By Ruza Zivkusic
FURIOUS Sunshine shop owners are calling on their fellow traders to unite and report drunken customers’ abusive behaviour to police.
Two women, one of whom has run a cafe in Hampshire Rd for the past seven years and the other who works for her, say they are fed up with being the only traders in the area who report such offensive behaviour.
They said a drunken customer swore at them last week and threatened to shoot them and bomb their cafe.
The women, who did not want to be identified because they fear for their safety, said the man had been harassing other traders before he entered their shop.
“Every trader in this strip has a responsibility to pick up the phone and call the police, not just us two,” the cafe owner said.
“Support each other and get rid of these people. Ring the police, get them out of your shop and don’t push them to the next trader,” she said.
The cafe owner said she had approached other traders in the area about the issue but many of them said they were scared of the customers and felt uncomfortable with calling the police.
“They live in their own little box, they’re frightened. I’m just as frightened as they are but I think that they need to address it as a group thing.”
With a new anti-drug pilot program being introduced in the City of Maribyrnong, the pair said that they feared the drug problem would be pushed into Sunshine.
The program, called Project Reduction, will ban convicted drug offenders from entering Maribyrnong for a set period.
The women called on the Brimbank City Council to introduce the same program in the municipality.
“Just do something and start cleaning up this area. Get rid of the scumbags on the street,” she said.
A council spokesperson said it was a police initiative based on “research and information they have at their disposal”.
Brimbank District Inspector Scott Mahoney said there was a “different ballgame” in Brimbank compared to Maribyrnong.
“Maribyrnong had a problem that was specific to a very small area. We don’t have that centralised drug dealing hotspot,” he said.
Inspector Mahoney said the council, police and traders would have to meet to address the problems faced by abusive customers.
“There’s been a couple of reports of complaints of that nature and it’s something that we’re looking into. If the council sees fit to declare that area (Hampshire Rd) an alcohol free zone and if they’re prepared to establish laws accordingly to prosecute them, then we’ll be more than happy to issue penalty notices,” he said .
