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Gangs ‘unacceptable’ Neil Walker neil@baysidenews.com.au CRIMES by youths across Melbourne and its suburbs mean people increasingly feel unsafe in their own homes according to state Liberal opposition leader Matthew Guy. Mr Guy visited Seaford and said it is unacceptable that young offenders are released on bail, especially for violent crimes including home invasions and carjackings. Some of those released show no respect for the law and reoffend upon release. “We need to get tougher on law and order in this state by changing the bail laws, particularly for juvenile offenders who can’t now be held,” he told The Times. “You don’t give a second chance – whoever the person is, whatever their background is – to people who are invading people’s houses at two and three in the morning as a gang, leaving wives and kids holed up in a bathroom terrified and the husband to fight it out with a baseball bat. “This is not Johannesburg, this is Melbourne. This is happening now.” He accused the Labor state government of “going soft on crime” and not giving police the resources needed to combat crime. “Police need more resources. When we were in government we gave an extra 1900 new police on the beat and if we come to government again it will be at least that plus more. “We put in 900 protective service officers for every railway station in the metro network and again that will be added to if we come to government.
No second chances: Matthew Guy says violent offenders should not be bailed.
“We will change the bail laws so juvenile offenders can be held. We will introduce carjacking laws so the people who commit these crimes get a penalty that fits the crime.” Victoria Legal Aid’s executive director of criminal law Helen Fatouros said last month that about 40 per cent of youth offences are committed by about 5 per cent of young offenders suggesting a hardcore group of repeat offenders are responsible for a staggering number of crimes in Victoria. Premier Daniel Andrews in March pledged to give police any resources needed to tackle gang and youth crime. “Victorians don’t want any excuses and I will offer none,” he said in a press conference after Crime Statistics Agency figures revealed an annual 8.1 per cent rise in crime across the state. “Instead what I will say to every Victorian, and indeed, first among them, to the Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police Graham Ashton, if you need additional powers you will get them. “If you need additional resources, you will get them.” Mr Guy said Melbourne is not “the Wild West”. “We’re living in civilised, modern Melbourne and people have a right to feel safe in our city. If the government won’t hire enough police to get the job done, we will.”
Arrests help put Stephen Taylor steve@baysidenews.com.au FRANKSTON police say “volume crime” offences are expected to trend lower following the recent arrests of several recidivist offenders – although the latest figures may still be above average. Thefts of cars, from cars, and aggravated burglaries are being affected thanks to the locking up of more than 60 offenders over the past six weeks. The scenario is based on the belief that 80 per cent of offences are committed by only 10 per cent of offenders – a statistic aired by Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton at the recent youth crime forum. Backing up the commissioner’s claim is Victoria Legal Aid executive director of criminal law Helen Fatouros, who said 40 per cent of offences were committed by about 5 per cent of offenders. “This suggests a hard-core group of repeat offenders are responsible for a staggering number of crimes in Victoria,” she told a recent Human Rights Law Conference. Many local offenders are very young – as shown by the arrest of six boys aged 11-16 from the Frankston, Seaford, Skye and Langwarrin areas on aggravated burglary and car theft charges (‘Bailed teens’ crime spree’, The Times 1/8/2016). Tellingly, many of the offences were committed while the boys were out on bail for similar offences.
This leniency by children’s courts adds to police frustration as it undoes all their good work in catching young offenders. They claim – despite the falling number of offenders – that “juveniles are driving crime” in the Frankston and surrounding police districts, and that the courts seem to have become a “revolving door for young offenders”. Their concern is that, despite their success in getting young perpetrators off the streets, it is soon “business as usual” for them when they walk out of court scot-free. A case in point relates to a Frankston boy, now 16, who over several years appeared before children’s courts more than 60 times on robbery and crimes of violence charges, but was never convicted. He pushed his luck once too often, though, last year, when he was arrested and charged after allegedly robbing a Seaford liquor outlet and assaulting the female manager with a bottle. He is now in jail – but on other matters. The Department of Human Services would not comment on claims that it had spent $1 million a year to house and feed the youth, find him a home and generally try to keep him “on the straight and narrow” before he went to jail. “There is frustration, but also real fear for both members of the community and for the juvenile offenders who are in danger of being harmed if they are caught robbing a house,” a senior policeman said.
Children’s court appearance by boys as young as 13 are increasing common, on multiple car theft and aggravated burglary charges, with a quick release the most likely result. And this is despite some facing up to 33 counts, according to court records, and having a history of offending over their short “careers”. Police all over the south-eastern suburbs engaged in the crime fight are, naturally, concerned that these
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Frankston Times 8 August 2016
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