Crime not race the issue: Vic police chief

Victoria's police chief has hit back at critics who've accused his force of "tiptoeing around issues of ethnicity" when it comes to discussing gang crime.

In a blog post on Wednesday the chief commissioner, Graham Ashton, said police were not being soft on gangs out of fear of being labelled racist.

And he responded to those that questioned Victoria Police's decision not to focus on the ethnicity of Apex gang members who rioted in Melbourne's CBD on the weekend.

Some commentators have suggested the gang is made up of African youths but Mr Ashton insists that's no longer the case.

Apex initially consisted of a small number of South Sudanese members but has since merged with another gang and is now ethnically diverse, Mr Ashton said on Wednesday.

"The colour of their skin is irrelevant, offending is offending," he wrote.

"We must make sure we are not unnecessarily demonising law-abiding sections of our community."

The chief commissioner argued that police don't shy away from ethnicity and if it's relevant to a crime they'd be "forthcoming".