Detective Senior Sergeant Dave Collins said every week Bendigo police responded to 12 to 15 reports of thefts from cars. Most were left unlocked in driveways or front yards. 

He said thieves typically stole small things like phones.

“People are even leaving their wallets in their cars. Why would you leave a wallet in an unlocked car?” he said.

“I’ve been in the job 38 years now and we just don’t seem to be able to get the message across.

“I don’t know, maybe it’s complacency. Maybe it’s the whole country-mentality.”

He said police were investigating opportunistic crimes that car and home owners could often avoid.

“Here in Bendigo we don’t have sophisticated criminals who pick car locks,” he said.

“I can tell you that out of every theft this year, we can say with certainty that only one car was locked.

“In that case there was a smashed window, which suggests someone has actually broken into a locked vehicle.”

He said no suburb was immune from the problem – even those in outlying areas.

He said some stolen property was traceable, but it was rare for a thief to be caught in the act.

Sergeant Steve Rainey said people should also take care to secure bigger items like trailers. 

He said many people left trailers in driveways, yards or paddocks, where they could more easily be stolen.

Sergeant Rainey said the solution was often as simple as putting the trailer behind a fence or considering trailer locks.

“You can never totally stop crime. But there are lots of things people can do to reduce the likelihood of it impacting upon them,” he said.