By Kristy McDonald
FORGET CSI, forget NCIS – past and would-be criminals are on notice as the real-life versions identify increasing numbers of offenders.
State-of-the-art forensic technology has teamed with highly skilled crime scene officers on the Brimbank Crime Desk to identify more than 250 perpetrators of crimes in the local area in the past year.
Brimbank Crime Desk officer in charge Sergeant Danny Travaglini said the introduction of Crime Desks across Victoria in 2003 was having a marked effect on the “clean-up rate” for crime.
“Our clean-up rate for the past few years has been constantly improving and it is getting better with new data going on to (the statewide) forensic database,” Sgt Travaglini said.
“We have 18 members here and our role is to respond to high-volume property crime – burglaries are the most common incidents we attend.
“We also exceed our assigned work, though, going to a number of serious scenes to assist with armed robberies, stabbings and burglaries, and we assist uniformed personal with incidents including accident scenes.”
Members trained to work Crime Desks undergo intensive crime scene training through the police academy, including training in forensic photography, and their skills are invaluable to the Victorian forensic database.
“The rate of solved crimes and offenders identified only increases as the forensic database gets bigger and better,” Sgt Travaligni said.
“Most (offenders identified) are from current crimes, however, having said that, no unsolved case is ever closed and every time an investigation picks up a forensic sample from an offender it is entered into the database, and in time more older crimes will be solved.”
Sgt Travaligni said Brimbank Crime Desk personnel had attended more than 3250 crime scenes in the past 12 months, and almost 60 per cent of those were residential burglaries.
A significant number of these were from properties still under construction.
Sgt Travaligni said the mostly vacant estates continued to be a prime target for thefts of building materials and larger fixed household electrical items.
“We’re seeing copper stolen, electrical and other items, it’s been occurring for quite a while,” he said.
“They are an easy target, with no neighbours in the vicinity.
“Anyone who sees cars or vehicles that appear to be out of place in any of these areas – like late at night, when you wouldn’t expect traffic to be there – chances are they are up to no good.
“Get their rego details, a description of the vehicle, anything you can identify about the number of people in the vehicle and call the police.”
To date, 25 Crime Desks have been established across Victoria, with a per cent increase in offender identification statewide.
