Windsor apartment complex manager furious over serial thieves targeting carpark
A high-end apartment complex in an up-market Brisbane suburb has been a hotspot for thieves since it opened, with the building manager declaring “it boils my blood”. WATCH CCTV FOOTAGE
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A high-end apartment complex in an up-market Brisbane suburb has been a hotspot for thieves since it opened, with the building manager at her wits end saying robbery is “rife” in the community.
The Windsor apartment complex has been open for more than three years, and its building manager – who wishes to remain anonymous – says problems began shortly after tenants started moving in.
“We have a basement carpark area and storage cabinets, so it’s just an attraction to these people,” she told The Courier-Mail.
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“They are constantly breaking in, or trying to break in, and steal things. I check CCTV footage pretty much every day that I go in, and at the moment it’s a little bit quieter, I probably get two or three attempts a fortnight.”
Vision shared with The Courier-Mail shows three thieves spending over two minutes pulling on a security door until it opened. Other photos show bikes being stolen or bags of valuables.
While the attempted robberies have slowed down slightly, the building manager said earlier this year it was as bad as every second night by two or three different groups who are often highly skilled and organised.
“They are opportunistic, this is what they do for a living,” she said.
“They jump on a train and get off at the train station, they wander around the area and if they are lucky enough they get it and steal stuff to flog it and buy drugs.”
She said they are stealing “anything they can get their hands on, and make money off”, from army gear, vintage champagne, tools and push bikes – one group unsuccessfully tried to steal a motorbike.
It’s not only her apartment complex targeted, she says the situation has escalated and many other complexes are being hit, with the criminals usually male and aged from 20-30-years-old.
“It is happening everywhere, it is absolutely rife,” she said.
“Anywhere that’s on a public transport hub, because they come by train generally”.
“These people generally are not looking for confrontation, I liken them to cockroaches which when you switch on the lights they scurry.
“They are not interested in confrontation, they are opportunistic and some of them are well organised. You can see the ones that know what they are doing, and they are well practised and you can see the ones who are just starting out.”
The building manager has tirelessly tried to ward off the crims, with thousands of dollars spent on trying to make it more difficult for them to gain access.
“A lot of money and time has gone into it,” she said.
Thieves have tried everything from jimmying the door, disengaging the motor to the gate – which was a $1000 fix – lifting the gate off its hinge and even bending the bars and slipping through.
The building manager has been quoted $10,000 worth of Crimsafe screening which will make it even harder, and nearly impossible, to break in, but she says they will still try.
“They take advantage of apartment complexes because often people don’t know one another – people in apartments don’t usually know the people next door to them.”
She is at her wits’ end with the thieves and would-be thieves, saying seeing CCTV footage makes her “blood boil”.
“We work hard for what we have, we are all working hard, and I think if someone walked into your place and stole something of yours it would be the end of the world, but they think they have the right to walk in and steal from other people,” she said.
“It boils my blood, particularly when I’m watching them on camera.”
She said the community needs to be vigilant and report suspicious behaviour to police, something she has instilled in the tenants who live in the complex and are aware of the situation.
A spokesman for the Queensland Police Service confirmed police were aware of multiple reports at the particular apartment complex.