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| Sergeant Chris Hey addressing last week's Derwent Valley Council meeting. |
Against this background, Sergeant Chris Hey told the meeting that six people had been charged and 11 local burglaries solved following a large-scale police operation at New Norfolk during the week.
A squad of 25 officers had searched the town on Wednesday following the early morning theft of firearms. “We all know there was a significant firearms burglary in George St where an elderly lady confronted a male perpetrator and that person got away with three firearms,” Sgt Hey said.
“The lady was very resilient and certainly wasn’t physically harmed in any way ... she had a hand placed on her to keep her at arms length,” he said.
Sgt Hey told the meeting that the person remained at large but police had good information and investigations were continuing. Wednesday’s operation resulted in six people being charged in relation to a recent spate of 26 burglaries in the town, which Sgt Hey described as the worst in his two years in charge of the local station.
“There were 26 charges relating to those people that were charged and I’m told one person was remanded in custody this afternoon. That person doesn’t actually live in this area but frequents the town nearly every day and the remainder of the offenders are well-known to police and certainly have been charged in the past with multiple offences. So they are repeat offenders and we were pretty much on the money with regard to our suspicions as to who was committing these crimes.”
Other than last week’s firearms theft, Sgt Hey said the majority of the recent burglaries were opportunistic thefts of powertools and five outboard motors. He said most of these had been preventable, with the items being stolen from unlocked sheds.
Sgt Hey said while burglaries were on the up in New Norfolk, assaults were down.
Glad to see arrests! Especially when firearms are involved. Doesn't always happen when other burgularies occur though.
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