A 12-year-old is among dozens of young people arrested in a week-long crime blitz as residents in one suburb organise private security.
Victoria Police on Friday revealed 41 people, most of them children, were involved in a string of armed robberies, car thefts and aggravated burglaries across Melbourne's east and southeast between December 27 and January 2.
They were arrested and charged with 150 offences in the crackdown, with ages ranging from 12 to 44-years-old.
Victorian Opposition Leader Brad Battin accused the state Labor government of "watering-down" bail laws and claimed there was a "revolving door of young violent offenders" in the state.
"We're seeing young people get bailed up to 50 times for violent offences here in our state," he told reporters on Friday.
"We need to make sure that we send a very strong and strict message to these kids, you just can't keep getting away with it. People are genuinely afraid."
But minister Harriet Shing said the government had invested more than 4.5 billion into policing, boosted the number of officers by 3600 and was trialling electronic monitoring of young people in certain circumstances.
"We've introduced really tough laws around bail laws, and it's really important that we can continue to crack down on violent crime which has a devastating impact on victims," Ms Shing said.
"It is the higher level of reporting that shows that this work that police are dedicating themselves to achieving is actually reaching into the numbers of people who are offending in a range of different circumstances, including aggravated offending."
Incidents involving children included an armed roadside robbery where males aged 15, 19, 20 and 23 allegedly threatened victims with a machete on December 30.
On New Year's Eve, four boys aged 13 to 17 were involved in a pursuit with officers using a tyre-deflation device to slow the car, and boys aged 13, 14 and 15 were arrested over 15 separate service station armed robberies just before Christmas.
Six people aged between 12 and 19 were arrested over an armed robbery in Blairgowrie in the early hours of New Year's Day.
A group of 14 to 17-year-olds were charged with a home invasion, as were two 16-year-olds along with car thefts and multiple street robberies.
Many of the arrests had occurred under the cover of darkness, Victoria Police Acting Superintendent Andrew McKee said..
"While you’re sleeping, police are wide-eyed with members on ground and in the sky - no hiding place is safe for offenders," he said.
“Our message to offenders is clear: if you want to play hide and seek with us, I can guarantee you, our members will always find you.”
The Police Association of Victoria on Friday said residents in suburban Melbourne had felt "compelled" to organise private security patrols over home invasion fears in Middle Park, describing it as "unacceptable".
It comes amid a long-running police pay dispute between the force and the state government.
"This is an indictment on the government's failure to properly resource our police force," the union said.
Victoria Police said Middle Park had recorded one residential aggravated burglary offence in the last 12 months, down from three the year before, however theft from motor vehicles had increased "substantially" year-on-year.
"It is important to recognise Middle Park remains an overwhelmingly safe place to live," a spokesperson said.
Crime statistics released in December revealed crimes by children aged 10 to 17 have reached their highest levels in Victoria since 2009.
Teens aged 14 to 17 were responsible for the most child crime, totalling 20,753 incidents.
The Victorian police blitz comes months after conservative governments in Queensland and the Northern Territory were elected, having campaigned on tough approaches to youth crime.
