Victoria’s top cop Rick Nugent says community safety must be greater priority in new bail laws

Rick Nugent has declared he wants community safety to be a greater priority in any new bail laws, saying it’s “time to draw a line in the sand” amid the state’s youth crime crisis.

Victoria’s new top cop Rick Nugent has declared he wants community safety to be a greater priority in any new bail laws.

In his first interview, Mr Nugent says it is time to draw a line in the sand on bail.

Mr Nugent told the Sunday Herald Sun he had met twice with the state government this week to discuss bail and that it appeared receptive to change.

The interim chief said he could not go into specifics about exactly what he sought but made it clear he wants the dial in bail decisions pushed more towards community safety, amid growing concern about the youth crime scourge.

Mr Nugent said all laws needed adjustment at times and, while he understood the importance of rehabilitation in court deliberations, consideration must be given about whether the risk to the public outweighs that.

His comments follow the Herald Sun’s Suburbs under Siege campaign highlighting rampant crime in Victoria.

Rick Nugent wants community safety to be a greater priority in any new bail laws. Picture: James Ross

Mr Nugent said the public could not accept the current rate of serious youth offending was the norm and that the force had provided advice and case studies as part of its submission for change.

“There’s a line in the sand now,” Mr Nugent said.

“We must take into account the risk to community safety. It’s about moving that threshold more towards community safety.

“It is just so critical, the safety of the community. It can’t be solely about rehabilitation.”

Mr Nugent said he understood the pain and sense of trauma felt by the many victims who woke to find intruders had been in their homes as they slept.

He said although the aggravated burglaries which plague the suburbs were regarded as property crimes, this was not the right designation.

“It’s not just a property crime. An offender is in somebody’s house,” Mr Nugent said.

“It would put any family in fear. Kids get traumatised by this. We’ve got to do everything we can possibly do. We want people to feel safe and secure.”

Mr Nugent declined to comment on specific cases, including that highlighted by the Herald Sun this week in which a magistrate granted bail to a 15-year-old.

The boy was freed after being caught on bail driving a stolen car at 240km/h, despite the magistrate saying the public would not want him out and agreeing with that position.

Mr Nugent said he understood the pain of victims who woke to find intruders in their home.

Though he would clearly like a firmer line, Mr Nugent said sentencing and bail decisions were not simple.

He recalled when he was an operational cop thinking sentences in one-third of his cases were either too light, about right or a bit harsh.

“It’s a tough job they’ve got in court.”

Mr Nugent said although overall youth crime had declined, it was clear there was a major issue with one group of prolific offenders.

Early intervention via family or carers before it was too late and they were locked into the justice system was crucial, he said.

“It is complex but it doesn’t mean you don’t do it,” Mr Nugent said.

“There’s got to be a circuit-breaker. We need to break that cycle. Enforcement is just one factor.”

Machete-armed teens broke into a family’s Armadale home last December. Picture: Supplied

Mr Nugent set up Operation Alliance in 2020, a dedicated response involving multiple approaches to detecting, disrupting and dismantling youth gangs.

Since then, the force has established an operation dubbed Trinity, under which up to 70 officers are sent out every night in an attempt to curb youth crime in a vast swathe of suburbs across the southeastern and eastern suburbs.

Personnel strength will be a “huge focus” for Mr Nugent.

He said his announcement this week that the force had relaxed some education and health requirements did not mean standards of entry were being lowered to bring in numbers.

This was more a case of removing barriers getting in the way of good candidates signing up, he said.

“We almost had a notion of `computer says no’,” Mr Nugent says.

“If you’re educated, why do we need you to sit an exam?”

Mr Nugent said, along with finding newcomers, it was important those under his command felt valued and stopped leaving the force.

Mr Nugent backed the work of his members.

Many things have changed since he first worked the divisional van in 1988, but Mr Nugent said policing was, essentially, the same job, though more complex.

He said, on that first shift, a supervisor told him: “You’ve joined at a bad time. It’s not like it used to be.”

Mr Nugent said his experience for the next four decades was different.

“I loved every job I had. There were days that were crap … but I was always disappointed to leave where I was leaving,” he said.

Mr Nugent said he backed the work of his members and their standards of service delivery.

“I do believe it is up to scratch. I feel our members do an amazing job,” he said.

Mr Nugent was last month appointed interim Chief Commissioner after Shane Patton resigned the post with immediate effect.

Mr Patton had been told by the state government that his contract would not be renewed when it expired at the end of June.

“I have spoken to Shane. We’re all disappointed about what happened,” Mr Nugent said.

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Originally published as Victoria’s top cop Rick Nugent says community safety must be greater priority in new bail laws