Police playing 'whack-a-mole' as new offenders pop up in place of serial crooks

Exclusive: Victoria Police is playing a criminal game of "whack-a-mole", as the state's most prolific underage burglars are arrested and locked up in droves, only for new offenders to take their place, according to one of the state's top cops.

In an exclusive interview with A Current Affair, Deputy Commissioner Bob Hill said internal police intelligence revealed Melbourne's 20 worst burglars had collectively broken into 273 homes in 2023 – with eight of them not breaking into a single home at all this year.

He said a new wave of underage crooks had taken their place, contributing to surging crime rates.

It comes as A Current Affair joined police on the frontline working Operation Trinity, a hugely successful night-time operation tasked with catching underage criminals breaking into homes and stealing cars.

The operation has resulted in nearly 1700 arrests this year alone – almost five burglars and car thieves every day.

Hill said one of the worst young offenders in recent history, a 15-year-old boy charged with almost 450 offenders in his life – including 267 home invasions and burglaries – was now in rehabilitation after a stint behind bars.

He has only committed two burglaries in the past year.

Three other young offenders who were in the 20 worst burglars at the start of last year have also had no involvement with police this year.

Only one of those offenders remains in the top 20 list.

Hill said new offenders have continued to emerge and replace those who came before them.

"We have a generation of people we hold to account, we arrest, we put before the courts ... but unfortunately we have another wave, another generation coming through," he said.

Watch the full video in the player above.