Cairns youth crime: Markings used before being broken into

Cairns residents have warned of unusual markings at the front of their home moments before being broken into. Here are some of the ways people’s houses are being marked.

Cairns residents have warned of unusual markings at the front of their homes moments before being broken into.

Rhiannon Brown, of Manunda, said she had seen all the markings at the front of her house.

“We’ve had everything from the Coke can, they use a Coke can and they stand up right in the gutter, we have been marked like that so many times,” she said.

“They’ve done the rubberband on the picket fence and it’s a good way of knowing because it’s so odd to have a rubberband there.”

Ms Brown said the power pole at the front of her place had been marked a few times.

Rhiannon Brown had supplies stolen while she was renovating her home. Picture: Brendan Radke

But the one time thieves were successful with their markings was a couple of months ago.

“They left the cardboard bit inside the toilet roll, wedged inside the picket in the fence and that was their marker to jump here,” she said.

“We don’t know how long they had been jumping the fence for.

But Ms Brown thinks it was happening for some time.

“We have had all these tools going missing while I was renovating, I thought it was tradies,” she said.

“Then my mum installed security cameras.

“She went and checked the cameras and sure enough some random person at 1am has jumped the fence, walking around like they own the place.

“We were like holy, they’ve been here before.”

Rhiannon Brown, of Manunda, says thieves are staking out homes and using different methods to check whether residents are home.

Most recently on social media, people have reported zip ties on their doors.

“There are varied suggestions with regard to the way criminals mark property, like most, this is not one (the zip ties) that has come to police attention,” a police spokeswoman said.

“The majority of offenders are opportunistic and seek unlocked homes and vehicles or force entry to homes and cars where valuables (including car keys) are left in easy reach.”

Former private investigator Barry Bundy based in Cairns said he had seen tricks from back in the day show up again.

“It’s an old trick. They cable tie the handle through the door so you have to cut it and they know you haven’t been home if you don’t,” he said.

“They are just getting more brazen.”

Mr Bundy said he had seen other methods too.

“They do things like put something under your lefthand wiper,” he said.

Originally published as Cairns youth crime: Markings used before being broken into