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Crime desk slashes Boroondara burglary rate
Cassie Maher
22Jul08
Sgt Stuart Cockerell on crime scene duty. Picture: Mark Wilson
RESIDENTIAL burglaries in Boroondara once labelled a "shopping centre" for criminals have almost halved.
And police say they should continue to fall with crime scene officers attending a record number of incidents statewide in the past 12 months.
Boroondara was among the first to set up a crime desk in April 2004.
Crime scene officer Sgt Stuart Cockerell said his eight-member team attended 224 burglaries in their first month but now averaged about 140.
He said officers were first on the scene of burglaries and thefts from cars, to gather forensic evidence, such as fingerprints and DNA samples, and speak to witnesses.
Information was passed to relevant detectives for investigation, he said.
Prior to the "one-stop shop" crime desks, up to three separate police units could attend a crime scene, drawing out the process for traumatised victims.
A prompt response also minimised the chance for contamination of forensic evidence.
"I've been in the police force for 20 years and this is probably the most positive innovation in terms of addressing the burglary issue ever implemented," Sgt Cockerell said.
Residential burglaries have been a long-running problem in Boroondara. Sgt Cockerell said more than 80 per cent of thieves lived outside the area.
"The Chief Commissioner once described it as a shopping centre for burglars," he said.
Despite the rising success rate for apprehensions, police are yet to find the cat burglar who stole up to $1 million in cash and goods from 30 Boroondara houses last year (Progress Leader, November 6, 2007).
Sen-Det Adrian Woodcock said: "The article must have been read by the right person as the burglaries in question stopped."
Vice scene
Officers attended 2048 crime scenes from March 2007 to February 2008
* Aggravated burglaries: 36
* Residential burglaries: 1052
* Other burglaries: 522
* Wilful or criminal damage: 115
* Theft from cars: 272
* Other thefts: 33
* Offenders identified: 82
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