Thursday, 18 August 2022

Frankston CBD crime

Mr RICH-PHILLIPS (South Eastern Metropolitan) (18:22): (2078) I wish to raise a matter for the attention of the Minister for Crime Prevention in the other place, and it relates to in particular youth crime in the Frankston CBD, which has again become an issue particularly for Frankston traders. Over recent years a lot of work has been done by Frankston businesses, by the Committee for Greater Frankston and by the council to revitalise the Frankston CBD to make it an attractive retail and business environment. But those efforts are being undermined by a resurgence in criminal activity. We have seen in the last couple of months in particular a major escalation in concern about youth crime among traders. We have seen reports of children as young as 10 years old being regularly involved in theft from shops in Frankston and being regularly involved in fights and gang-type activities around Wells Street, which is undermining confidence in the local community.

In June we saw an 11-year-old girl stabbed in Frankston CBD. Subsequently two children, a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old, were charged with armed robbery and assault. These are very significant activities and very significant crimes which undermine confidence in the CBD. Victoria Police in Frankston have quoted Crime Statistics Agency data showing a reduction in crime in Frankston over a period of time. It does include the COVID period but shows a reduction in crime statistics. The problem, though, is VicPol can talk about whatever statistics they like, but when traders are seeing 11-year-old children being stabbed in the street outside their shops and seeing 12-year-olds and 14-year-olds being charged with assault and armed robbery that absolutely undermines confidence. There are traders in Frankston who report:

“Groups of kids, many of them who look like they should be in primary school, come in and steal things all the time …

“They know they can’t be arrested. There’s nothing I can do.”

…

He said: “We’re open 24 hours. I see it all”.

“Our door and windows are always getting smashed. (The door) was kicked in again last week …

and on it goes. Confidence is being undermined by this criminal activity. The action I seek from the Minister for Crime Prevention is to work with the traders to look at whether it is additional police patrols, whether it is support for private security patrols or whether it is support for additional CCTV coverage that is needed to restore the confidence of traders in Frankston CBD and to ensure that it can be revitalised as a retail centre.