HOUSES in some southeast suburbs are more than twice as likely to be burgled as the average Victorian home, the RACV’s analysis of the 2015-16 crime statistics reveals. The average burglary rate rose from one-in-74 homes to one-in-68 homes, as the number of burglaries reported to police increased by 10 per cent across the state. The RACV’s interactive digital map can zoom in on any postcode to find out its burglary rate. Mornington Peninsula postcodes continued to feature after making the top 10 for the first time last year. This year, Rye, Shoreham and Balnarring were all deemed riskier than…
Author: Stephen Taylor
A SUSPECTED tree vandal who caused $22,000 damage to parkland trees in Heatherton was arrested just days after Kingston Council voted to complain to police about delays in apprehending him. The 21-year-old Heatherton man was charged with criminal damage, theft of a motor car and possession of a weapon and bailed at Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court, Thursday 1 December to reappear in March. But Kingston Council at its 28 November meeting voted to write to police to “ask for an explanation of why they failed to act more promptly and more effectively to protect the safety of members of the community…
POLICE on Sunday charged 10 people following a series of coordinated raids in the south-eastern suburbs as part of an operation targeting organised crime. Warrants were executed 6.40am at 13 houses in Carrum, Carrum Downs and Seaford, as well as Noble Park North, Rowville, Endeavour Hills, Narre Warren, Mt Waverley, Wheelers Hill, Lyndhurst and Mulgrave. Kingston detectives teamed with those from Caulfield, Dandenong, Frankston DRU, Melbourne, Prahran, Box Hill, Glen Eira, Clandestine Laboratory Squad, Special Operations Group and uniform police to make the arrests. The raids were the result of a five-month investigation which culminated in seven men and three…
CREWS at Frankston police station’s divisional operation support office (DOSO) went on high alert when they spotted two teenagers handling what they identified as a black pistol in the rooftop carpark of Bayside Shopping Centre. They watched as a 15-year-old, of Frankston, and a 19-year-old, of Hastings, left the centre, 5.45pm, Thursday 1 December, and moved into Ross Smith Avenue where they approached a 40-year-old man. Coordinating the action from their vantage point, DOSO staff advised police and security staff as they cordoned off the area, and directed members of the Critical Incident Response Team to the crime scene.…
FIRE danger periods for the Mornington Peninsula, Frankston and Kingston CFA districts will begin 1am, Monday 19 December. During this time fires cannot be lit in the open air without a written permit from CFA or a municipal fire prevention officer. Fire danger periods are based on local conditions and take into account fuel moisture, fuel loads, grassland curing, weather and rainfall. CFA District 8 operations manager Mark Kennedy said forecasts showed potential for an above average fire season, despite recent heavy rain and flooding in many parts of the state. “The rainfall we experienced in spring has produced a…