EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: Victoria police say they're increasingly concerned about crime rates among parts of Melbourne's immigrant community.

They're committed to tackling the issue to prevent a repeat of the Cronulla riots.

Police statistics show Sudanese and Somali-born Victorians are about five times more likely to commit crimes than the broader community.

But some have questioned the wisdom of releasing those figures, as Amy Bainbridge reports.

AMY BAINBRIDGE, REPORTER: Kiah Judet came to Australia from Sudan via Egypt a decade ago. The 20-year-old now lives a peaceful life in Melbourne.

KIAH JUDET, MELBOURNE STUDENT: I get along with every tribe, like, basically everyone. If you treat me right, I treat you right, no matter what skin colour, whatever religion you are.

AMY BAINBRIDGE: But police crime figures released today are sobering statistics for the African community. They show people born in Somalia and Sudan are five times more likely to commit crimes than the broader population. Robbery and assault are the most common.

STEPHEN FONTANA, ASST. COMM., VICTORIA POLICE: We are concerned about the level of offending by youth of African descent and we're particularly concerned about the level of violence on occasions and also the age of the individuals involved. A vast majority are under the age of 21 years of age.

AMY BAINBRIDGE: Abeselom Nega is an African an community leader. His organisation, iEmpower, provides programs for young migrants.

ABELSELOM NEGA, CEO OF IEMPOWER: If in fact these figures are accurate, well, they are very confronting. We have a systemic problem. We have a concern because it's a cost to society, to families of these young people, to victims and to the wider community.

AMY BAINBRIDGE: The Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Tim Cartwright has told Fairfax that if nothing's done, Victoria is heading for the Cronulla riots Mark II, but today police backed away from that scenario.

STEPHEN FONTANA: I think he's looking at the worst case scenario, you know, many years down the track.

AMY BAINBRIDGE: Australian-based African journalist Clyde Sharady was at the police conference.

CLYDE SHARADY, AFRICA MEDIA AUSTRALIA: Well there's already a growing mistrust between many members of the African communities and the police in general. And I fear this sort of thing may in fact, you know, contribute to that gap even growing bigger. We would want to - obviously it's important for community to be informed, as I said, but maybe pointing to some of the positive things that are happening as well.

AMY BAINBRIDGE: Both police and community leaders have been quick to point out that these statistics represent a low proportion of the overall crime rate, but there are calls for better programs to target the migrant community.

Michael McKiterick is a legal supervisor at the Sunshine Youth Legal Centre.

MICHAEL MCKITERICK, SUNSHINE YOUTH LEGAL CENTRE: In my view the underlying issues are things like social isolation, education issues and also a lack of prospects for this group of young men.

ABELSELOM NEGA: I think we need to have some early intervention measures to support young people to remain in school. And that can be done by having outreach youth workers in schools so that the social issues could be addressed.

AMY BAINBRIDGE: He also wants better pathways to employment and says police should release data on how many of the people charged are convicted.

Amy Bainbridge, Lateline.