Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton (pictured) says that their efforts against African youth violence is working, despite a house attack in Melbourne's west

Victoria's top cop has justified the police force's approach to Melbourne's African youth crime crisis, even though he says officers are repeatedly arresting the same people.

Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton stood by his approach to youth crime, even after a home invasion in Melbourne's western suburb of Tarneit last weekend, in which a woman was followed home, bashed and robbed.

The attack occurred on Friday night, in which a 34-year-old woman was stalked into her house and punched in the face.

Police say that they are searching for four youths of African appearance, one of which was wielding a machete.

They fled the scene after they stole her car, a black Hyundai sedan.

Victoria Police have established two operations in the area in the past 14 months, leading to 700 arrests.

Regardless, Tarneit has become a hotspot for African crime, with repeat offenders becoming more and more frequently noticed by police.

'They're pretty resilient, they like to reoffend,' Mr Ashton told Neil Mitchell on 3AW.

Tarneit is 25km west of Melbourne, and is notorious as a hotspot for African youth crime

Operation Wayward was started in May to target 64 offenders, with one police officer assigned to each individual.

The officers check the youths' school attendance, whereabouts in the evenings and track them when they go missing.

Even with the attack on Friday, Mr Ashton maintains that what they're doing is working, saying their tactics don't need to be reviewed.

He said crime was decreasing and police were making more arrests than ever before, but media coverage made Melbourne look like the 'Wild West'.

Operations carried out by police have reduced crime rates in the area, but their biggest problem remains repeat offenders.

'We're absolutely seeing the same offenders repeat offending, so we'll absolutely nail them,' Mr Ashton said.

Two operations have been put in place to help police manage the African youths in Tarneit (pictured)

Earlier this year, Ecoville Community Park (pictured) in Tarneit was trashed by African gangs

Gang members have sprayed graffitti all over Tarneit, with 'Menace to Society' (right) becoming prominent