You now say you want students to travel in groups. But when they were travelling in groups, seeking safety in numbers, they were asked to disperse and accused of being a vigilante force…
We don't encourage vigilantism. But on public transport systems, in particular, we encourage them to travel together. As a result of what we are doing, safety on trains has actually improved over the last 12 months. There are fewer attacks on trains now. Many of the attacks now are happening when people come and go to the stations — in parking lots or on the streets on their way home. Because of what we have done, crimes are getting 'displaced'. Initially it was on the trains; we increased policing on the trains. The problem has now moved on the way to and from the train stations. So now, we are focussing on those.
How do you plan to do that? Are you planning to install CCTV cameras?
There are CCTV cameras in a lot of the stations, but the problem is on the streets around the train stations.
So, do you put more policemen on the ground?
Yes, and we have to be running operations around those areas. It's about understanding where and when the offences are happening. And running increased activities overtly and covertly.
Will these initiatives continue even after the attacks go off the front pages of newspapers — or will you lower your guard?
It's not about lowering our guard. This is the nature of policing: we solve one problem here, there will be two more over there.
If we hadn't changed our approach, we'd still be guarding banks. Banks aren't robbed by and large anymore. Armoured cars aren't robbed by and large anymore. Ten years ago, they were. Shops aren't being robbed any more — not as much as they were. It's now what we call 'soft targets'. That term itself has been problematic. I understand and I apologised for this when the Indian students felt that we were specifically referring to them. It's a term we use, which really applies to everyone who is in a vulnerable situation. That could be me, if I found myself in the wrong place at the wrong time, late at night and a group wanted to pick on me.
The point is that the students don't have a choice. That's where they live, so they have to go. That's one of the reasons they are vulnerable.
Generally speaking, do Indian students give the Victoria Police force a difficult time? Are they at all involved in street fights, drugs, muggings, etc? The reason I ask you is that from what I've seen and heard, they are probably vastly under-represented in any kind of criminal activity — partly also because they have a vested interest in having a clean record (since they want to acquire permanent residence in Australia). Is the characterisation of them as trouble makers — when they organised themselves to draw public attention to the attacks — fair?
By and large, Indian students are very peaceful. We do sometimes have Indian offenders, but then we have offenders from every race and culture that comes to Australia. But most of the offences are done by white people. The whole race element around understanding crime through race is really not a very helpful analysis. But by and large, the Indian population and the Indian student population are very peaceful, law-abiding, responsible people.
Indian students have made the charge — and they have probably made it to you as well — that when they go and report a crime, the local constabulary says, 'You move on, we'll take care of it'.
There may be cases where the response has not been appropriate, and we need to make sure it is. But I know of particular cases, where students have raised issues, and I've gone and looked, and what they have said is not right. The case has been dealt with, the offenders have been arrested, the students have been kept informed, they have been provided with welfare and financial assistance. They have been advised that they can get compensation once the criminal matter is resolved.
I do accept there are some problems, and we need to keep working to make sure the service is the best we can make it for every individual, but I don't accept a general proposition that we haven't responded effectively to this. We have, and the evidence is overwhelming that we have, because of the arrests we have been able to make and the number of people we have charged.
How concerned are you that Australia's image as a preferred destination for Indian students has been seriously dented by the recent spurt in crimes against Indians, particularly in Melbourne, under your watch?
Obviously, I am. But this is one of the problems: the facts are very clear. Victoria and Melbourne continue to be very safe communities by world standards. We are a safe place. The problem we always have is the perception, and the way perception is generated through the media primarily, and through crises like these.
I'm not saying there is not a problem here that we don't have to deal with. There absolutely is. But the way it's been represented has created a perception that (a) it's much more significant and much worse than it is, and (b) we have not done anything about it, which is simply not true. We knew about this 18 months to two years ago, and we have been working away at it.
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