Vigilante concern

THE information provided in the article entitled ‘Vigilante Streets’ (Gazette, 14 January) is concerning. Before now, police were not aware of much of the detail provided in this article including the masked offenders, aggressive behaviour and firearm activity.
Police will be treating this new information seriously and will be making investigations to validate the reports.
We can confirm there have been a number of thefts from cars over recent weeks and want to remind residents to keep their cars locked and valuables out of sight.
We know that opportunistic thieves target unlocked cars and police conduct regular patrols in areas where thefts are known to occur. But we need the community to help deter thieves by taking simple steps to secure their belongings and property.
We want residents to know that the community is a safe one and that police will be targeting known thieves using the information provided to them.
All reports provided to police are taken seriously and we encourage residents to report suspicious activity by calling triple zero.
As always, police do not encourage the community to take the law into their hands.
Detective Senior Sergeant Trevor Smith,
Cardinia Crime Investigation Unit.