Blame for the state of lawlessness being played out on the streets of Melbourne by filthy black gangs is upon the premier and police top brass. The rank and file police officers anywhere in Australia joined the police force to serve and protect the citizens. Under the dangerously PC Andrews regime “lettuce-leaf” policing has prevented police from doing what every sane person understands—swift and decisive ACTION. Andrews has allowed his police to be humiliated.
A Victoria Police commander said officers chose not to arrest members of warring South Sudanese gangs who pelted rocks at the riot squad and damaged a police car, sparking a new round of criticism from Melburnians who have endured eight months of violence.
Source: News Corp
African gang arrests ‘not the first priority’
Former Victoria Police chief commissioner Kel Glare yesterday questioned police tactics, saying officers should have arrested the teenagers on the spot.
But Northwest Metro Commander Tim Hansen revealed police had a strategy that prioritised moving crowds on and keeping nearby residents safe over making arrests, even when police were targeted.
Up to 100 South Sudanese youths gathered in the northwest suburb of Taylors Hill on Wednesday night, fighting, damaging property, attacking officers and threatening residents. During the melee, terrified locals were told by police to “stay inside and lock the doors”.
Some gang members abused residents as “white trash’’ and threatened to raid their homes.
The gangs were contemptuous of police, shouting “The police can’t touch us, they can’t do anything’.
Mr Glare said police should have acted immediately. “If you go after them on the spot, you know who the offenders are and that’s when you can take proper action,” he said.
“The burden of proof isn’t that high to charge someone with affray, the only difficulty is the practical one — identifying the offender — but that’s pretty easy when you can see them throwing stones at you.
“So you grab the offender or a couple who are acting up, and I suspect a lot of this disobedience will be over pretty quickly. Police have a role to play and if they’ve got the courage to carry it out, you can’t lose.”
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton hit out at the Andrews Labor government in the wake of the incident, slamming it for failing to take the issue seriously enough. “People are getting hurt and somebody is going to be killed,” he said on Sydney radio 2GB. “In 2018 having people riot like this … a scene from some other part of the world is unacceptable.”
Premier Daniel Andrews defended the state’s approach as he sought to reassure residents that police had the resources needed to deal with gang violence. “It would have been very, very distressing for local residents and they can be assured we will continue to provide Victoria Police with every single thing they need in order to fight crime and make the community safer,” he said.
Opposition Leader Matthew Guy called the event an “absolute disgrace” and “not something we should be accepting in 21st-century Melbourne”.
Residents in Melbourne’s northwest have urged the state’s police to do more to deal with teen thugs.
Taylors Hill resident Rocchina Pignataro, who watched as the teenagers converged on the park opposite her house and started to turn on police, said she expected a tougher response. “I think arresting them, the main ones involved, I mean even the ones throwing the rocks, but I guess it’s not going to stop them, is it,” she said.
Victoria Police said the teenagers, from opposite sides of Melbourne, had met at the Watergardens shopping centre in Taylors Lakes to fight about tensions over a relationship. News of the proposed showdown had spread quickly on social media.
Police moved them on and tracked them as they made their way to Lonzo Park in Taylors Hill, where the violence escalated and police were forced to call the riot squad and the air wing as they were pelted with rocks.
Despite the attacks on police and their cars, there were no arrests. Police cited the youth crime strategy that prioritises moving the crowd on over making arrests at the scene. “You have short-term, medium-term and long-term objectives … our short-term objective was to monitor the behaviour of the group if there is an escalation of violence and that the residents are kept as safe as possible,” Mr Hansen said.
“Our medium-term objectives start to morph into an investigation and arrest phase.”
Police in Melbourne have been battling with the emergence of a street gang problems since the beginning of the year.
Former NSW police commissioner Andrew Scipione said it was important to resource riot squads adequately as the NSW government had done after the 2005 Cronulla riots, but it was critical to leave tactics and decision-making up to the tactical command on the ground.
“Don’t go in there and tell the officer what to do — let them decide when they are on the ground. It comes down to the incident, the police and the amount of force they’re facing. Discretion is the most valuable thing here.”
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton commissioned several measures to combat the problem, including the introduction of an African Australian Community Taskforce to build links with the African-Australian community and provide police with intelligence.
Wednesday’s brawl took place just a walking distance from the Hillside, Keilor Downs and Caroline Springs area where police on January 4 spent more than four hours tracking down a gang of thugs who committed a violent home invasion, bashed and mugged a teen on the street and then broke into another home.
Victorian lawlessness and a moron premier
