FREMANTLE is no longer among the top three suburbs for the highest rates of stealing from motor vehicles.
This follows the end of Operation Suris, which ran over three months between March and May and targeted that crime.
Fremantle Police Station officer in charge Senior Sergeant Brad Warburtonsaid this crime type had always been a challenge for police.
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READ NOW“The crime predominantly occurs on cars left alone for several hours during darkness where offenders easily prey on that vulnerability,” he said.
“This crime occurs in less than 60 seconds so the police, security officers, the public and even CCTV all can’t be in the right place at the right time.”
Sgt Warburton said the operation was a success with verified offences lower over the term of the operation compared to 2017.
“There had been a significant decrease compared to the same time last year,” he said.
“Fremantle Subdistrict has traditionally been a high demand area for this crime type due to it being a large active CBD, high tourism and social lifestyle.”
Fremantle Police charged several people for car break ins from North Fremantle, Beaconsfield, White Gum Valley and across the CBD.
Sgt Warburton said motivating factors for these offences appeared to be stealing wallets and handbags for credit cards.
“Offenders use the (tap-and-go) under $100 to purchase many goods,” he said.
“During the term of the operation, analysis was done on mapping those fraudulent credit card transactions by the districts’ intelligence unit.
“What we identified was several common hot spots where offenders would use the credit cards following the crime that provided opportunities for police to target.”
He said community awareness was key to fighting crime.
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