As of this Sunday, a new policy will empower police and protective service officers to conduct searches without warrants in specific areas around Melbourne. These areas include the CBD, Docklands, Southbank, the sporting precinct, and certain parts of South Melbourne. This move has been attributed to increasing concerns about public safety and crime prevention.

Recent data from the Victorian Crime Statistics Agency has highlighted a notable rise in criminal incidents. Victoria Police recorded 483,583 criminal incidents in the year leading up to June 30, 2025. This marks an 18.3 percent increase from the 408,930 incidents noted the previous year, underscoring growing challenges in maintaining public safety.

There are concerns that this new policy might disproportionately target young people, especially during the summer holidays when they are more likely to gather in these areas. Critics argue this approach could unfairly categorize youths as potential gang members or criminals, further complicating community-police relations.

The powers are “unprecedented”

“(The powers are) a vast overreach that doesn’t have an evidence base behind it, and there’s not even the suggestion that there’s any sort of logic or premise for the geographic breadth of it, but also the length of time.

“It’s a real sliding slope into people’s civil liberties and rights and freedoms to move across public spaces.”

Morales said: “For a city that claims to be the world’s most liveable, it is a sad day indeed.”

Will warrantless search powers target minorities?

Recent data, released on Monday by the Centre Against Racial Profiling (CARP), included all searches conducted by Victoria Police in 2024 that were recorded on its L19C forms – searches without a warrant.