Malvern police to patrol Dan Murphy’s East Malvern store following increased liquor thefts
A surge in sneaky booze thefts at a bottle shop in Melbourne’s east has sparked extra surveillance as the law becomes involved. Here is what police have planned in a bid to catch the culprits.
Inner East
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Police are set to swoop on booze thefts at a bottle shop in Melbourne’s inner east following a surge in liquor thefts.
Officers will monitor activity at Dan Murphy’s East Malvern store on Princes Hwy in a series of random and targeted patrols.
Malvern police Acting Senior Sergeant Paul Holland said the operation would be introduced following discussions with store management and Dan Murphy’s parent company Endeavour Group.
Acting Sen-Sgt Holland said police were aware of an increasing amount of customers smuggling bottles of alcohol and other liquor products inside their clothing and escaping from the store.
He urged customers to report any attempted thefts or suspicious activity.
“The analysis of the thefts show they appear to be opportunistic and brazen in their nature,” Acting Sgt Holland said.
“Police will increase operations and local patrols of the area and encourage anyone with any information regarding the thefts to contact Crime Stoppers.”
Endeavour Group’s national asset protection manager Darryl Brecknell did not provide details on how many thefts had occurred at the store in recent times.
Mr Brecknell warned would-be thieves of several security measures and monitoring systems at the East Malvern store.
“While the absolute majority of our customers do the right thing, we have an extensive set of security measures, including electronic article surveillance, radio frequency tags on premium products and very high-quality digital CCTV cameras,” he said.
“So on the rare occasions that thefts still occur, we are able to provide the police with high-quality images.”
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