Coronavirus Melbourne: People breaking lockdown rules in Whitehorse
People are continuing to flout lockdown restrictions in Whitehorse, and police say they will not hesitate to fine those doing the wrong thing.
East
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Whitehorse police are receiving multiple calls a day from community members reporting people breaking lockdown restrictions.
Whitehorse local area commander Inspector Campbell Mill implored people to follow Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton’s directions.
“It’s a time we have to hunker down and do the right thing and let’s get over this pandemic as quick as we can so we can all get back to our normal lives,” Insp Mill said.
He said people were constantly getting in touch with police to report others breaking lockdown restrictions.
“And I will say in line with our Chief Commissioner (Shane Patton) the time of warnings has passed,” Insp Mill said.
“If police find someone breaching COVID-19 restrictions as directed by the Chief Health Officer, my instructions to my people is they will be hit with a penalty notice.
“Whether they’re parties or gatherings whatever you want to call them people are doing the wrong thing and we’re getting multiple calls every day (from people reporting them).”
Police fined five people at a Box Hill home earlier this week who had gathered for a graduation party.
With thanks to Daniel Klein and Juliette O’Brien. To see more of their work on our corona cases go to: covid19data.com.au
It comes as new figures show crime is on the rise in Whitehorse, with a jump in thefts and burglaries.
The latest Crime Statistics Agency data showed 7380 criminal incidents were recorded in the 12 months to March, a 15.9 per cent jump from 6369 incidents a year earlier.
Box Hill recorded the most criminal incidents followed by Burwood, Mitcham, Blackburn, and Forest Hill.
The top five offences were stealing from a car (1453 offences, up from 1157 the previous year), residential non-aggravated burglaries (770, up from 417), other theft (722 up from 622) criminal damage (544 up from 480) and stealing from a retail store (493 up from 464).
Insp Mill said police had seen a spike in theft from cars and acted accordingly, doing specific operations to focus on the issue.
He said a lot of the thefts came from unlocked vehicles and urged owners to lock up and remove valuables.
Insp Mill said most of the figures showed low level crimes, and there had not been a high increase in violent crimes.
“Even the assault data – it’s more a push and shove, a verbal argument or threat, rather than resulting in a serious injury,” he said.
“While we don’t want any crime in Whitehorse … it is a constant that a lot of our crime is at the lower scale of vulnerability to our community.”
He said it was no surprise Box Hill recorded the most offences because it was home to a business precinct, transport hub and several high-rise towers.
Insp Mill said police regularly patrolled Box Hill Central Shopping Centre, with help from transit police and protective services officers.
“We can always improve and always strive to improve but the city of Whitehorse is a relatively safe place to be in,” he said.
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