Car theft victim in call to back cops
A VICTIM of crime has spoken out after his car was stolen while he lay in bed sleeping, urging the community to stay vigilant.
Mount Louisa resident Aaron Davies and his partner have been left feeling violated and in shock after they woke to find their house had been broken into and his partner’s red Mitsubishi Lancer stolen.
Mr Davies said the most unsettling part was knowing trespassers walked past his bedroom while he and his partner slept, completely unaware.
“Adrenaline kicked in immediately because our bedroom was right there to the left of the entrance,” he said.
“We’re feeling this violation and have to stay in our house knowing this has happened.
“Police told us they used a wrench or something to grasp the door open in one go, it must have been quick and they must have known what they were looking for because we didn’t hear a thing.”
Mr Davies said he knew of a number of houses in his street and neighbourhood that were also hit on Saturday night.
“Another house in the street got hit as well and had their (Mazda) BT-50 taken,” n, he said. Pictures of both stolen cars were seen posted on social media. Mr Davies’ car was later found in Rasmussen.
Mr Davies said he had a new found appreciation for police officers.
He said officers were under resourced, operating in challenging environments, and dealing with ruthless criminals. He’s called on the wider community to step up and be part of the solution in dealing with Townsville’s stolen car issue.
“I started to talk to the police and started to understand they’re not just sitting on their butts doing nothing but they’ve got limited manpower,” he said.
“They want to see these people stopped from doing these crimes and locked up for doing the crimes just as much as we do and d as a community we’ve proven how effective all the social media crime groups are.
“I think any help that we can give them will be really great because there’s already thousands of people on those pages but the next action needs to be calling Policelink so they can action it.”
Mr Davies also urged all residents to install deadbolts to add to their home’s security.
“We locked up every night but they still broke through a wooden door and screen so we insisted that the real estate install a dead bolt and they responded straight away,” he said.
“If people are renting I would definitely suggest they insist on getting a dead bolt because it could mean a huge difference.”