Owners making it easy for burglars
THERE has been an increase in burglaries over the past week, with incidents occurring in St Leonards overnight Friday and into Saturday on caravans at the Leviens Rd Caravan Park.
Other areas where multiple incidents occurred include Bell Post Hill, Lara, St Albans Park, Corio, Newtown and Highton.
Garages and sheds at residential properties were targeted while a holiday home and farm building were also broken into.
Eight of the incidents occurred on premises where there was no sign of any forced entry. At most of those properties entry was gained through unlocked or open doors and windows.
Other incidents occurred where a key was used to gain entry ( Lovely Banks) and hinges were unscrewed ( Little River). RESTAURANTS, retail stores and a service station were broken into on the Bellarine Peninsula at Ocean Grove, Barwon Heads, Portarlington and St Leonards.
Overall 14 of the 18 incidents involved retail stores, with doors and windows being forced open for entry.
Items stolen included building materials, tools, power tools, cash and computer equipment. VEHICLES were stolen from Corio, Bell Post Hill and Armstrong Creek.
Two vehicles stolen from Bell Post Hill were directly linked to a residential burglary a couple of days earlier when the car keys to the vehicles had been stolen. Another nine vehicles were stolen from Saturday to Monday.
A vehicle taken from Corio was located on fire in Fyansford, with another stolen from Drumcondra was located in Geelong. MULTIPLE incidents occurred in a number of suburbs including Geelong, Grovedale, Geelong South, Geelong West, Newcomb, Whittington, Corio and Highton.
Most vehicles were broken into in the street, driveways and carports of residential premises. Cash, handbags and purses were the main items stolen.
Fifteen of the total incidents involved the theft of numberplates. DAMAGE to vehicles (residential premises, street, train stations) and windows (residential premises, retail) continues to be high in number.
Reports of graffiti continues to rise.
Such incidents continue to occur at train stations ( Corio, North Shore, Geelong, South and Geelong).
Incidents are occurring at a variety of locations including a cemetery, church, licensed premises, medical centre, retail stores, restaurant and shopping complexes.