By Alesha Capone
BURGLARS turned off security cameras and flood lights at a construction site in Truganina before stealing several items last week.
The offenders raided the Palmers Rd site, near the corner of Permas Way, between 4.30pm on Friday 30 September and 6.30am on Monday 3 October.
After disabling the location’s security, the burglars smashed through the site’s office doors and forced open a shipping container with bolt-cutters, stealing a large quantity of tools, portable radio controllers and a portable medical kit.
Police said this “considerably” set back work at the building site and fixing the burglary’s vandalism would cost an excessive amount.
Investigators have appealed for residents to help them apprehend the offenders who committed the crime.
Temporary fencing surrounds the construction site, which is located near a large building where there are road works taking place.
Werribee Acting Sergeant Amanda Reynolds also said there was an increase in vandalism inflicted on homes under construction during the school holidays, which ended last week.
Acting Sgt Reynolds said the Point Cook and Wyndham Vale areas were mainly targeted.
“We’ve had a large amount of houses under construction broken into during the school holidays and damaged,” she said.
This has included graffiti, taps left turned on to flood the properties, bricks thrown through windows and holes kicked in walls.
Acting Sgt Reynolds said police believe the incidents were occurring during the night, as workers were on-site during the day.
She said the houses which were vandalised were also often located in isolated areas where most of the buildings were vacant.
The Wyndham Burglary Unit was formed in February to crackdown on the high amount of burglaries in the area, caused by the booming population and new estates being built.
Last month, Wyndham’s Police Inspector Bill Weatherly said the unit “has been a success story for local policing”.
The unit has made more than 85 arrests for burglary offences and after smashing one thievery ring, returned more than $50,000 worth of stolen property to its rightful owners.
If anyone knows about the Truganina burglary, saw suspicious behaviour including any vehicles at the Palmers Rd location over the weekend or has information about houses getting vandalised, call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
