There are fewer serial offenders walking Ballarat’s streets and the city’s police force are determined to keep it that way.
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Two weeks into a joint initiative between Victoria Police, CrimeStoppers and The Courier, has seen eight of the region’s most wanted offenders arrested.
That’s on top of 31 arrests, including an extensive number of young repeat offenders, made by police during Operation Reorder over the weekend.
Ballarat’s highest ranking officer Superintendent Andrew Allen said the community played a major role in putting pressure on the offenders, with a number handing themselves into police after seeing their photo on social media or hearing about it from someone else.
He added the recent arrests have also resulted in a significant reduction in the number of offences committed in the region.
Proving a success, Superintendent Allen said the aim of the continual overt and covert operations was to reduce crime and fear in the neighbourhood.
“Crime is not out of control in Ballarat, it’s still a safe place,” he said.
“There will always be an element of people who offend and commit crime, and from my perspective we’ve seen some spikes and troughs and some really good work over the last few weeks, in particularly last weekend with Operation Reorder.
“But when you’ve got a population that’s rapidly increasing and we’re now touching on 110,000, we’re going to have elements across the community – and not just Ballarat, but surrounds – who do commit crimes and who survive by committing crime. It’s just a part of everyday society.”
Addressing fear, he said many locals often made the mistake of thinking crime rates in metropolitian areas were replicated in regional Ballarat.
“One of the overflow issues is people see what’s happening in Melbourne on a daily basis, what’s termed as carjackings and serious crimes. Now we don’t have that, if we do they’re the exception to that,” he said.
But there is one message still not quite getting through to residents and it could cost a great deal if ignored – lock it up.
Acting Detective Senior Sergeant Jo Janes urged the community to do their bit to reduce crime by locking cars and homes to prevent theft opportunities.
“We did have one matter today where keys were left in the car, you would think the average citizen could walk past, but unfortunately there is an element of society that can’t,” she said.
“They see that as an opportunity.”
Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
