast suburbs. Police are also searching for a youth of African appearance who kicked an officer in the face outside Highpoint Shopping Centre on Boxing Day while another youth was being arrested for shoplifting.

While discussing the incident this week, Superintendent Therese Fitzgerald rejected suggestions of a crime problem among African youths, saying the problem was “youth crime in general”.

Police Minister Lisa Neville yesterday confirmed African-born young men were over­represented in crime statistics and were causing “great harm and fear in the community”.

“I am not trying to cover this up,” Ms Neville said. “It has been of significant concern to us and to Victoria Police.

“We’ve had additional investment in the gang squad (and) in intelligence measures in order to try and disrupt their behaviour.”

Ms Neville also pointed to the Monitoring and Assessment Centre, which was established in the wake of last year’s Moomba riots in which dozens of youths — some of them linked to the Apex gang — ran through Federation Square and Swanston Street brawling and wielding chairs as weapons. Officers at the centre use CCTV footage and social media data to keep check on gangs coming into the city centre.

South Sudanese youth leaders have called for authorities to do more to help African teens integrate.

Figures from the Crime Statistics Agency show Sudanese and South Sudanese people were 6.135 times more likely to have been arrested last year than offenders born in Australia and 4.8 times more likely than those born in New Zealand.

Separate reports have tracked dramatic increases in aggravated burglaries, serious assaults and car thefts committed by Sudanese-born youth between 2014 and 2017.

According to data obtained by Coalition MP Jason Wood, Sudanese-born offenders are the second most represented ethnic group behind Australians when it comes to aggravated burglaries, car thefts, and sexual offences in the 10-to-18 age group.