It keeps getting better in the world’s most liveable city:
A Melbourne woman was slapped across the face and forced to sit in her front room as a dozen “thugs” ransacked her house in a terrifying home invasion. Police believe the same young men could be linked to two other street assaults on teenage boys and another home invasion in a violent crime spree in the city’s west on Thursday night.
“This is incredibly concerning, the behaviours are abhorrent, it’s just thuggish behaviour,” Commander Russell Barrett told reporters on Friday.
The 59-year-old woman was struck across the face as the men, described as being of African appearance, smashed the glass door at her Hillside home at 11.30pm on Thursday. She was forced to sit in her front room as about a dozen men went through her house, stealing electrical items and car keys before they left.
“They slapped her across the face, she received cuts and bruising and property was stolen,” Commander Barrett said.
Earlier in the night, a 17-year-old boy walking in Taylors Hills was hit on the legs with a baseball bat and assaulted.Police believe the same group also punched and kicked a 16-year-old boy in Cairnlea, before stealing his mobile phone and demanding the pass code.
Just after 12.30am the occupants of a house in Delahey heard a large crack as a window beside their door was smashed. Three males forced entry into the house but fled with a stolen mobile phone after the occupants armed themselves.
“All of the offenders are described by the victims as African youth, so our investigation is focusing on that,” Commander Barrett said.”We’re not saying it’s organised, but we’re certainly saying they’re behaving in street gang behaviours.”
Police spotted a stolen car at 1.30am and gave chase, but the car was later found crashed into a fence and all the occupants had fled on foot.
No arrests have been made.
“Our intent is to arrest these young people and to lock them up,” Commander Barrett said.
Only if you find them and only to give them bail and recycled back into the public to re-offend.
Again, another scenario we’ve seen with sickening regularity. A woman home invaded by multiple attackers, assaulted and unable to defend herself – another legally enforced victim.
On command, aside from the usual spout of apologist nonsense from Lisa Neville and Victoria Police Commissioners, the responses from the public came forth in the various social media channels: “We need MORE POLICE!” and “The bloody judges are a disgrace”, etc.
These are the usual, purely reactive solutions. They achieve little at great expense and mean little to victims of crime, who have already been traumatized, physically or otherwise. Had this woman been armed this could have been avoided altogether and she would have had a chance.
Sorry we forgot, this is Victoria and they charged Margo Marshall for doing exactly that a few weeks ago.
Adding more Police is also going to be at great expense at the tax payer. Victoria added 149,000 people in 2016 and it appears that the population expansion is overrunning the thin blue line.
Face it, Police are always reactive and they’re not going to be there in time. That’s not a slight at them, that’s just the laws of physics, ie time and space.
Australians need to break their convict chains and realise they need to empower themselves against this kind of criminal behaviour. Being entirely dependent on government for your protection is a mug’s game, particularly when they have proven time and again they can’t keep you safe from this kind of rampant criminal behaviour.
Criminals already have weapons, community legal aid and a weak judiciary in their favour. What does the public have? Nothing except a phone number and a 20 minute wait (in a metro area, hours in the bush), that’s if the Police even respond at all.
As we’ll continue to say, the only way to empower the public against violent criminals is to allow the public access to non-lethal self-defence tools such as pepper spray and tasers and concealed carry licences for those who meet a minimum standard. Changes in firearm storage laws would also be good for those already licenced to access their firearms in case of an emergency in their own property, much like David Dunstan.
Some Australians’, quite frankly, also need to get over their media-induced fear of firearms and apprehension of self-defence and need to divest themselves of the expectation that someone else will be there to protect them. The same media that bashes firearms on command but won’t say anything about the thousands of defensive gun uses that happen every week in the US and abroad, is largely to blame for this.
Having the right to self-defence in Australia means absolutely nothing when it’s illegal to own and use the means for that specific purpose.
The fact that Australian governments and Police continue to oppose this while at the same time, arming up because “public safety” is a disgrace.
Until an actual debate and perception change on self-defence is had in this country, other than the usual screeching about Port Arthur (which could have been stopped if there was someone armed there) then little will change. The same victims of crime will appear in your social media feed, the same perpetually outraged comments about “what is someone else doing about it?” will appear under them and the cycle repeats.
It’s time we tried something else because doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is the definition of insanity.
We’re still waiting for that inquiry, John Barilaro.
Australia cannot afford the number of police and the scattered police infrastructure that it would take to be able to react in time to actually protect the public from such attacks, but more importantly, Australians would not tolerate the intrusive level of surveillance required to make the police able to react in time to protect the public adequately.
However, there is one group who are always present in such situations – the victims, the solution is obvious, allow them to arm themselves – non lethal defensive measures are a bare minimum, but not acceptable as the only legal form of defence, take the woman in the story – if she had a taser, she needs to ask herself “is tasing one member of a gang, going to make me safer or less safe?” a similar argument exists for mace/pepper sprays (depending on product).
A firearm on the other hand is generally multi shot, very intimidating and relatively easy to use, legally, simple castle doctrine and the right to purchase a firearm for the express purpose of self defence (with an advertising campaign explaining it) would act as a partial deterrent that would be backed by an actual ability to deliver real world defensive benefits.
Throw in severe mandatory penalties for criminals carrying any weapon at any time and you are well down the path to making people as safe as they were before we let social workers, politicians and police take charge of our own security.
Australians need to grow up and start accepting responsibility for our own safety and voting for that right as a priority.
Certainly, we have the right to defend ourselves, and by extension, the right to the means to do so i.e carrying arms.
Australian politicians are unjustly infringing that right.
I agree with you, but we need to change the laws.
“Australians need to break their convict chains and realise they need to empower themselves against this kind of criminal behaviour”
Couldn’t agree more. And it’s not just in the area of self defence. This subservient hangover from the convict era mentality has done more that any other single thing to prevent Australian democracy being all it could be,
UNDER THE CONSTITUTION U CAN BEAR ARMS WHEN THEY FAIL TO PROTECT YOU
Well I think you just about covered the issue. Well said.
We need to unite under one banner. But who will lead us?
The Shooters Union is an NRA affiliated body that is pushing for those rights, google them and decide if you can get on board.
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/top-cop-admits-police-unable-to-put-youth-crime-problem-to-bed-20180123-p4yyrl.html
Speaking to 3AW’s Neil Mitchell, Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton acknowledged there was a youth crime issue and said police were making more arrests and responding faster than ever but said that “if you’re looking for police to put it to bed, you’re looking in the wrong direction”.
OK, that is progress, the police admitting that they cannot stop violent crime, now they just need to admit that law abiding Australians need the right to defend themselves against the violent attacks that the police admit they cannot stop.