Love for Life

Anti-terror cops to combat surging violenceEXCLUSIVE by Keith Moor
January 19, 2008 01:00am
Herald Sun - Australia

VICTORIA's top cop has adopted a new "get tough" approach to street violence that will see anti-terrorist police deployed at trouble spots across the state.

Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon also revealed hundreds of other police are to be specially trained to quickly quell public disorder.

Ms Nixon said delegations of very experienced officers from around the state had recently outlined to her a shocking rise in the number of alcohol-fuelled incidents, particularly in Melbourne and Geelong.

"What I am hearing from my officers on the ground, very experienced officers, is that the level of violence in the community is just far more than they have ever seen before," Ms Nixon said.

"I talked to a leading senior constable the other day, who said he had worked in the city for years. And (he said) it was nothing like it used to be, both in the volume of people and the level of violence.

"He said in years past, if somebody knocked into somebody, there might be a bit of a punch-up but nothing more.

"He said now there is a swarm of people involved. The person might be on the ground and they will be kicked.

"There is a greater tendency for people to be in large groups these days, and the likelihood of them using violence is higher."

Ms Nixon vowed officers would be armed with all the tools and skills needed to crack down on alcohol-fuelled anti-social and loutish behaviour.

More than 120 have already had rigorous training, and scores more will receive it in the next six months.

"The training is about how to deal with crowds," Ms Nixon said.

"It's about having confidence, knowing the legislation and the powers they can use, and equipping them to be able to deal with confrontation in a very effective way."

Ms Nixon has also ordered a greater use of the force's elite critical incident response teams at events where trouble or large crowds are expected.

The highly trained, heavily armed CIRT units, which are available 24 hours a day, every day, were set up three years ago to counter terrorist threats.

While CIRT members will still have an anti-terrorist role, Ms Nixon will also now use their expertise in the fight against public disorder.

She said it was an unusual but warranted use of such specialist officers, and part of a tactic to flood trouble spots with police.

"Sometimes what you just have to do is get more numbers into the area to calm it down and have more visibility of officers," Ms Nixon said.

She said the strong response she had prepared was justified, because Victoria was experiencing its worst ever level of street violence.

Ms Nixon said the way that some Generation Y 15- to 30-year-olds had been brought up by their baby boomer parents contributed to their displays of bad behaviour and a lack of respect.

"We are just seeing a different generation that has so much more freedom," Ms Nixon said, "so much more access to everything: technology, money, alcohol, and drugs - ecstasy.

"They are difficult, and different in some cases. And they are the ones we are concerned about."

Ms Nixon stressed that she was not suggesting all Generation Y members were causing problems.

"There are lots of fantastic kids doing great at everything they do," she said. "We are talking about a small portion of that age group causing trouble."

Ms Nixon said she promised the officers who had alerted her to the disturbing level of street violence and alcohol abuse that she would tackle it forcefully with more resources.

"The response I have prepared is a response to their concerns about that level of violence," she said.

Ms Nixon said she was very concerned about the high number of liquor licences in the city, and vowed police would regularly blitz them to ensure they were serving alcohol responsibly.

She said there was no doubt the easy access to alcohol from hundreds of city liquor outlets was a major contributing factor to rising street violence.

"We are putting in additional resources to handle that," Ms Nixon said.

"Our officers are now very visible. There are more of them, and they will often be seen in threes and fours.

"They are being given better training in crowd control and how to protect themselves."

Ms Nixon said Geelong was experiencing similar problems of street violence.

"Police officers I talk to on the ground there characterise the problem as just really that age group of young people we call Generation Y," she said.

"The officers are saying that the experiences in life of this group, the way they have been brought up, actually contributes to the level of violence, that is higher today than it was with previous groups of young people."

Ms Nixon said she was getting a message out to her officers that while she didn't condone unnecessary force, nor did she expect them to put up with physical or verbal abuse.

She said she fully backed this week's use of capsicum spray by police at the Australian Open.

Link to this article: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23075588-421,00.html