Casey Response Unit members Senior Constables Cameron Young and Tamara Cornelissen with items seized during a raid on a Casey house.
By Callan Date
IF you’re up to no good in the City of Casey there is a good chance you are being watched.
Watched by members of a crack new squad operating out of Narre Warren Police station.
The Casey Response Unit (CRU) has been a major success since its inception in October last year and the latest crime figures only confirm this.
Formed to target drug and graffiti related offences throughout the municipality, the unit has conducted a series of covert operations that have resulted in many people being arrested and charged.
Casey Inspector Paul Ross said the CRU has also heavily targeted theft offences and deceptions with deception related offences increasing by 72.1 per cent.
He said this figure was a result of a large number of protracted investigations into a series of crimes.
The increased police focus on drugs is evidenced in a 45.3 per cent increase in drug offences (cultivate, manufacture and traffic) and a 1.6 per cent increase in drug (possess and use).
The targeting of theft and drug offences has also seen the offence of going equipped to steal drop by 57.3 per cent and handling stolen goods by 28.8 per cent.
In addition to targeting drugs, Acting Superintendent Bob Hill said since November the CRU had been working with the City of Casey’s Graffiti Working Party to identify graffiti vandals and gather sufficient evidence to arrest perpetrators.
Since this time, numerous search warrants have been executed and a large amount of evidence in the form of computers, digital cameras and mobile phones used for storing graffiti tags had been seized.
Many of those arrested have also been charged with other offences such as theft of and from motor vehicles and drug offences.
As a result, property damage offences increased by 36.1 per cent between 2005-06 and 2006-07 and Acting Superintendent Hill said this should send a clear message to graffiti vandals that their actions would not be tolerated in the community.
“More than 20 offenders have been charged in relation to more than $200,000 worth of criminal damage (graffiti) offences,” Acting Superintendent Hill said.
“Recent media coverage surrounding the police response to graffiti has raised the community’s awareness of the City of Casey’s graffiti hotline and has led to a sharp increase in the number of people reporting these offences.
“During the past three months there has been a steady decline in both the reported incidents of graffiti to police and also calls to the hotline,” he said.
