The wayward 64: Police keeping tabs on dozens of youths — with impressive results

A new police taskforce targeting young criminals appears to have halted home invasions in parts of Melbourne.

Taskforce Wayward keeps tabs on 64 youth offenders deemed an extreme or high risk of committing aggravated burglaries and home invasions.

Detectives can come knocking at any time of the night — or even show up at school — to ensure the youths are behaving.

The program is a pilot project only targeting the western suburbs in the council areas of Hobsons Bay, Maribyrnong, Wyndham, Brimbank and Melton.

Police told Ross and John it was working.

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The Herald Sun reported no home invasions had been reported in the suburbs covered by the program in the past two months.

However, Neil Mitchell today revealed a girl was attacked in a home invasion in Footscray overnight.