Police arrested 15 people linked to street gangs last week as part of an operation which saw nearly 70 people arrested in total and over 100 offences identified.
As part of Operation Alliance, police from multiple regions and specialist areas joined forces last week to disrupt gang activity, arrest violent offenders and engage with those on the fringes of youth gangs at the earliest opportunity to divert them away from joining a gang and offending.
The western suburbs, northern suburbs, south-east and inner eastern suburbs of Melbourne were all saturated with a highly visible police presence, including Croydon, Dandenong, Melton, Point Cook, Springvale, Truganina and Werribee.
“Operation Alliance brings together multiple policing regions while utilising our specialist areas such as the VIPER Taskforce and Gang Crime Squad, all with the commons focus on dismantling youth gangs and disrupting their offending,” said Brimbank & Melton Divisional Commander Superintendent Michael Cruse.
“Dozens of offenders involved in serious and violent offending have been arrested as a result, and we’ve also engaged with a significant number of people, further boosting our intelligence holdings and giving us a chance to deter people from getting involved in gang activity before it’s too late.
“These types of operations give us a greater line of sight than ever before on those who associate themselves as part of a youth gang, meaning we have the best chance to prevent crime from occurring.”
Police arrested 67 people over the course of the operation, which ran from 5 – 9 March.
This included 15 with links to street gangs, with the majority aged between 15 and 17-years-old.
A key component of Operation Alliance sees police regularly knocking on the doors of Victoria’s most serious and violent youth gang members to ensure they are complying with their bail conditions.
126 bail compliance checks were performed over the five nights, with nearly 75% of people found to be complying with their conditions.
67 people were arrested, including 15 linked to street gangs for over 100 offences including aggravated burglary, robbery, car theft, assault, and drug related offending.
12 people were remanded in custody.
Following 126 bail compliance checks, police identified 33 breaches of bail.
Police engaged with nearly 400 persons of interest, including 77 with gang associations in the community which has led to greater intelligence holdings to assist future investigations and the ability to disrupt and deter offending.
Highway Patrol Units checked over 7,700 cars through Automatic Numberplate Recognition Technology in an effort to detect stolen cars or numberplates.
147 vehicles intercepted by police, which led to six cars being impounded and taken off the roads.
Operation Alliance has led to significant results on a state-wide level, with 453 known youth gang members arrested a combined total of 1,440 times in the last year.
This has led to over 3,200 charges being laid and 173 offenders being remanded.
Mr Cruse has warned that operations of this kind will not cease.
“To those involved in serious and violent offending – our message to you is that we will not stop,” he said.
“Police are out every day and night of the week patrolling the streets, monitoring and responding to intelligence and proactively engaging with those involved in gangs.”
