Brimbank police have urged Derrimut residents not to become “vigilantes” and take the law into their own hands following a “frightening” early morning home invasion in the area on June 30.
Derrimut and Deer Park Neighbourhood House organiser Rosa Mikac said the incident triggered a snap safety forum last Thursday night in Derrimut where local police spoke to around 80 residents.
Mrs Mikac was told by police that intruders smashed their way through a sliding door of a Brimbank Gardens estate property, stealing car keys, a wallet and eventually the young family’s car.
“The response was fear and anger on our facebook page,” she said.
“It’s frightened the whole community.
“It was a young family with two kids under the age of five.
“Residents have been doing their own patrols, getting up earlier of a morning and doing drive arounds. But we don’t want them taking matters into their own hands.
“We had to nip it in the bud so we organised this forum.”
However resident patrols have continued.
“I understand there were patrols last night,” she said.
“They (the police) do not want residents to become vigilantes and chasing down the offenders.
“The police did say they want residents to be the eyes and ears and to report anything you see.”
Local resident Christian Martinu said forum attendees were concerned it was taking local police too long to respond to incidents.
Brimbank Proactive Policing Unit Leading Senior Constable Matthew Mudie told residents to “leave the patrols to us”.
“Leave the policing to the police,” he said.
“They (residents) put themselves at risk, be vigilant not vigilantes.”
