After one of his neighbours had their house ransacked on Wednesday afternoon while the family were out, resident Marco Selorio said the community does not feel safe.
“The father was away on a business trip, and the mother and kids were so scared,” he said.
“It’s just not right. Our streets on Ironbark Crescent and Betty Cuthbert Drive have been a criminal hotspot of late. It’s only a matter of time before someone could get hurt. I pray none of our residents do.”
He said residents were being more vigilant as well as considering whether they can create some form of neighbourhood watch, but was also critical of the police response which he claimed didn’t “appear to prioritise” the break-ins.
However Auburn Police Area Command (PAC) crime manager, detective inspector Andrew Evans disagreed that the police had been slow to react and said their dedicated proactive crime team had spent the day investigating.
“This team has had huge success investigating property crime, and as a result break and enters, and stealing offences are down across the command,” he said.
“When investigating property crimes we have great success via a thorough CCTV canvas, and either knowing the criminals ourselves, or assistance from the community to identify (offenders), or via forensic evidence.”
He said he fully empathised “with any victims of crime”, and to further assist residents, the senior sergeant who leads the command’s crime prevention unit would also make contact with break-in victims to conduct safety and security audits.
