‘Disgusting behaviour’: Thieves target Ballarat emergency dispatch building during floods

Emergency dispatch workers coordinating Victoria’s flood response finished their shifts to discover their vehicles had been broken into in a “disgusting” attack.

Thieves have targeted personal vehicles outside an emergency dispatch building where workers were coordinating Victoria’s flood response in an act blasted as “disgusting behaviour”.

Approximately 15 vehicles parked outside the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority in Mount Helen, Ballarat, were broken into about 2am on October 16.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said officers were investigating the incident and “possible links” to other thefts from vehicles in the Warrenheip and Mount Helen areas.

The Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority in Mount Helen, Ballarat. Picture: Google Maps.

“Officers have been told an unknown offender(s) broke into approximately 15 cars at a carpark on Enterprise Grove,” she said.

“It is unknown what was stolen at this stage.”

Victorian Ambulance Union secretary Danny Hill condemned the incident, saying personnel on the night shift were busy working to keep Victorians safe.

“Our ESTA call-takers and dispatchers work incredibly hard to save lives and protect the community including the recent flood response, and they finish a busy nightshift to find that some low-lifes have ransacked their cars,” he said.

“This is a completely low act and I hope that once the offenders are caught they have the book thrown at them”.

The incident comes as communities across northern Victoria have raised concerns homes and businesses in evacuated areas could become the target of opportunistic thieves.

“It happened here during the 2011 floods,” Charlton resident Stephen Perry said.

“My neighbours stayed home yesterday (Sunday) and were keeping an eye on the street.

“It‘s a small town. Normally I can recognise everyone and their car but during a flood you get so many passing through. Who knows what’s happening.”

Victoria police say they have not received any reports of looting from flood-affected towns and cities in regional Victoria.

The resident of an evacuated home in flood-affected Maribyrnong in Melbourne's west reported about $15,000 of valuables was stolen by looters over the weekend.

Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt described the burglary as “un-Australian”.

“So, to have looting happen on top of that is completely unacceptable, and I’m sure that the police are doing everything they can to get that under control,” he told 9 News.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or online at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.