By Matthew Younan
Residents in Melton fed up with the spate of crime in the area will be glad to know Victoria Police are cracking down on repeat offenders.
New crime statistics revealed by Victoria Police showed there has been a significant increase in assaults, aggravated burglaries, robberies and car and retail store thefts.
And police said they are introducing new Crime Reduction Teams to combat repeat offenders.
Beginning in Melbourne and Geelong, from Monday, police will step up efforts to keep offenders accountable, knocking on doors and conducting checks at all hours of the day to keep the community safe.
The new teams will eventually expand further into regional Victoria, with Victoria Police aiming to embed Crime Reduction Teams across the state by January 1, next year.
Deputy Commissioner Neil Paterson said about 70 per cent of all crimes are committed by 30 per cent of offenders.
“The offender population that commits repeat offences has grown. It’s become more complex over the last decade, and this is an investment by Victoria Police in crime prevention to really focus on engagement – proactive targeted engagement with the most recidivist and trying to divert them away from a life of crime,” he said.
“Our aim is to keep the Victorian community safe.”
The experienced police leader said they’ll be taking 90 police officers from the frontline and placing them in targeted teams where they door knock on people’s houses and ensure they are complying with their bail conditions and provide referrals to support services and diversion programs.
As reported by Star Weekly, Melton council has called on the state government and opposition to introduce new measures to better monitor and rehabilitate youth offenders.
According to the Crime Statistics Agency, the number of recorded offences in Melton rose by 8.9 per cent from 12,146 in March 2023 to 13,227 in March 2024.
Mr Paterson said they are targeting those 14 and older.
And it’s not just an increase in youth crime, with the Mr Paterson declaring the number of family violence incidents they have been called to up significantly.
Mr Paterson said they are called to a family violence incident every six minutes and they arrest someone with a family violence offence every 18 minutes.
While acknowledging that social media was playing a part in the recent spate of youth crime notoriety, as some kids use various platforms to show off to their friends, Mr Paterson said they arrested 68,000 people last year and found organised crime groups are engaging young people who otherwise have never offended to carry out criminal activities.
