Officers hit Geelong to combat youth crime
SPECIALLY trained Youth Specialist Officers will be deployed in Geelong to combat youth crime including violent home invasions and carjackings.
Three of the 10 Western Region officers will be based in Geelong to work with known offenders aged between 10 and 20.
Superintendent Craig Gillard said the officers would target high-level recidivist offenders who were known to police.
“An evidence-based approach is driving this approach,” Supt Gillard said. The YSOs are a new sworn position within Victoria Police and were established following a commitment in the Victorian Government’s Community Safety Statement 2017.
Supt Gillard said the officers would help intervene early with identified offenders.
He said young people often went from having “zero” offences “to 100” in matter of weeks.
“While our overall crime rate is going down, we still have a core group (of youth) committing a large number of offences” Supt Gillard said.
“Offences include theft of motor car, stealing from cars, aggravated burglaries and various types of drug offending.”
He said Geelong continued to have a large number of missing children who were vulnerable to abuse and drug use.
“If the youth offending can be reduced and we can achieve greater reengagement (of young people) then it will have a positive effect across the city.”
The YSOs will work closely with other government services including the Department of Health and Human Services, courts, and youth service organisations.
“If the youth offending can be reduced and we can achieve greater re-engagement (of young people) then it will have a positive effect across the city.” SUPERINTENDENT CRAIG GILLARD