Retailers fight to reclaim territory

By Sarah Schwager
HAMPTON Park youth are becoming out of control and customers and shop owners at the local shopping centre are fighting to claim back their territory.
Staff at Hampton Park Shopping Centre have reported a gang of about 10 youths causing havoc and scaring people away.
Trish Burles of Narre Warren South, who has worked at Civic Video at the centre for nine years, said she planned to quit her job because she was too scared to keep working there.
On Wednesday, 17 January she was assaulted at her workplace by a 15-year-old girl who smacked her in the eye after she asked her and a boy of about 11 to leave the store.
“She was with a group of about eight kids. The police came and took her away but her friends said they’d be back,” Ms Burles said. “The next day they were back but I wasn’t there.
“One staff member was threatened with an iron bar about two weeks ago. It’s gotten beyond a joke.”
Problems at the centre escalated when Santa Claus was attacked on Christmas Eve last year and had a rock thrown at his head.
The co-proprietor of Arty Pants, Judy Davis said Santa was also pushed in the back, had his lolly bags stolen and verbally abused.
“I just can’t get over these kids taking away the fantasy from other kids,” she said. “When Santa came back shaking, he said that was it, he couldn’t do it any more. I don’t blame him.”
Susan Scott, property manager of Norwood Property Services, which manages the shopping centre, said management had hired a new security company last September and everything was going well until the school holidays started.
“It has just been feral, gangs and all,” she said.
Since Christmas the company has upped the number of security guards from two to five after phone calls from tenants saying the situation was getting beyond control. Ms Scott said part of the problem lay with the local youth centre, which was counselling many of the troublemakers.
Michael Senior, manager and director at Select Security, said there had been some shocking sights at the shopping centre, including a girl who was set upon by about 20 young people in Safeway.
“Safeway is not even part of our area but we saw the girl getting hammered and could not ignore it,” he said.
Since the increase in the number of security guards, shop owners have reported the centre being the quietest it has been in many months.
Ms Scott said that once children went back to school, the company would reassess the security situation and see if guards were still needed.
The coordinator of the Hampton Park Networking Group, Vanessa Gerdes, said shop owners and staff did not want to turn people away from the centre but merely reclaim their right to be there.
“Safety and security is the number one preference for tenants. It is sad to say many customers and staff don’t feel safe coming to Hampton Park. That has to change,” she said.
A petition is being circulated around the centre asking that 14 items of action be taken by Norwood Property Services, the first of which is an increase in security, cameras and employ 24-hour security guards.
“This is not just coming from one person,” Ms Gerdes said. “This is all the tenants.”
Detective Sergeant Larry Grimshaw from Cranbourne CIU said assaults at the shopping centre had been an ongoing issue and police were increasing patrols.
Det Sgt Grimshaw urged shop owners to record all occasions when there was trouble, and make sure they notified security.
“In due course, maybe there would be a case for stalking and subsequent intervention orders,” he said.
Anyone with information about incidents at the shopping centre should contact Cranbourne Police on 5991 0600 or Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000. For emergency assistance call 000.