Over the past few years, refugees from African countries such as Sudan (and the new nation of South Sudan), Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia have become a common sight in areas such as Footscray, Sunshine, Flemington and St Albans…
Before long, though, stories began emerging of violent robberies — often at or around railway stations — carried out by “youths of African appearance”. The singling out of ethnic groups when it comes to crime stats is a sensitive subject, and police and the African community are at loggerheads over whether African youths are more likely to commit violent crime.
“I’m just calling it as I see it,” says Assistant Commissioner Steve Fontana, until recently the commander of the north-west metro police region.
“What you’ve got is a large number of youth [who] are disengaged from their families, from the broader community, some of them have probably dropped out of school, they’re having trouble getting employment, and so they’re hanging around in large groups....
“The concern is that we’ve got an over-representation of people of African descent and also [Pacific] islander descent in some of the street offences that are occurring.”..
VISIT Maddern Square in the early afternoon, we were told, as the boys and men who hang around there are likely to be more sober and less aggressive.
It was clear immediately that the advice, however well-meaning, was incorrect. Six or seven African migrants aged between 17 and 25 sat on benches in varying states of drunkenness, some openly swigging from bottles and casks of alcohol.
