Numberplate theft: police urge people to use one-way screws as thousands of plates stolen
MORE than 4000 numberplates — or 13 a day — were ripped from cars in Melbourne’s southeast in the past year and used by criminals to cover their tracks, police say.
South East
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THIRTEEN numberplates a day are being ripped from cars in the southeast as criminals steal them to cover their tracks.
In the Southern Metro police region more than 4000 plates were stolen between June 2016 and June 2017 and used to commit other, often violent, crimes.
Thefts jumped from 2482 to 4771 between mid year 2013 and 2017.
Criminals prey on Victorian motorists by cloning their numberplates and racking up fines
Dandenong acting senior Sergeant Leigh Balthazaar has called on drivers to make their plates harder to steal.
“The more motorists who secure their plates, the harder it will be for thieves,” Sgt Balthazaar said.
“It’s quite inconvenient for the victim and it creates us a lot of issues later on if the plates are used for offending.”
Sgt Balthazaar said numberplates were stolen by criminals to avoid identification when committing serious offences such as petrol thefts, drug trafficking and burglary and “in evade police type situations.”
”So it’s obviously an issue for us and that’s why we’re so proactive in promoting the one-way screws.”
Across Victoria numberplate thefts has risen 92 per cent in the past four years from 10,195 to 19,259, costing Victorians over $700,000 a year in replacement fees.
Sgt Balthazaar urged car owners to park their cars in a secure place, such off the street in a garage and secure numberplates with one-way, antitheft screws.
“They cost only a few dollars and can be fitted with a standard flat bladed screw driver,” he said. “It only takes two minutes to get it done.”
Victorian numberplates deemed too rude, religious or disrespectful for the road
Victim Matthew Brown agreed one-way screws are the “way to go”.
He said he did a “double take” when he saw his plates had been stripped from outside his house in Thornbury.
“I noticed probably 15 to 20 cars had all been done along the sides of the roads and down the backstreets similar to mine,” Mr Brown said.
In September, a drug driver, pulled over for not wearing a seat belt, was found to be unregistered and was displaying two different stolen numberplates. A search of the car found a suspected stolen coin vending machine.
Car thieves torched a silver Subaru sedan in a Noble Park reserve in November last year, which was found to have stolen plates.
In July 2016, five people stole a large quantity of cigarettes from a shopping centre in Rosebud and fled to Dandenong in a BMW fitted with stolen registration plates.
Road transport advocate group RACV said it took numberplate theft seriously.
“We consider one-way security screws as the most effective deterrent,” RACV manager of Vehicle Engineering Michael Case said.
Safe Plate Days, by Victoria Police and Neighbourhood Watch, provide motorists the opportunity to have their numberplates secured for a gold coin donation.
The next Safe Plate Days are from 11am to 3pm on November 11 at Bunnings Narre Warren, November 18 at Bunnings Dandenong South and November 25 at Bunnings Keysborough.