Victoria is in the midst of a record-breaking crime wave.

The premier's attempts to limit the damage seem to be focused on the shoreline — bail reforms and a machete ban aimed at cleaning up any debris in the whitewash.

But the police chief is out past the breakers, eyes on the horizon, watching for ripples of crime before they can swell.

Mike Bush's plan is to stop crime before it happens.

It's taken the new chief of Victoria Police just three months to see that all is not right in the garden state.

Since shifting across the ditch to lead the police force, which is on some measures the biggest in Australia with 16,000 sworn officers and a $4.5 billion annual budget, Chief Commissioner Bush has endured a testing first quarter on the job.

In that time, the Victorian community has been

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