Youth gang crime is sparking growing concern in Casey and Cardinia, where residents report a rise in petty crime and a growing sense of insecurity across the rapidly expanding growth corridor.
This unease comes amid Victoria Police’s latest figures showing nearly 700 youth gang members are currently being actively monitored across the state, with many repeat offenders fueling ongoing criminal activity.
In the past year alone, Operation Alliance has led to the arrest of 491 youth gang members a combined 1,697 times. Almost 5,000 charges have been laid in relation to these matters.
670 youth gang members across 33 youth gangs are currently being actively monitored by Victoria Police – a reduction of 77 since Alliance commenced in September 2020.
Of those being monitored, we know most of the harm has been caused by a core group of 220 repeat offenders, including 73 who police have arrested more than ten times in the past year.
Victoria Police continues to relentlessly pursue, disrupt, and dismantle the state’s worst youth gangs as part of Operation Alliance.
“Police possess a significant level of intelligence on these offenders, including who they associate with, the locations they frequent, and their offending habits,” a spokesperson said.
“As part of Operation Alliance, police are knocking on the doors of youth gang members daily, ensuring they’re complying with bail conditions such as curfews, and saturating locations they are known to visit and offend.”
Police are also heavily engaging with young offenders to break the cycle of offending to try and move them away from a life of crime.
This includes Crime Reduction Teams across Melbourne and Geelong, which are responsible for engaging with offenders regularly to deter further offending and provide support pathways that encourage rehabilitation.
However, the spokesperson acknowledged that “breaking the cycle of child and youth crime is larger than just a police issue”.
They continue to work closely with key partners such as Corrections Victoria, Children’s Court of Victoria, Department of Education, Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, Youth Justice, and community leaders.
For Pakenham resident James, the rise in youth gang-related crimes is turning once-safe streets into areas people now avoid after dark.
“Youth gangs are causing a number of issues such as graffiti and petty crime,” James said.
“With the increase in violence attributed to gangs and the escalation of that using bladed weapons this is a serious problem for the state of Victoria. People are feeling unsafe walking around our suburbs at night for fear of being accosted.”
Locals demand a combination of stronger social engagement and tougher enforcement.
“Reactionary laws like banning weapons only goes some way towards the problem, we need to deal with the issue at the heart of this, what else could/should youth be doing with their time,” James said.
“We need to engage with our youth better, we need to help integrate them better. If they are not socially and culturally integrating into our community then they will find something to do with their time… and from what we can see, it’s not good.
“If the carrot does not work, we need a bigger stick. We also need corporate Australia to not turn a blind eye to their responsibility to their customers and enforce some common-sense laws. Stop backpacks in their stores for example.”
Despite the collective effort, Leader of Opposition and Berwick MP Brad Battin said the State Government’s approach is failing local families.
“Victoria Police’s own figures show youth crime is out of control. When 60 young offenders are arrested more than ten times in a year, it’s clear that repeat offenders have no fear of consequences,” Battin said.
