Police are warning owners ‘to play their role’ as unlocked cars are targeted across Geelong

A recent three-night police operation captured 100 offences related to theft from cars around Geelong. Here’s why they’re thriving and where they’re most successful.

Geelong Crime Scene Services (CSS) has revealed theft from a motor vehicle is the region’s most common crime, according to new statistics.

CSS data has showed that 58 per cent of crime scenes attended by the unit were for theft from a motor vehicle.

In March, the CSS attended 232 of the 289 crime scenes in the Greater Geelong area.

It was revealed that 178 of the crime scenes were related to incidents of theft from a motor vehicle with the CSS unit attending 134 of them.

It comes as the Crime Statistics Agency reported a 27 per cent increase in theft from motor vehicle offences in the 12 months to March 2022.

Acting Sergeant Owen Spackman from Geelong Crime Scene Services said frustratingly a very high per cent of cars targeted are usually left unlocked.

At the time of the interview late Wednesday afternoon, Sergeant Spackman had responded to eight incidents of theft from a motor vehicle in which five of the cars were unlocked while two other incidents involved number plate theft.

“Eight is not unusual at all. It is people who are going out there and looking for that opportunity … for them it is a numbers game – check enough cars and they’ll find some unlocked.

“It’s actually quite uncommon for offenders to force entry into a vehicle, especially if there is nothing of value visible.”

Sergeant Spackman said the unit were more likely to be able to obtain evidence at a scene where force has been used, making solving the crime easier than instances where a car had been left unlocked.

“Our primary role here is to look for physical evidence at the scene, be that fingerprints, exhibits, items left behind and sometimes DNA,” he said.

“We are able to identify a good number of offenders, but our preference is to prevent these types of crimes happening in the first place – and owners need to play their role.”

Leading Senior Constable Simone Amos and Acting Sergeant Owen Spackman from Geelong Crime Scene Services, talking about theft from motor vehicle.

A recent operation involving Detectives from Geelong Tasking and Crime Intervention Taskforce (TACIT), with support from the Youth Tasking Unit, Highway Patrol, Crime Investigation Unit and uniform officers, patrolled several known hot spots between June 2 and June 4.

The three-night operation resulted in [olice charging 15 bailed offenders with around 100 offences in the Geelong area.

Among those arrested was a 37-year-old Breakwater man who was charged with 12 offences including theft from a motor vehicle, evading police and committing an indictable offence while on bail.

A 26-year-old Corio man was also charged with 14 offences including theft from a motor

vehicle, handling stolen goods, obtaining property by deception, and committing an indictable offence while on bail.

In helping to prevent these crimes from occurring Sergeant Spackman encouraged the public to take three preventive measures.

“Keep your cars locked, don’t leave anything visible and if you can, get those antitheft number plate screws because they are easily attainable from Bunnings and cost a couple dollars.”

“We would also like to encourage members of the public who see a crime being committed to call triple-0 at the time and report it.”

Originally published as Police are warning owners ‘to play their role’ as unlocked cars are targeted across Geelong