Three youths were arrested and charged over a Tarneit riot last week, and four more arrested following last month’s trashing and riot at a Werribee rented house as police ramp up efforts to combat escalating crime by African street gangs.
The anti-gang squad has been deployed to Wyndham and a number of new police officers will be stationed in the area in coming months as part of a Victoria Police plan to crack down on African youth crime across Wyndham.
The enforcement follows:
•The trashing and riot at a rented Airbnb house in Werribee on December 20. Police have charged a 15-year-old Kurunjang boy with aggravated burglary, criminal damage and armed robbery, and a 16-year-old Tarneit boy with criminal damage and assault. Werribee Crime Investigation Unit detectives arrested another four youths last Friday, but no charges had been laid at the time Star Weekly went to print;
•A police officer was kicked in the head at Highpoint shopping centre on December 26. A 17-year-old Point Cook teen has been charged with assaulting an emergency worker on duty, intentionally and recklessly causing injury and common law assault. He has been remanded in custody after breaching bail conditions last week;
•Ongoing crime and public disorder issues at Tarneit’s Ecoville Community Park;
•A riot at Tarneit Central Shopping Centre last Thursday in which a number of youths, believed to be of African appearance, allegedly confronted, threatened and spat at police. Two 18-year-old men, both from Tarneit, were charged with behaving in a riotous manner and assault-related offences. A 17-year-old Point Cook male has been charged with resisting arrest, assaulting police, riotous behaviour and other assault-related offences; and
•Yelling, fighting and general disturbance on Saturday night when about 100 African youths congregated around Prudence Parade, Whitecaps Avenue and Biscay Street in Point Cook’s Alamanda estate. A Victoria Police spokesperson said police observed people leaving a nearby gathering and all dispersed without incident, with no incidents detected.
Victoria Police Commander Russell Barrett told Star Weekly that members of the anti-gang squad were already on the beat in Wyndham and would remain in the area until police were satisfied they’ve resolved the issue.
He said anti-gang squad police would assist detectives working on Operation Wayward, which started in mid-2017 in a crackdown on street robberies and armed robberies and has since had its parameters shifted to focus on addressing high-level youth crime.
“We’re well-resourced to address the spike in offending we’ve seen just in the last week or so,” he said.
“We’re highly focused on arresting [offenders] and addressing this spate of behaviour, whether it’s in Ecoville Park or young people misbehaving.”
As reported by Star Weekly in November, Wyndham is in the midst of receiving 27 new police, including four new sergeants. Commander Barrett said more than half of those police had already been deployed in Wyndham, with the rest to arrive in coming months and “a small number of detectives” supplementing the intake.
He said residents should be mindful that it was not an offence for people to gather in large numbers.
Last week, Wyndham mayor Peter Maynard and a number of council staff and councillors met Werribee MP Tim Pallas, Police Minister Lisa Neville and senior members of Victoria Police to outline resident concerns “about perceptions of a total disregard for law and order and our local police in general”.
“[We are] extremely concerned about any criminal activities that take place within our community,” Cr Maynard said.
“We neither condone nor tolerate the kind of behaviour that has been reported recently.”
