WE’VE HAD ENOUGH
Shopping strip calls for bollards after third ram raid
LEOPOLD residents are calling for security bollards to be installed along a shopping strip after a grocery store was ram-raided for the third time in three years.
Residents living near the Ash Rd shopping strip told the Geelong Advertiser they no longer felt safe in their own home.
A Toyota ute crashed through the front window of the Leopold IGA just before 5am on Saturday. The raid damaged the front of the store and caused thousands of dollars of damage. It was the third ram raid at the business in three years and the fifth time the business had been broken into in the past 12 months.
A woman who lives opposite the shopping strip said the latest ram raid left her “shaking and crying”. “It was like a bomb went off, I heard the crash and saw the glass flying everywhere,” she said. “Sometimes I cannot sleep in the night time, it is not good to not feel safe in your own home.”
Another woman said she had to double check her doors were locked each night. Security cameras can be seen at multiple properties along the road.
Owners of the Leopold grocery store declined to comment yesterday, but management said after a ram raid last year that they feared insurance would no longer cover the mounting claims.
Ash Rd business owner and founder of Leopold Community Watch Alanna Reinert said installing bollards down the strip might be the only way to combat the constant attacks.
“It’s pretty devastating really, you feel sorry for that shop, well really any shop that gets targeted,” she said. “The supermarket seems to be a big target because of the alcohol and cigarettes, so they would definitely benefit from bollards.”
Ms Reinert has been a victim of multiple attempted break-ins at her own store. She began the Leopold Community Watch Facebook group as a way to encourage residents to start looking out for each other. Many in the group called for bollards to be installed and expressed anger over the latest crime.
Police spokesman Acting Sergeant Alistair Parsons said the offenders were in the premises on Saturday for a “short time, before fleeing emptyhanded”.