6000 school-based crimes and 439 carjackings, and that is just for 2024. There is no way that arrests alone will solve this problem.

The near-blind obsession with a Reactive Policing model with the Restorative Justice philosophy infecting the legal system, they have combined, and both spectacularly failed, and the figures prove it.

What a mess and the most startling thing to be presented by VicPol was reported as,

“…police are determined to quickly arrest those responsible and seek their remand, a Victoria Police statement said.”

That response from VicPol does not instil confidence that they are on top of this issue, but you can be sure that there will be many more Task Forces or Special duty teams targeting criminals as part of their solution.

Next, they will blame their ineffectiveness in preventing this crime on the community for not supplying CCTV; they already blame the community for failing to maintain security and the Courts for not locking up perpetrators.

Disturbingly, remanding perpetrators in custody, although a step in the right direction, is nothing more than a ‘band-aid’ solution as the perpetrators have not been convicted.

Taking the Task Force approach has also proved inefficient and has had minimal impact.

Each of these teams must be staffed, and those staff are drawn from the local frontline police. Reducing the frontline, so named for obvious reasons, adversely impacts prevention and strategies to maintain a highly visible Police presence to dissuade criminal activity.

No criminal ever intends to get caught; the risk of being caught is the most potent deterrent, and the lack of that deterrent is mainly due to Police strategies.

The current state of play with policing is the remaining frontline police struggle to keep up with calls for assistance. As for any patrols that will reduce crime, they are minimal at best.

Inevitably, the judiciary, thwarted from their preferred position of non-custodial sentences for juveniles by new Bail laws, will simply ratchet up the non-custodial approach when the perpetrator is presented after remand for their hearing.

So, the reprieve from crime by ‘no bail’ Remand, will be short-lived and be merely, in the eye of the perpetrator, a minor inconvenience. Remand will only provide a hiatus unless, upon conviction, the juvenile does some time, be it shorter periods than adults.

Penalties must align with “kid time”.

What is damming is that in the media reports on school crime and carjackings, there is not one mention of how VicPol proposes to stop or even dramatically reduce this blight on our community.

These two aspects of school crime and carjackings are intrinsically linked as the vast majority, if not all, of the offenders involved in carjackings went to school, so the logic would be to tackle the issue through the school system and, in that effort, mitigate the school crime at the same time giving our kids a chance to be educated without fear and distraction.

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” 

Whether this concept will become a reality in Victoria again hinges on who is appointed the next Chief Commissioner because of the community policing philosophy. Crime prevention has all but disappeared from the force’s operational practises.

For the benefit of Victoria, the selection panel needs to ask the following questions of each applicant,

‘What will you do to reduce the crime in schools and the carjackings?’

An answer of increased patrols and the usual talking points would immediately disqualify the applicant. The only way to reduce crime is by innovative, proactive measures; any applicant worth their salt will have thought-through strategies.

‘How will you measure Commanders’ performances’?

Failure to set enforceable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) based on performance for all managers throughout the force would be a failure.

‘How will you manage Commander’s accountability?’

Anything short of an applicant being prepared to exit their Chief’s contract voluntarily if found to be failing to perform would be unacceptable. That would be the accountability standard required of all Police leaders.

We do not want a Chief focused on or bragging about crime-solving. We want a Chief Commissioner with a vision not influenced and bound by traditional speaking points but one who can see through the fog and have a crystal-clear appreciation of the importance of reorganising the Force to positively influence the prevention model.

Preventing crime gazumps solving a crime in the first place.

Just ask crime victims which strategy they would prefer.