Cops chase car thieves doing burnouts in stolen vehicle
For the first time in months the Rescue 510 helicopter rattled windows of south Cairns homes in a series of low flying missions to track dangerously driven stolen cars at the weekend.
Cairns
Don't miss out on the headlines from Cairns. Followed categories will be added to My News.
For the first time in months Rescue 510 helicopter rattled windows of south Cairns homes in a series of low flying missions to track dangerously driven stolen cars at the weekend.
With Queensland Police spotters on board the QGAir chopper tracked stolen cars through the streets amid a significant surge in vehicle rip offs since Thursday.
According to official police numbers 12 cars were stolen between Thursday and Sunday night including a blue Holden Trailblazer stolen from Bentley Park that was seen doing burnouts at the corner of Enmore and Macilwraith streets on Sunday.
The car bearing Queensland rego BKD63 had not been recovered on Monday afternoon.
Bentley Park and Edmonton appeared to be areas of police interest, according to the Flight Aware app that recorded the circling of the chopper for a lengthy period on Sunday.
The regular weekend spike in car thefts followed a near miss by an alleged stolen car that lost control near the Edmonton Tennis Club on Thomson Rd.
President and coach of the Edmonton and Gordonvale Tennis Club Guy Thomas said a mother was dropping her boy off for a court session when an out-of-control late model Honda SUV came tearing around the corner and crashed into a ditch.
“(The car) just missed the woman dropping her son to the club. (The driver) smashed into the culvert and the teenager took off and ran away,” he said.
The latest incident follows a spate of vandalism and a stolen car that smashed through the chain mesh fence before driving on the courts.
“Our two tennis clubs, Edmonton and Gordonvale, have been subjected to almost 40 instances of vandalism, graffiti and abuse over the last two years or so. So much that we don’t bother reporting most occurrences,” he said.
“Some of the stuff that goes on at those courts is dreadful. We have had faeces smeared around the back of the toilet, we had kids using the clubhouse and we couldn’t work out what the smell was … and then there are the parties, with beer bottles smashed all around and condoms everywhere.”
Mr Thomas said while he had compassion and understood the often tragic upbringing many young offenders are subjected to, the problem needed to be addressed holistically.
“As a society we really need to find the cause of the problem before it gets to this,” he said.
In response to a statewide crime crisis Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll on Monday announced Queensland Police will employ a team of 25 social media experts.
Some of these staff members will be embedded within the Crime and Intelligence Command.
“This is not just about getting evidence from social media, but also to make sure police are proactive about putting information into social media,” she said.
To date this month 34 vehicles have been stolen in the Cairns area to make a total of 162 thefts since the beginning of 2023.
An all-time stolen car theft record in 2022 amounted to 1299 vehicle rip offs in a 66 per cent increase on the 782 cars taken in 2021.
More Coverage
Originally published as Cops chase car thieves doing burnouts in stolen vehicle
‘Deaf ears’: Dad warns of looming ‘tragedy’ for hospital staff
A father of a Cairns emergency department nurse is calling for swift action on hospital parking and safety risks, raising his concerns that nothing will change until tragedy strikes.
Arrest video: Rider busted with gun and cash after prang
A man who broke his leg after crashing into a car while on the run from police with a backpack full of cash and a gun then attempted to steal the damaged vehicle before being arrested.