by Sahar Foladi
A team of Victoria Police officers were deployed to tackle anti-social behaviours in City of Greater Dandenong in Operation Javelin.
The Operation kicked off on Tuesday 24 September until Wednesday 25 September in the heart of Dandenong.
Detective leading senior constable Steve Woodhouse says 60 Police officers were deployed over the two days with two mounted branch members each day as part of the operation.
“The operation was born out of the idea to detect and disrupt crimes in Dandenong CBD but in particular coincided with school holidays.
“Identifying young people who will be more out and about and potentially while having fun that may mean they can turn to crimes.”
The operation was conducted at hotspots Dandenong Plaza, Dandenong Railway Station and the areas in between the two, Springvale Town Hall and Springvale Library.
The hotspots were known to the Police.
Overall 22 were arrested and processed for myriad of offences ranging from drug possession, handling stolen goods, burglary and theft of motor vehicle.
Six were arrested over drug offences out of the 22 and 9 for warrant for failure to appear to court.
“Having that operation enabled us to have that time and effort to proactively search for crime rather than respond to it when it’s reported,” Mr Woodhouse said.
“It’s certainly a challenge for us we get frustrated when any crime is committed but we acknowledge drug offence is prominent and we’re committed to driving it down.”
While the operation is considered “extremely successful” according to Mr Woodhouse, a similar operation will be conducted in the future with no dates nominated as yet.
As reported previously by Star Journal the latest official crime stats show theft, shoplifting, home burglaries and street crime have soared in Greater Dandenong.
Crime Statistics Agency data shows crime rose by 2.5 per cent in the 2023-’24 financial year.
Crimes involving 0-17 year olds were up 25 per cent in the municipality.
While some suburbs saw a spike in recorded offences such as Keysborough (16 per cent) there were significant drop in Noble Park (10 per cent) and Dandenong North (8 per cent).
Victoria Police will remain committed to drive the numbers down further.
