Burglars hit sport clubs and schools

RESIDENTIAL BURGLARY SEVERAL residential burglaries occurred in suburbs south of the river this week including Belmont, Highton, Marshall, Waurn Ponds and Armstrong Creek.

In two incidents, car keys were stolen from inside the house and vehicles subsequently stolen — including two motorcycles stolen from a house in St Albans Park.

Incidents continue to occur during daylight hours and there were several burglaries of garages and houses under construction.

Jewellery, cash, computer items and tools were the items that were most targeted. BURGLARY (OTHER) BELMONT’S High St/ Thomson St arcade area saw several burglaries this week, including an incident overnight Saturday at The Computer Store.

Other incidents occurred at various locations including schools near Armstrong Creek and Whittington, sports clubs including the Elliminyt Golf Club and Fyansford Bowls Club, Winchelsea Station and a number of retail stores. THEFT OF MOTOR VEHICLE THERE were multiple thefts of vehicles in Lara, Corio, Geelong North and St Albans Park this week, with three of the incidents linked to residential burglaries.

Vehicles were also stolen from car parks at the South Geelong, North Geelong and Lara train stations.

In two of the incidents, keys had been left inside the cars that were stolen, while half of the vehicles stolen last week were later found. Two vehicles stolen from Belmont four days apart were both later located in Geelong East on the same day. THEFT FROM MOTOR VEHICLE THIEVES had an easy time stealing goods from cars this week, with more than half of the thefts showing no visible sign of forced entry.

Suburbs targeted included Geelong, Geelong East, Armstrong Creek, Corio, Geelong West, Belmont and Ocean Grove, with a large number of incidents occurring over the weekend at night.

Items stolen continue to include smaller items left behind in cars such as cash, credit cards, phones, handbags, clothing, jewellery and car keys.

Number plates were stolen in 18 incidents, with both plates stolen on six occasions. Nearly all were stolen from residential streets and driveways. PROPERTY DAMAGE BELMONT had higher than usual numbers of property damage incidents this week, with a number of them being graffiti damage committed on assorted electrical boxes.

Colac had a number of letterbox damage incidents in one night.

Graffiti, especially at train stations, increased.