Aggravated burglaries and carjackings have sharply risen in Melbourne recently with Victoria Police stepping up their operations.
In response to these house break-ins and car jackings, wherein several Indian families have been targeted, Victoria Police has escalated its response and rolled out Operation Cosmas – drawing investigators to specific tasks to prevent, deter and investigate these crimes.
Day and night patrols are being conducted at high risk locations to prevent offences taking place.
Since the operation commenced there have been almost 80 arrests.
AND YET THERE’S NO RESPITE
One man had to be flown to The Alfred hospital in a serious condition, with upper body injuries, after an aggravated burglary in Lilydale on Monday morning.
Another man in the same house too was injured and had to be admitted to hospital. Police is investigating the burglary which happened about 5:20am on Monday morning.
Earlier on Sunday morning, another aggravated burglary occurred in Springvale scaring the family of six.
Source: Wikimedia (public domain)
Police believe four to five offenders gained entry to the home by breaking a front window about 1.45am.
As the offenders were breaking into the house a male occupant woke his family, his wife, three children and father-in-law and locked them and himself into a back bedroom. The family remained in the bedroom until the offenders left the house, leaving the scene in the family’s two cars, an Audi and a Toyota Camry.
The two vehicles stolen from the address are described as a white Audi 4X4, registration YJD 850 and a Toyota Camry sedan, registration UTC 206.
The stolen Toyota was sighted by police in Bourke Street, Melbourne about 3.30am where it fled from police and was last seen travelling north bound on Elizabeth Street. Police have also located the stolen Audi, which was left abandoned on Leonard Avenue, Noble Park.
Anyone with any information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential crime report at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au
NOT ENOUGH POLICE OFFICERS
Victoria’s former top cop told that Police are failing Melburnians in the recent spate of burglaries.
Gary Jamieson, a former assistant commissioner wrote in the Herald Sun that the state’s wave of car-jackings and home invasions was a consequence of a lack of commitment to local policing.
“Local police have been largely forgotten, particularly in the new and emerging growth suburbs surrounding Melbourne,” Mr Jamieson writes in the Herald Sun.
He said it was critical for public confidence that the police force was as well supported as possible.
