Police have revealed why the police helicopter had been flying above Ballarat for the last two nights.
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Acting Superintendent Damien Christensen told The Courier that the police air wing had been in the area assisting with a four day operation targeting vehicle crime, one of the biggest issues police are currently facing.
He said police understood that the helicopter had been flying low after dark and had potentially impacted people's ability to sleep, but that from intelligence, police know that the most high risk time for vehicle crime is at night, and is when many vehicles are stolen.
Additional resources such as the air wing and canine unit were called in to provide members on the ground with a greater capacity to target vehicle crime throughout the operation, for example when police detected drivers trying to evade police or who were travelling in stolen vehicles.
"People will have heard the air wing and that means that we are active and are doing our job," he said.
Numerous people were apprehended throughout the operation.
Using resources at their disposal and drawing on others from Melbourne, police have been focusing on reducing crime across the police service area through a number of police operations in recent months, with more than 60 offenders arrested since December last year.
Acting Superintendent Christensen said that police were committed to making Ballarat as safe as possible and would continue to assess how to target high harm and high impact crime across the region. This includes vehicle crime, such as stealing cars, stealing from cars and the burning of cars, especially as it is also often related to road trauma.
He said police had been making inroads in the reduction of crime across the region, with police achieving a significant reduction in stolen vehicles and vehicles being burnt out in recent months.
Further details about the operation will be released in coming days.
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