Wyndham police is calling on tradies to park their utes inside home garages following a spate of tool thefts.
Sergeant Adam Radley, who runs the vehicle crime reduction team at Wyndham’s crime investigation unit, said thieves had been targeting tradesmen’s vehicles, particularly around Tarneit, Point Cook and Hoppers Crossing, in the past two months.
“There has been a distinct rise in tradesman’s utility’s targeted, where the offender will force open canopys, or pop open tool boxes on the back,” he said.
“Unfortunately tradesman keep their tools here, even when their utes are parked in the street or their driveways.”
Sergeant Radley said power tools such as drills were commonly stolen items, with thieves selling the stolen property through markets, Ebay, Gumtree and Facebook buy, swap and sell pages.
Tools valued at more than $2.1 million have been stolen in Wyndham in the three years to March 31, 2017, according to the Crime Statistics Agency.
Sergeant Radley said in many cases, the utes were parked on nature strips or in easily accessible driveways.
He called on tradies to park their vehicles in garages or behind gates.
“If this can’t be done, you should be removing the tools from the vehicles, even though this can be time-consuming,” he said.
