(January 2007, The Australian)
VICTORIAN police are being urged to set up a special taskforce to tackle gang violence and lawlessness among young African migrants living in Melbourne's inner-city housing commission estates.
The push - led by rank-and-file police and terrified neighbours - is backed by the state's powerful police union, which claims sections of the African community need to be "properly educated" in Australian values.
"The Sudanese are very difficult to deal with - they come from a lawlessPolice in Melbourne's inner north and social workers are demanding resources to help deal with the problem.
background and they really have to be properly educated about Australian
society's standards," the Police Association secretary, Senior Sergeant Paul
Mullett, told The Australian.
"What's actually emerging in Victoria is the establishment of in particularPolice union members who worked around the high-rise public housing blocks in areas such as Flemington and Fitzroy were worried about their safety and becoming more reluctant to work there, he said.
youth gangs and ethnic gangs, and our members just don't have the resourcing
support to proactively police these gangs," Sergeant Mullett said
He called for a special taskforce or for departments to "establish taskforces of their own" to tackle gang activity.
Sergeant Mullett warned that more proactive police programs were needed to build better communication with African communities and prevent group violence from escalating to the levels seen in Sydney's Cronulla riots ...
Youth worker Les Twentyman said while there were African gangs involved in crime and violence, there were also gangs from other ethnic origins such as Pacific Islanders and Lebanese. He said gangs were an escalating problem that would eventually lead to "no-go zones" in Melbourne if they were not properly addressed by police. More ...
And More ...
