The Melton Highway at Taylors Lakes is Brimbank’s number one hotspot for car thefts, a recent study has revealed.
Eighteen cars were stolen from shopping centre car parks there over the past financial year, followed by nine in Hampshire Road, Sunshine, and eight in both Second Avenue, Sunshine, and Ballarat Road, Albion.
Despite the Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council statistics, Brimbank police believe car theft is not the biggest issue compared to thefts from cars.
Star Weekly reported last month on community concerns about reports, confirmed by police, of “prolific” car theft and vandalism at Albion train station.
Brimbank had the second-highest number of vehicle thefts in Victoria over the past year, with 672 vehicles stolen in 2014-15 – a slight drop from 691 the previous year.
St Albans was the worst affected suburb, with 158 thefts, followed by Sunshine (104), Deer Park (67), Sunshine West (52) and Sunshine North (47).
North-west metropolitan police’s Leading Senior Constable Matt Mudie said Brimbank’s bigger issue was with thefts from vehicles left open or broken into.
“Thefts of cars is not the big issue. It’s theft from cars,” he said.
“We get numerous reports daily; reports of car theft are far less.
“It’s at major car parks, public transport hubs, shopping centres, CBD areas of Sunshine and St Albans.
“We had a spate of theft from cars in Keilor recently.”
Honda Accords are the car of choice when it comes to vehicle theft, with 30 stolen over the past financial year, followed by 17 Nissan Pulsars, 13 Holden Commodores and 11 Toyota Camrys.
