By Corey Everitt and Afraa Kori
A shooting and a spate of thefts have marked the leafy suburb of Beaconsfield with some businesses deciding to take matters into their own hands when faced with brazen thieves.
The Central Hotel in Beaconsfield recently uploaded a video of an attempted theft in which they successfully intervened and recovered their stock.
The Hotel runs an accompanying drive-thru bottle shop which according to owner Patrick, has seen an increase in thefts over the last year. The spike is beyond any of the 15 years he has been with the Hotel “by some margin“.
This incident at around 1.30pm on Monday 10 February left Patrick and fellow staff with little patience to spare.
Three young men walked into the drive-thru where one of them grabbed a slab of beer and placed it into a trolley pushed by another.
Camera footage posted by the Central Hotel shows there was no attempt to be discreet, they were shameless.
“They really didn’t care, they just walked out,“ Patrick said,
Patrick and some of the staff gave chase and when they caught up to them on Old Princes Freeway all that audacious confidence quickly subsided and they gave up on the slab.
The three would-be thieves will go on the wall of shame at the Central Hotel, which will hopefully help staff spot offenders before anything occurs.
Although all are aware that taking matters into your own hands is not the ideal or advised approach, for the Central Hotel this incident exemplifies the magnitude of crime they have had to handle with even opposition leader Brad Battin posting about the incident on social media.
This was only a few days after a gunshot was heard by patrons of the Hotel on Friday 7 February. Police believe a group of unknown male offenders fired a shot at a 19-year-old male outside a business on the other side of the Old Princes Highway.
The shot did not hit anyone and the police are still investigating.
Patrick said these incidents were “concerning“ and may not be alone in that thought as they have “never really happened before“ in Beaconsfield.
Pickers Retro Haven was also targeted by a group of young people on the afternoon of February 8, marking the third time they have seen their store fall victim to theft.
“This is the third and last time you will steal from our premises,” store owner Nick Johnstone said.
“We are familiar with their faces and every time they come in, something goes missing. They’ve targeted us but we never picked them up before, now we’ve got everything on camera!
“These idiots stole thousands of dollars worth of stuff and you just can’t replace it every time.”
In the three incidents, the alleged thieves have stolen high-end designer goods like Gucci shoes, Louis Vuitton bags, expensive hoodies, belts, and other luxury clothing.
The repeated thefts have strained the business financially, making it harder to cover losses and maintain donations.
The incident was reported to Pakenham Station.
The frustrated local believes “the youth are on the loose” and the police should “step up” in Beaconsfield.
“The state government needs to employ more officers and if they’re tied down with paperwork, get more support staff,” Mr Johnstone said.
“People are taking matters into their own hands and that’s a direct consequence of the police not doing their job and the justice system not following up.
“The justice system not following up makes the police ‘go, well, why are we doing this? Nothing’s going to happen, they’re just going to go out again with bail.’
“This is why we’ve got to vote this government down, because the bail laws have got to change. Bail is a presumption of innocence, but then if they re-offend, they should go to jail.”
