A group of Melbourne dads has banded together to launch night patrols of their suburb where terrified residents face “weekly” home invasions.

A group of Melbourne dads has banded together to launch night patrols of their suburb where terrified residents face “weekly” home invasions amid the state’s out-of-control youth crime crisis.

Tim McDonald started the “Dad’s Army” group in the affluent inner suburb of Malvern earlier this year in response to the shocking rise in crime in the area.

The group has now grown to more than two dozen members, who work in pairs on a rotating roster.

“We’ll generally cover as many streets as we can,” Mr McDonald told 10 News on Monday.

“We’ll either just discreetly and slowly roll through the streets looking up and down footpaths … or some people like to just park up at an intersection and turn the lights off and just wait to see if they can see anything.

“We’re not trained to do this, we don’t really have any specific techniques or tactics. But when we do see any suspicious behaviour, and it does happen, we’ll either report it and or do something to deter whoever it is to bugger off.”

Mr McDonald said the group started because “with the rate of the invasions going on in this direct area, it simply got to the point where there was so much crime going on we felt we needed to have eyes on the streets”.

Home invasions are ‘getting more and more brazen’. Picture: 10 News

Many residents have armed themselves or hired private security.

“It’s every week, for sure, and what’s concerning is it’s getting more and more brazen,” he said.

“Sometimes it’s happening in daylight hours as late as 6.30pm or 7pm. Spotlights and CCTV cameras don’t deter. There are some people that are really scared to the point where they don’t want to be home alone at all.

“Every fourth or fifth house has had the experience of someone trying to get in.

The affluent suburb has become a target of youth gangs. Picture: 10 News

“That alone, to have three or four … crooks come up to your front door in the middle of the night when your family’s asleep … I think that’s what’s playing on people’s minds, for those people that have had that happen or their next door neighbour. And sadly that’s almost everyone in the area.

“What gets reported or noticed is the tip of the iceberg. I would suggest there’s a lot of scenarios where there’s invasions or people trying to get in and don’t get in and the people at home don’t actually ever realise that happened.”

Mr McDonald said the dad’s “don’t want to be doing this”.

Around two dozen volunteers now work on rotating roster. Picture: 10 News

“We’re probably putting ourselves in danger, and getting up at 2.30am it’s not something we’re proud of doing, not something we want to be doing and it’s not sustainable,” he said.

“But until something changes, whether there’s more police presence or the private security guards are more active, or the crime for whatever reason settles down, we just feel the right thing to do is have eyes on the street.”

Mr McDonald has been contacted for comment.

Victoria is facing its worst youth crime crisis on record. Picture: 10 News

Plagued by carjackings, burglaries and machete attacks, Victoria currently has its highest rate of youth crime since electronic records began in 1993, while overall crime is at nearly two-decade highs.

Victoria Police recorded a 17.1 per cent increase in criminal offences in the 12 months to March 31 — the highest since 2017 — according to the most recent figures from Crime Statistics Victoria.

The rate of youth offending surged 17.9 per cent in the same 12-month period, with 25,275 crimes committed by 10- to 17-year-olds. Crimes by 18- to 24-year-olds were up 16.5 per cent to 28,228.

Burglaries rose 25 per cent to 50,086, thefts were up 32 per cent to 240,210, while car thefts were up 47 per cent to 31,551.

In March, Victoria passed what Premier Jacinta Allan described as the “toughest bail laws in the world” in response to growing community pressure.

At the time, Shadow Attorney-General Michael O’Brien argued the changes were “weak” and failed to restore the bail laws to what they once were.

From September 1, Victoria has also banned machetes, making it illegal to own, use, carry, transport, sell and buy machetes without an exemption or valid approval.

The laws, which carry up to two years in jail or fines of more than $47,000, were rushed through following a spate of public incidents involving machetes across Melbourne.

The state’s new Police Commissioner, Mike Bush, admitted Victoria had a “youth crime issue” when he commenced his term in late June.

“They need to know there’s a consequence and that consequence has to be real,” Mr Bush said.