By XAVIER SMERDON
RESIDENTS of a Werribee street have said they are too scared to park their cars out the front of their own houses after a constant spate of break-ins and thefts.
Dave Morrison has been living in High St for around three years and said his four-wheel drive has been the target of attempted break-ins twice.
Both times the lock has been damaged causing hundreds of dollars worth of damage.
One of his neighbours has had their car stolen three times while his stepdaughter Larissa had the window of her car smashed by a brick after leaving it unattended for just 20 minutes.
Mr Morrison’s neighbour Paul McGinness said that he had woken up to find his car doors wide open.
“Just the feeling of them being in there is a bit weird. You feel victimised,” Mr Mcginness said.
“They are pretty brazen and everyone is definitely mindful of what they leave out now.”
Mr Morrison said almost all of his immediate neighbours had been targeted by the thieves and some residents had been hit with repair bills into the thousands of dollars.
“There is no patten to it, it can happen at day time or night time,” Mr Morrison said.
“This is a really good street and the people that live here are really good people. Almost everyone that lives here works full time or is retired.”
Mr Morrison said he had often seen suspicious people walking down his street but as soon as anyone looked at them they would cover their heads with their hooded jumpers and turn away.
“If we’ve all been hit so many times god knows how many people have been hit in the other streets around here,” he said.
“You never know when it is going to happen, all you know is the next morning your gear is missing.”
Another resident, who lives on the other end of the street to Mr Morrison and only wanted to be identified as Dorothy, said her car had been stolen twice.
“I don’t even have a car anymore because to live in this street and have a car costs you too much,” Dorothy said.
“I love this street and I love my neighbours but these hooligans have left me living in fear.”
Acting Detective Sergeant and Officer in Charge of the Wyndham Crime Impact Team, Nick Di-Mieri, told Star police were working to try and bring an end to these kinds of offences.
“The Crime Impact Team was set up to help, dismantle, disrupt and or neutralise high impact crime such as theft of motor vehicle and theft from motor vehicle,” Acting Det Sgt Di-Mieri said.
“As you could imagine the unit is extremely busy covering the Wyndham PSA.
“Our crime rate for these offences is on the decline however as you would appreciate there is always room for improvement.
Acting Det Sgt Di-Mieri said his team was looking at beginning an operation that would tackle thefts of and from cars in the Wyndham area.
He said as most of the offences are caused by youths within Wyndham and the operation would target bail compliance checks and repeat offenders.
