Racists exist in Melbourne, admits Aus top cop

Victorian Deputy Police Commissioner Ken Jones has admitted that Indians were 'bearing the brunt' of an upswing in violent street crime in Melbourne, and said that there are racists in the city, but racism is not endemic here.

"Part of that is being absolutely upfront about every society having racism and racists. We have got murderers and rapists, but for a developed country, less than our share. We've got less than our share of racists, but we have got them," he said.

Ken conceded that Indians were facing the brunt of upswing in violent street crime in Melbourne, The Australian reports.

He said this was a result of the types of jobs and hours they work and how and when they travel, rather than a surge in racial tension, which he would expect to be accompanied by more activity from hate groups and by racist graffiti.

But Indians should not be blamed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Ken said. "The fact we have got morons out there waiting to attack people who happen to be wandering through a park late at night is a problem for us all," he said.

Ken's immediate aim is to ensure his investigators find the killer or killers of Nitin Garg, the Punjab-born accountancy graduate stabbed to death in a park in Melbourne's west.