Standing guard

By EMMA SUN
A MONBULK shop owner is crying out for more police following a devastating $50,000 theft that he says was preventable.
The incident at Alpine Mowers on Main Road spanned two days – the thieves, both believed to be male, tried unsuccessfully to break in one morning and made the theft the following morning.
Owner Adam Robin said he was forced to sit in his ute and guard his shop for five hours after being alerted of the first incident on Sunday 26 August at 3.30am by the security system.
He said night shift police were unable to stay because they had been called to a house fire in Tecoma.
“We couldn’t get police on the first day,” he said.
“Police dropped in once on their way past to see how I was but they said they had to control traffic at a house fire so they couldn’t help me.”
He said he was disappointed his report to the police was not passed on to officers on the next shift, during which the thieves returned about 4.20am on Monday and stole brush cutters, chainsaws, generators and concrete tools worth about $50,000.
Mr Robin said he had called five police stations – Monbulk, Belgrave, Knox, Lilydale and Mooroolbark – before getting a response, and the police who turned up knew nothing about the previous night’s incident.
He also called triple zero both nights.
“When all the police got here on Monday morning, none of them knew what had happened the night before,” he said.
“It wouldn’t have been a bad idea to keep an eye on it because it happened around the same time as the night before and they said that if they knew about it they would’ve tried to do something about it.
“There should’ve been a handover because nobody even made an effort to come past the place.”
Yarra Ranges Police Service Area Acting Inspector Allan Price said Mr Robin’s situation was unfortunate.
However he said there were enough police and that on the day they distributed their resources based on priority.
“I understand his frustration but we can’t be everywhere – there was a house fire in Tecoma at the time of the first incident and it was unknown whether anybody was inside at the time, and establishing this was a priority,” he said.
“It is extremely unfortunate that this occurred at the same time as the Monbulk incident, however circumstances such as is what makes policing a difficult job.
“I am satisfied that there are sufficient resources in the area.”
In the meantime, Mr Robin said he would continue doing business as usual, but with less stock.
He has also hired a security guard to protect the shop in the evenings.
“You still gotta do it because nobody’s going to come running to do anything for you and you can’t shut the doors or you lose more,” he said.
“The police have explained it all but it doesn’t get any better, but running the business is all you can do.
“We were pretty well-stocked but we can’t stock up again, which will make it hard to generate money and have set revenue.”
Anyone with information about the theft is urged to call Monbulk Police Station on 9756 6266.