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Bendigo
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violence
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By ANNIKA SMETHURST
BENDIGO police are concerned about the level of violence on Bendigo’s streets.
Despite the overall crime rate dropping, anti-social violence is on the way up and police are worried about how quickly things turn nasty.
Senior Sargeant Grant Morris said it had become a problem for the community.
“I have a fair bit of concern for the level of violence some incidents get to,” he said.
“The issue of most concern in Bendigo is assaults and assaults with weapons.
“We have had a few issues where we have had some serious assaults recently and we’ve had weapons or instruments such as glass or lumps of wood and it’s really concerning.”
Bendigo’s late-night violence problems escalated again last week with police locking up 18 drunks and referring two people to drug diversion programs.
A bartender is also undergoing microsurgery after an alleged glassing incident at a Bendigo nightspot.
An 18th birthday party at a popular CBD venue had to be cancelled early after youths gatecrashed it.
An ensuing brawl saw at least one person hit over the head with a bottle.
Snr Sgt Morris said the problem was ongoing and police had pinpointed the demographic involved in anti-social behavior.
“We mainly see incidents with males from 17 to 24 years old,” he said.
“What is concerning is the way people result to violence quickly.
“It concerns me that when there is a disagreement among a group of people while they are out, that they immediately go to violent process to resolve it.
“I must admit I’d love to know the mentality around that, I don’t know why it happens and the only thing I can put it down to is excessive alcohol consumption.”
Despite politicans claiming things are under control, Bendigo has, in the past week, been targeted by police for two dramatic anti-violence programs.
A Special Operational Response Unit will be available in Bendigo to crack down on street violence and anti-social behaviour.
The force of 127 officers will be based in Melbourne and mobilised to troubled hot spots in metropolitan areas and Bendigo and Shepparton to deal with growing problems of late night violence.
The city was one of only two areas in the state to be targeted for a trial of tasers, because of its violent assault rate.
Snr Sgt Morris said nothing could be done to change the psychology of people involved in anti-social behaviour but said strategies such as the 2am lockout and ID scanners were mitigating the problems.
“The lock-out has changed things, without changing the mind set of the individual it changes the ability for them to indulge in the behaviour they want to,” he said.
“We had people leaving clubs and migrating from different clubs all night long … so constantly throughout the early hours of the morning you had people walking all over the CBD at various states of intoxication.”
Snr Sgt Morris said a minority of people indulged in illegal anti-social behaviour and the responsible drinking message was slowly filtering through to the community.
“I think every time there is an incident a certain sector of the community decides to behave themselves,” he said.
