Rochedale’s ‘local Batman’ Frank shares how he keeps streets safe at night

A Brisbane retiree has found his calling as a southside suburb’s “local Batman”, patrolling the streets at night to help keep the neighbourhood safe from “bad guys”.

Frank (right), aka the Rochedale “Batman’’, with resident Albert Chang. Picture: Supplied/Jezza Raaz

A Brisbane retiree has found his calling as a southside suburb’s “local Batman”, patrolling their streets at night to help keep the neighbourhood safe from “bad guys”.

Rochedale retiree Frank has been driving around his neighbourhood at night in his ute for the last seven years, taking down “suss’’ license plates and passing on other information to police.

Frank said it all started when a neighbour left their garage door open one night and was robbed.

“The next night I was in bed and about two o’clock I got this funny feeling,” Frank said.

He went out for a drive around the neighbourhood and came across a car he thought looked suspicious.

“I got out and had a chat to him (the driver) and realised he was up to no good and told him to get going,” Frank said.

“He went off, but he turned around and came back … He’d come back to pick up a young kid in the street.”

“The kid had been breaking into houses so … I called the police and a couple of days later gave them enough information to realise who he was.”

“That was score one.”

Since then, Frank has patrolled Rochedale streets at night, taking down number plates and knocking on doors when he sees garages left open.

Rochedale local Jezza Raaz said Frank was a familiar face in the neighbourhood.

Residents would often bring him a Macca’s meal or coffee when returning from their night shifts.

Ms Raaz said Frank had nicknamed himself the “night watch” and would hand out his card to residents so they could call him.

“If anything happens, the first thing you do is call triple 0 – and then call Frank,” she said.

“Not even a minute, he’s there.”

Jezza (left) with her husband, along with Frank (right) and another member of the local community. Picture: Supplied/Jezza Raaz

Frank said he had learned how to spot suspicious cars and would drive up to them with his high beam lights on to “hound them out”.

He said he never got out of his ute to confront anyone and kept in close contact with police whenever he spotted anything amiss.

He would even block thieves with his ute until police arrived.

“The police have got limited resources – they talk to me, I talk to them,” Frank said.

Ms Raaz said she had encouraged Frank to join Facebook so he could share information from his patrols on their community page.

Now, the community kept in close contact via their group chat, so that even when Frank wasn’t available to help, others could volunteer to go check out any suspicious activity.

Frank said crime had increased since he moved to Rochedale a decade ago.

He said most of the individuals he came across were “kids” – often the same ones coming back to hit the same spots again and again.

“Police catch them, take them to the court and the judges just let them out,” Frank said.

“It’s just like (the movie) Groundhog Day … They come in, I chase them out, they come back in, we catch ‘em.”

Frank said some were so young they weren’t even old enough to drive the cars they were stealing.

“If you’ve got a manual (car) it’ll be left in the driveway – they can’t drive them,” he said.

Frank estimated he had probably saved about $29 million worth of cars from being stolen by notifying households about garage doors left open.

He explained the suburb had a relatively wealthy demographic with many expensive cars and household goods.

“They have BMWs, Mercedes, and Audis … They leave them unlocked, they leave their garage doors open, they leave the doors to their house open.”

“And these boys have found out.”

Frank dresses up for Santa at Christmas and decorates his ute as a sleigh. Picture: Supplied/Jezza Raaz

Ms Raaz said local businesses and residents were very thankful for Frank’s efforts and would contribute to his fuel and ute maintenance costs.

At least once a year she set up a GoFundMe to raise funds for him.

“He helps a lot in our community, not just repelling bad people but also making sure everyone is safe,” she said.

She said Frank would volunteer as a traffic controller for their local community markets and other events.

He would also dress up as Santa each December and decorate his ute as a sleigh.

“He goes around every street and gives out lollies,” Ms Raaz said.

“Everyone knows he’s Santa Frank.”

Ms Raaz said the last fundraiser had raised $8000 after Frank’s ute was damaged while he was chasing an offender out of the area.

Frank said a driver had fallen asleep at the traffic lights and the car he was chasing managed to swerve in time.

But he saw the danger too late and his vehicle was damaged.

Ms Raaz said Frank “never asks for anything back” but the community was determined to show their appreciation.

Her latest GoFundMe for Frank has already raised over $4000.