Managing and preventing youth offenders in the Yarra Ranges has fast become one of the top priorities for police as organised networks and gangs rear their head in the region.
In recent years, Eastern Division Two Superintendent Steve White said police officers have had to turn their attention more fully to youth offending, creating a shift in the hierarchy of crime and the required response.
Not only is it the number of children and young people committing crimes but the types and seriousness of these crimes that concerns police.
Last year, 520 alleged offenders were children aged 10 to 17. That figure increased to 568 alleged offenders aged 10 to 17 this year, according to the Crime Statistics Agency.
One of the leading offender groups in the Yarra Ranges are a Burmese youth gang who go by the name ABZ38, referencing the postcode of Mooroolbark.
“There’s probably three tiers of this gang, so we’re talking about the kids that do high end offending, so that’s aggravated burglaries,” Superintendent White said.
“They sneak in the middle of the night, stealing keys for your car, usually high end cars, drive it really quickly in the streets, potentially engage with the police in a pursuit with the air wing above and most often not they’re doing that for likes on their social media, not for any financial gain.
“We do have a team of people working out of the Croydon Police Station who are actively targeting them. So when they commit an offence, they’re following up and making significant regular arrests. At the moment, some of them are locked up.”
Superintendent White said there are around 30 people in the gang, from the leaders to those at risk of becoming fully fledged members, many aged around 13 to 14 years old.
Working with leaders from the Burmese community and parents, Superintendent White said “we are working hard to try and get that issue under control as best as we can”.
“We know we have a problem and we’re well aware that they do impact your perception of safety,” he said.
“It’s probably our most significant issue in this outer east division at the moment.”
The Proactive Policing Unit also frequently engages with schools to help ensure those who may be recruited to the gang can see a different path for themselves.
On a lesser scale, but still hugely concerning, are the youth networks across the region who are known for theft and burglaries within shopping centres, as well as stealing cars.
“We have network youth offenders who act in concert for certain styles of offending, whether that be street level robberies or aggravated burglaries,” Detective Inspector Troy Andrews said.
“The Crime Investigation Unit late last year, identified that there was a spike in aggravated burglaries where high end cars were being stolen.
“They were not operating as we would call a gang, but they were networked, and they were operating for street cred on Instagram.
“Six or seven of them would break into people’s houses, and they’d go as far as Williamstown and down to Cows. They all lived here. They were dumping cars here.
“So we put together a mini task force to identify who was involved. There were 46 persons of interest, ultimately, that were working together at varying levels. There were 90 persons that were charged multiple times with over 1500 charges laid, multitudes of offences across the state. We stopped it pretty much in its tracks, eventually.”
Det Inspector Andrews said, unfortunately, these youth offenders know the system and the lack of consequences for committing crimes of this nature, meaning they usually reoffend.
“A lot of these youth cohorts know between themselves that as an adult if they do these offences, they’ll be locked up six, 12, 18 months or more,” he said.
“As a child, often they don’t even get remanded. They’re aware of the system. They exploit the system, and they do it with impunity. That’s an added layer for us.
“When there’s emerging spikes of crime, such as that outside of our gangs, we jump at it pretty quick and when we identify the people involved, they get actively targeted. If we can’t charge them, we actively work on them and make their life very complicated.”
New laws announced by Premier Jacinta Allen on Wednesday 12 November will see “adult time for violent crime”.
Under the legislation, children 14 and over who commit home invasions, aggravated home invasion, recklessly or intentionally causing injury and aggravated carjacking must be dealt with in the County Court.
Kids as young as 14 convicted of aggravated home invasion and aggravated carjacking would face a maximum sentence of life in prison under the plan.
The principle of jail as a last resort for children would also be dumped and judges obliged to prioritise community safety in their sentencing decisions.
Lawyers, human rights leaders and Aboriginal advocates queued up to condemn the move, declaring it wasn’t backed by evidence.
“We can’t just lock children and young people away and hope for a safer community,” acting Principal Commissioner for Children and Young People Argiri Alisandratos said.
One thing Det Inspector Andrews said was that in his 30 years in the job, primarily as an investigator, young people are now “a different style of offender”.
“Once upon a time, kids were involved in very minor offending, shoplifting, and theft of money. These people are opening their accounts with very serious crimes. Their first time offending might be an armed robbery or carjacking. And they’re learning and exploiting the system. They know about social media. They know about technology. It’s all fun.
“They’re anything but innocent. They know what they’re doing, and they’re dangerous.”
